Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa
Profile
Lay woman from the diocese of Braga, Portugal, she went to school in Povoa do Varzim and learned relgion from her pious mother on the family farm. At age 14 Alexandrina jumped from a window to escape a rapist; she was injured in the fall, by 19 was paralyzed and bed-ridden for the rest of her life. Member of the Salesian Cooperators, she spent her years of immobility in prayer for the salvation of souls. Mystic and visionary. From 1938 to 1942, each Friday she would overcome the paralysis, get out of bed, relive the Passion of Christ for three hours, and then collapse again. Petitioned Pope Pius XII to consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which he did on 31 October 1942. The last 13 years of her life she had the gift of inedia, living solely off daily Communion.
Born
- 13 October 1955 at Balasar, Oporto, Portugal of natural causes
- 12 January 1996 by Pope John Paul II (decree of heroic virtues)
MLA Citation
- “Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa“. CatholicSaints.Info. 7 July 2023. Web. 28 April 2024. <>