Madaleina Catherine Beauchamp Hambrough

In 1914, Madaleina Catherine traveled to Italy to join Mother Hesselblad. On September 8, 1914, she received the religious habit, began her novitiate, and took the name Sister Maria Riccarda del Preziosissimo Sangue (Mary Richard of the Most Precious Blood). She made her perpetual vows on September 12, 1918, and was entrusted with the role of novice mistress. In August 1923, she left for Sweden, the homeland of Saint Bridget, to help establish a Bridgettine community in Djursholm, near Stockholm. To circumvent the legal ban on Catholic monasteries in Sweden at that time, the house was officially opened as a rest home (vilohem). She then accompanied Mother Hesselblad on numerous journeys to found and visit new communities of the order. In 1931, the Bridgettines succeeded in settling permanently in the historic house on Piazza Farnese in Rome, the very place where Saint Bridget of Sweden had lived and died in 1373. In 1935, Sister Maria Riccarda also participated in the inauguration of the Vadstena house in Sweden. During the Second World War, under the leadership of Mother Elisabeth Hesselblad, the community of Piazza Farnese distinguished itself by its heroism. Responding to the call of Pope Pius XII, the nuns opened the doors of their convent to hide and save approximately 60 people persecuted by the Nazis, including Jewish families (notably the Piperno family), communists, and Polish refugees. Sister Maria Riccarda devoted herself body and soul to their protection, earning the affectionate nickname of "mammina" or "Mama" from those she saved, due to her gentleness and constant solicitude. After witnessing the death of the foundress on April 24, 1957, Sister Maria Riccarda was elected in 1958 as the first Abbess General of the Order of the Bridgettines to succeed Saint Elisabeth Hesselblad. She exercised this office with wisdom and devotion until 1964. She passed away piously on June 26, 1966, at the convent of Piazza Farnese in Rome.

The cause for beatification and canonization of Sister Maria Riccarda Beauchamp Hambrough was introduced jointly with that of another British Bridgettine nun, Sister Florence Kate Flanagan (in religion Sister Maria Caterina). The diocesan phase of the inquiry was officially opened by the Diocese of Rome on July 5, 2010, and closed on October 21, 2011. The documents were then transmitted to the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican for examination.

On January 27, 2025, Pope Francis authorized the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues, thus officially conferring upon her the title of Venerable. For her beatification to be pronounced, the official recognition of a miracle attributed to her intercession by the Holy See is now required.

The spirituality of the Venerable Maria Riccarda was deeply rooted in the contemplation of the mystery of God, nourished by long hours of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament and a particular devotion to the Most Precious Blood. She accepted the illness and sufferings of the end of her life with profound Christian resignation. She leaves behind the image of an attentive educator, a mistress of novices of great kindness, and a vigilant superior. Her legacy is also marked by her ecumenical commitment and her heroic charity during the dark hours of the war, fully embodying the mission of reconciliation and hospitality of the Bridgettine Order.