Maria Pia Notari

Withdrawn from worldly life, Maddalena Notari benefited from the advice of spiritual directors, notably the Redemptorist father Giuseppe Maria Leone. They encouraged her to found a new religious family. On November 20, 1885, in Naples, with the support and approval of Cardinal-Archbishop Guglielmo Sanfelice, she founded the institute of the Servite Adoratrici, which would later take the name Crocifisse di Gesù Sacramentato (Crucified Sisters Adorers of the Eucharist). Maddalena, who became Mother Maria Pia of the Cross (Maria Pia della Croce) in religion, centered the work of her congregation on the contemplation of the Passion of Christ, the reparation of sins, and the perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. In April 1891, she established the motherhouse of the institute in San Giorgio a Cremano, near Naples. It was there that, on June 1, 1891, she welcomed the young Maria Grazia Tarallo, to whom she gave the name Sister Maria of the Passion (the future blessed beatified in 2006). Under her leadership, the congregation developed rapidly. She opened new houses in Castel San Giorgio in 1894, in Nocera Superiore in 1895, and founded a fifth community in Rutigliano on January 3, 1910. To support the liturgical life of the parishes, Mother Maria Pia installed a hand mill at the motherhouse to make hosts and organized the production of selected altar wine. The sisters also dedicated themselves to the education of young girls and to works of charity.

Appointed Superior General of her institute in 1902, Mother Maria Pia of the Cross was confirmed for life in this office in 1914. From 1918, her health declined severely due to arteriosclerosis and various other ailments. Despite her sufferings, she continued to guide her sisters with patience and devotion. On March 20, 1919, she suffered a heart attack. Sensing her end approaching, she gathered her religious sisters and expressed her final wish: that Sister Veronica, her closest collaborator, succeed her as head of the congregation. She passed away peacefully on the evening of July 1, 1919, in San Giorgio a Cremano, at the age of 71. After solemn funeral rites, her remains were first interred in the local cemetery before being transferred on November 16, 1919, to the church of the motherhouse, where she rests today.

The reputation for holiness of Mother Maria Pia of the Cross led to the rapid opening of her cause for beatification. The diocesan informative process began on April 13, 1921. After a long period of examination, the decree of validity for this process was promulgated on June 21, 2003. The Positio super virtutibus, a summary document demonstrating the heroic nature of her virtues, was officially presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in 2015. On July 8, 2016, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her theological and cardinal virtues, thus officially conferring upon her the title of Venerable. To date, no miracle has been the subject of an official decree of approval by the Holy See for her beatification.

The spirituality of the Venerable Maria Pia of the Cross rests upon an intimate union with Christ suffering and present in the Eucharist. She constantly exhorted her spiritual daughters to the love of Christ in the Sacrament, leaving them before she died this final recommendation: "I recommend to you the love of Jesus-Sacrament."\n\nHer legacy endures through the Congregation of the Crucified Sisters Adorers of the Eucharist, which continues its mission of adoration, reparation, and education today in Italy and throughout the world, notably in the Philippines.