CatholicSaints.Info

Saint Carolina Santocanale

Saint Carolina Santocanale Also known as

Sister Maria of Jesus
Sister Maria di Gesù Santocanale
Carolina Concetta Angela Santocanale

27 January

Profile

Born to the nobility, part of the family of the barons of Celsa Reale near Palermo, Italy. Baptized at the age of three days, made her first Communion at age eight, and received a good education. In her late teens she became the target for offers of marriage, but began to feel a call to religious life. Spiritual student of Father Mauro Venuti. Leader of the Daughters of Mary in the parish of San Antonio Abate in Palermo at age 21. The call to religious life became stronger, but she was torn between the contemplative cloister and working with the sick, poor, disabled and abandoned on Palermo. Hoping to combine the two, she became a Franciscan tertiary, taking the name Sister Maria di Gesù. Her family strongly objected to her choice, especially when she and some like-minded tertiaries began going door to door in poor neighborhoods, wearing a backpack of supplies, helping the sick, feeding the poor. Founded the Capuchin Sisters of the Immaculate of Lourdes on 24 January 1923 to continue her work; it continues to do so today.