Maria Candida of the Eucharist (16 January 1884 – 12 June 1949) - born Maria Barba - was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

professed religious of the

Discalced Carmelites The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Carmelites of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel ( la, Ordo Fratrum Carmelitarum Discalceatorum Beatae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo) or the Order of Discalced Carme ...

. Barba desired to become a professed religious in her adolescence but her parents forbade this and she was forced to wait two decades for her to realize her dream; she entered the order after her parents died though alienated her brothers in the process who refused to ever see her due to their resentment towards her decision. Barba became a noted member of her

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Angl ...

in Ragusa and she served as prioress for an extensive period in which she fostered a rigid adherence to the order's rule so as to live the fullness of its charism. Her devotion to the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was institu ...

was a focal point for her spiritual thinking and her own life and she wrote to an extensive degree on the Eucharist and its importance. The beatification process opened on 15 October 1981 and she became titled as a

Servant of God "Servant of God" is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression "servant of God" appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

while she later became titled as

Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cat ...

on 18 December 2000 upon the confirmation of her life of

heroic virtue Heroic virtue is a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs and used by the Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman abilities and great goodness, and "it ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

beatified Barba in

Saint Peter's Square Saint Peter's Square ( la, Forum Sancti Petri, it, Piazza San Pietro ,) is a large plaza located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the papal enclave inside Rome, directly west of the neighborhood ( rione) of Borgo. ...

on 21 March 2004.

Life

Maria Barba was born on 16 January 1884 in

Catanzaro Catanzaro (, or ; scn, label= Catanzarese, Catanzaru ; , or , ''Katastaríoi Lokrói''; ; la, Catacium), also known as the "City of the two Seas", is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its p ...

as the tenth of twelve children (five who died in their childhoods) to the appellate court

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

Pietro Barba and Giovanna Flora; she was

baptized Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost i ...

on the following 19 January. Her parents and siblings all hailed from

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its ...

but moved to Catanzaro while her father was in that town during a brief assignment. In 1886 the family returned to Palermo. In 1891 she began her time at school and achieved excellent grades while there; she completed her studies in 1898. That same year she began to learn the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

. On 3 April 1894 she made her

First Communion First Communion is a ceremony in some Christian traditions during which a person of the church first receives the Eucharist. It is most common in many parts of the Latin Church tradition of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Church and Anglican Commun ...

and from that point on fostered a special devotion to the

and developed what she referred to as her "vocation for the Eucharist". Barba despaired at not being able to receive it on a frequent basis. In 1899 she felt a strong calling to the religious life as she reflected before an image of the

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This dev ...

and would call this experience her "transformation" and the 2 July 1899 vesting of her cousin as a nun augmented this desire. The girl informed her parents of her decision but her parents opposed this, believing it nothing more than initial spiritual fervour rather than an actual desire. But Barba's devotion grew after learning about the charism of the

Carmelites , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount C ...

which inspired her more through reading the

journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

Thérèse of Lisieux Thérèse of Lisieux (french: Thérèse de Lisieux ), born Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin (2 January 1873 – 30 September 1897), also known as Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face (), was a French Catholic Discalced Carmelite ...

. This also encouraged her to persevere despite being rejected and she continued to wait for the time when she could achieve her dream. Her father died on 21 June 1904. In September 1910 she and her mother and siblings undertook a pilgrimage to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and met

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of ...

in an audience. The girl later made her

Confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...

at a rather advanced age on 12 November 1912. Her mother died on 5 June 1914. Barba could not receive the Eucharist on a frequent basis as her brothers would not allow her to go out on her own so she complied so as not to offend them. Barba waited for two decades before she could enter the order's

at Ragusa on 25 September 1919 and the Cardinal

Archbishop of Palermo The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Palermo ( la, Archidioecesis Panormitana) was founded as the Diocese of Palermo in the first century and raised to the status of archdiocese in the 11th century.Alessandro Lualdi Alessandro Lualdi J.C.D. S.T.D. (12 August 1858 – 12 November 1927) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal who served as Archbishop of Palermo. Biography Lualdi was born in Milan, Italy. He entered the Seminary of Milan and carried on fur ...

