Maria De Mattias

On March 4, 1834, at the age of twenty-nine and under the guidance of Giovanni Merlini, Maria De Mattias founded the Congregation of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ in Acuto, another town in the province of Frosinone. At the invitation of Msgr. Giuseppe Maria Lais, administrator of Anagni, she opened a first school for young girls there. The congregation, conceived as an apostolic and teaching institute rather than a monastic one, was dedicated to the education of young girls, the catechesis of mothers and young people, and the evangelization of rural and neglected populations. Her zeal attracted many young women: over the course of her thirty-two years of religious life, she established nearly seventy communities, mainly in poor and remote localities of Lazio, but also abroad, notably in Germany and England. The institute received pontifical approval in 1855. Maria De Mattias also directed the Saint Louis hospice and a school in Civitavecchia, in the region of Rome, testifying to her desire to unite instruction, charity, and Christian formation in the service of the most humble.

The spirituality of Maria De Mattias is entirely ordered toward the contemplation of the Blood of Christ, a sign for her of God's redemptive love and a model of total self-giving. Seized by the mystery of the Cross, she placed her institute "under the emblem of the Divine Blood" and made devotion to the Precious Blood the heart of her interior life and her apostolate. Her love for the crucified Christ was translated, according to John Paul II, into a "passion for souls" and a humble service to her brothers and sisters, whom she designated as her "dear neighbor." Animated by great missionary zeal, she exhorted her sisters to endure trials for the love of Jesus and to work tirelessly to win souls for heaven. Her reputation for holiness, founded on her life of prayer, her humility, and her tireless devotion to the poor and the children of the countryside, spread during her lifetime and was strengthened after her death, leading to the introduction of her cause for beatification.

The cause of Maria De Mattias led to her beatification by Pope Pius XII on October 1, 1950. It was on the occasion of this beatification that her remains were transferred to the Church of the Precious Blood in Rome, where they now rest. More than half a century later, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her a saint on May 18, 2003, in St. Peter's Square, during a ceremony where she was canonized alongside three other blesseds. In his homily, the Pope presented her as a figure conquered by the mystery of the Cross and recalled her exhortation to her spiritual daughters: "Let us encourage one another to suffer willingly for the love of Jesus who, with such great love, shed his blood for us. Let us work with ardor to win souls for heaven." Her liturgical memorial is celebrated on August 20, the anniversary of her death; some sources also mention February 4, the day of her birth, for the celebration proper to her congregation.

The legacy of Maria De Mattias is perpetuated through the congregation of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, which has spread far beyond the countryside of Lazio where it was founded. After the death of the foundress, the institute spread across several continents, opening missions in Europe, the United States, Latin America (Brazil, Bolivia, Guatemala), Africa (Liberia, Congo), as well as in Asia (China, South Korea, Vietnam). The sisters continue the apostolate desired by their foundress: education, catechesis, service to the poor, and care for the most neglected, under the sign of the Blood of Christ. The tomb of the saint, in the church of the Precious Blood in Rome, remains a place of memory and prayer for the religious family of the Precious Blood, which also brings together the Missionaries founded by Gaspar del Bufalo. A figure of popular education and the spirituality of the redeeming Blood, Maria De Mattias is honored as one of the great Italian foundresses of the 19th century.