Saint Magdalene of Canossa

Saint Magdalene of Canossa was a marchioness from Verona who left her family palace to serve the poor and founded two congregations: the Daughters of Charity and the Sons of Charity, known as the Canossians. The Roman Martyrology commemorates her on April 10, the day of her death.

She was born on March 1, 1774, in Verona as Maddalena Gabriella, into the old and wealthy family of the marquises of Canossa. Her childhood was difficult. When she was five, her father died, and two years later her mother remarried and left the children in the care of a governess. Magdalene was often ill.

At the age of seventeen she longed to give her life to God and twice tried life in Carmel, but she came to see that this was not her path. She returned home and took over the management of the family’s large estate. These were the years when, after the French Revolution, wars swept through northern Italy. On the outskirts of Verona Magdalene saw people who lacked bread, schooling, and the word of God. She nursed the sick in their homes and in the hospital, cared for abandoned children and young prisoners, and supported families in need.

She understood that it is not enough to share one’s wealth without giving oneself. In 1808, despite her family’s resistance, she left the Canossa palace for good and settled with her first companions in the poorest district of Verona. May 8, 1808, is regarded as the beginning of her work. To those who were surprised she replied: “Just because I was born a marchioness, may I not have the honor of serving Jesus Christ in his poor?”

The Daughters of Charity ran schools for poor girls, taught the catechism, visited sick women in hospitals, trained country schoolteachers, and organized retreats. During the foundress’s lifetime houses also arose in Venice, Milan, Bergamo, and Trent. Pope Leo XII approved the rule of the institute on December 23, 1828. The heart of Canossian spirituality became devotion to Christ crucified and to Our Lady of Sorrows standing beneath the cross.

Toward the end of her life, after several failed attempts, she brought about the founding of the male branch. On May 23, 1831, the first oratory of the Sons of Charity was opened in Venice, serving the Christian formation of boys and men. Magdalene died in Verona on April 10, 1835, on the Friday before Palm Sunday, surrounded by her sisters. She was 61 years old.

Pope Pius XII beatified her on December 7, 1941, and John Paul II canonized her on October 2, 1988, in Saint Peter’s Square. In 1860 the Canossian Sisters set out for the Far East. Saint Josephine Bakhita belonged to their congregation. The Canossian family celebrates the feast of its foundress on May 8, the anniversary of the beginning of her work.