Image: Saint Magdalene of Canossa

Saint Magdalene of Canossa, virgin, foundress of the Canossian Family of Daughters and Sons of Charity is the saint of the day for April 10. She was a woman who deeply loved the Lord. Sent by the Holy Spirit to those most in need, she served them with a Mother’s heart and an apostle’s zeal.

Saint Magdalene of Canossa was born in northern Italy in 1774, the third child of six, to a noble family of Verona, the Marquis Octavius Canossa and Countess Maria Terese Szluha.

During her early childhood, Magdalene experienced great suffering. At the age of five, her father died in a geological expedition. Her mother remarried and left the Canossa Palace and her children behind to be raised by an uncle when Magdalen was just seven years old.

Magdalene was 15 years old when the French Revolution broke out and shook the whole of Europe. In Verona the real consequences were felt about seven years later, when, on June 10, 1796, General Napoleon entered the city as a conqueror.

At the age of seventeen,  Magdalene planned to consecrate her life to God and twice entered Carmel. However, the Holy Spirit urged her to follow another path. After the upheaval of the French Revolution, Magdalene of Canossa experienced a spiritual rebirth. In addition to helping the wounded and the sick, she gave special attention to girls living in poverty and those who had been abandoned.

Magdalene’s growing years were marked by suffering and trials. She lived in a society of contrasts between the very rich and those living in extreme poverty. The society she grew up in was forgetful of God and dominated by pride and privileges.

It was in this environment that Magdalene discovered deep within herself the desire to share the life of Christ in the salvation of many who had been abandoned in their poverty, exploited by the egoism of the rich and oppressed by the evils of her day. Magdalene began to give of herself without reserve to children, youth and women who had to reckon with economic as well as moral, spiritual, intellectual and family poverty.

When the Napoleonic Wars broke out, the Canossa family took temporary refuge in Venice where Magdalene had a dream in which Our Lady showed her needy girls, poor children and sick people.

Upon their return, Magdalene began a work to assist the sick and the wounded, particularly girls and those left abandoned. On several occasions, she hosted the conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte who, impressed with her work, granted her an empty convent for her enterprise.

As other women joined Magdalena’s work, they became known as the “Canossians”. She was invited to open a house in Venice from which they went on to make foundations in Milan, Trent and Bergamo, and other places in northern Italy. But it was in Venice that the foundress drew up the rule for the new congregation, which she called the Daughters of Charity. In 1828, the order was approved by Pope Leo XII.

Magdalene became poor with the poor, primarily concerned with the neglected of society, but went on to open schools and colleges as well, making special provision for the deaf and dumb.

Magdalene died in her native city on April 10, 1835.  She was canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 2, 1988.

Today the Daughters of Charity living the spirit of Magdalene are present in 35 countries around the world and the “Canossian family” includes priests and brothers and a Third Order for lay people.

Saint Magdalene of Canossa Quotes

“Those who love are never tired, since love knows no burden.”

“Let us pray, and God will do the rest.”

“The cross is the key to heaven.”

“The way to holiness consists in a life of uninterrupted sacrifices.”

“In God’s will there is great peace.”

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