encouraged her to enter and fulfil her desire to become a nun. Her entrance into the order saw her assume the religious name of "Maria Candida of the Eucharist" on 16 April 1920 after receiving the habit. Barba made her initial profession on 17 April 1921 and later made her perpetual profession on 23 April 1924. In 1924 her period of formation came to a close and she was elected as the

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be low ...

ess of the convent on 10 November;"Bl. Maria Candida of the Eucharist OCD", Order of Crmelites
/ref> she held this position until 1947 and was reconfirmed in that position on five separate occasions. Barba worked hard with caution to revive the spirit of their foundress and under her able leadership the convent grew to a point where a new foundation could be made in Siracusa. The prioress also helped to secure the return of the

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...

s of the order to the Sicilian region. Barba spent hours before the Eucharist. None of her brothers ever visited her having grown to resent her decision and did not even attend the celebration when she was first vested with the order's habit. On 19 June 1933 - the

feast of Corpus Christi The Feast of Corpus Christi (), also known as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, is a Christian liturgical solemnity celebrating the Real Presence of the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the elements o ...

- the nun began writing the book that served as a record of her own personal experiences and reflections on Eucharistic meditations and this was completed in 1936. The book also records deepening theological reflections on those personal experiences of hers. On 16 June 1922 she had starting writing "Up: First Steps" on her vocation and arrival to the order while later on 5 November 1926 beginning "Mountain Song" at the request of her confessor on her Carmelite life. Barba was first diagnosed with a tumor in her liver back in 1947. She died of cancer on the evening of 12 June 1949 and her remains were interred at Ragusa the following 14 June. Her remains were later relocated on 12 November 1970.

Beatification

The beatification process opened in Ragusa in an informative process that Bishop Francesco Pennisi oversaw from its inauguration on 5 March 1956 until its closure later on 28 June 1962; the formal introduction to the cause came on 15 October 1981 in which she became titled as a

. The

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pass ...

later validated the previous informative process in Rome on 31 May 1991 and received the

Positio In the Catholic Church, a ''positio'' (''Positio super Virtutibus'') is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a person is declared Venerable, the second of the four steps on the path to canonization as a saint. De ...

dossier from postulation officials in 1992. Theologians assented to the cause on 28 April 2000 as did the C.C.S. on 17 October 2000; the confirmation of her life of

allowed for

to name her as

on 18 December 2000. The process for a miracle needed for beatification was investigated in the place of its origin from 12 June 1986 until 9 December 1986 while the C.C.S. later validated the process on 26 March 1993 in Rome. Medical experts approved this healing to be a legitimate miracle on 23 May 2002 as did theologians on 13 December 2002 and the C.C.S. themselves on 4 March 2003. John Paul II approved this miracle on 12 April 2003 and later beatified Barba on 21 March 2004 in

. The second miracle - the one needed for sainthood - was investigated in the place of its origin from 29 June 2007 until 19 June 2008. The current

postulator A postulator is the person who guides a cause for beatification or canonization through the judicial processes required by the Roman Catholic Church. The qualifications, role and function of the postulator are spelled out in the ''Norms to be Obse ...

for the cause is the Discalced Carmelite priest Romano Gambalunga.

Quotations

In her book she related devotions to the

Blessed Mother Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

to the Eucharist and wrote: "I want to be like Mary ... to be Mary for Jesus, to take the place of His Mother. When I receive Jesus in Communion, Mary is always present. I want to receive Jesus from her hands, she must make me one with Him. I cannot separate Mary from Jesus. Hail, O Body born of Mary. Hail Mary, dawn of the Eucharist!" Among her other statements: * O my Beloved Sacrament, I see You, I believe in You! O Holy Faith. Contemplate with ever-greater faith our Dear Lord in the Sacrament: live with Him who comes to us every day. * O My Divine Eucharist, my dear Hope, all our hope is in You. Ever since I was a baby my hope in the Holy Eucharist has been strong. * My Jesus, how I love You! There is within my heart an enormous love for You, O Sacramental Love. How great is the love of God made bread for our souls, who becomes a prisoner for me!

Publications

* ''Up: First Steps'' - 1922. * ''Mountain Song'' - 1926. * ''Eucharist: True Jewel of Eucharistic Spirituality'' - 1936.

References

External links