Maria Pierina

Upon returning to Italy, Sister Maria Pierina was elected superior of the Milan house in 1928. In 1938, she undertook the founding of a new work in Rome, the Istituto Spirito Santo (Institute of the Holy Spirit), where she settled permanently in 1939. In 1940, she was appointed regional superior for Italy, while continuing to watch over the Milanese community. Alongside her administrative and educational duties, Sister Maria Pierina led a mystical life of extraordinary elevation, entirely centered on the devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus. On the first Friday of Lent in 1936, she received an interior locution from Christ asking her to honor His Face, disfigured by the Passion, in reparation for the outrages and indifference of men. On May 31, 1938, she was graced with an apparition of the Virgin Mary, who presented her with a scapular (later replaced by a medal): on the obverse is engraved the Holy Face of Jesus based on the image of the Holy Shroud of Turin, surrounded by the inscription "Illumina, Domine, vultum tuum super nos" (Let Thy face shine upon us, O Lord); on the reverse appears a radiant Host with the words "Mane nobiscum, Domine" (Stay with us, O Lord). Despite numerous administrative and spiritual obstacles—including physical attacks attributed to the devil—she obtained authorization on August 9, 1940, from Cardinal Ildefonso Schuster, Archbishop of Milan, to have this medal struck. Supported by her spiritual director in Rome, the Benedictine Abbot Ildebrando Gregori, she actively propagated this devotion. The Holy Face medal was then widely distributed, notably to Italian soldiers leaving for the front during the Second World War, becoming for them a symbol of protection and hope.

Sister Maria Pierina lived her mission in absolute discretion, applying the maxim of Saint John of the Cross: "One must not reveal the secrets of the King." She offered herself as a "victim soul" in reparation for the offenses committed against the Blessed Sacrament and for the sanctification of priests. In July 1945, while visiting her congregation's house in Centonara d'Artò (a hamlet in the municipality of Madonna del Sasso, in the province of Novara), she contracted severe pneumonia. Her health deteriorated rapidly and, after receiving the Anointing of the Sick, she passed away holily on July 26, 1945, at the age of 54. Her remains were initially interred in the cemetery of Artò. Given the popular fervor and her growing reputation for holiness, her mortal remains were transferred on April 27, 1970, to the crypt of the House of the Holy Face in Centonara, and then, on March 27, 2007, to the chapel of the Istituto Spirito Santo in Rome, where they now rest. The diocesan informative process for her beatification was opened by the Bishop of Novara in 1962. On December 17, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI signed the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues, thereby conferring upon her the title of Venerable.

The beatification of Sister Maria Pierina De Micheli was made possible thanks to the official recognition of a miracle that occurred through her intercession. The beneficiary was Vittorio Ianni, an Italian man in his fifties. Already afflicted by an ischemic stroke in 1988, he underwent surgery in 1993 for an aortic aneurysm. Postoperative complications led to severe hypertension, which caused a new massive stroke, plunging him into a coma and leaving him paraplegic. Faced with a desperate medical prognosis, his son, inspired by a family friend, attached a Holy Face medal to his father's wrist and prayed for his healing through the intercession of Sister Maria Pierina. The next day, January 26, 1994, Vittorio Ianni suddenly emerged from his coma, woke up, asked for food, and demonstrated a complete and scientifically inexplicable motor and cognitive recovery. After the favorable examination by medical consultants on May 8, 2008, and by theologians, Pope Benedict XVI authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree validating the miracle on April 3, 2009. The beatification ceremony was celebrated on Sunday, May 30, 2010, on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, at the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome. The rite was presided over by Archbishop Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, acting on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI. This historic event constitutes the very first beatification celebrated within this Roman basilica.

The spirituality of Blessed Maria Pierina De Micheli is based on the reparatory contemplation of the Face of Christ. For her, the Face of Jesus is the mirror of His divine Heart and His intimate sufferings. Her devotion is not merely a passive contemplation, but an act of active love and reparation for the outrages suffered by Christ during His Passion and those He continues to receive daily in the sacrament of the Eucharist. The legacy of the Blessed is perpetuated through the worldwide distribution of the Holy Face medal. In response to the revelations received by Sister Maria Pierina, Pope Pius XII officially instituted in 1958 the feast of the Holy Face of Jesus, fixed on Shrove Tuesday (the Tuesday preceding Ash Wednesday) for the entire Catholic Church. Furthermore, her spiritual director, the Venerable Abbot Ildebrando Gregori, continued her work by founding the congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Face, thus extending this message of reparation and contemplation throughout the world.