1st feast day celebration of Maria as St. Maria De Mattias 

St. Maria De Mattias: Holy Woman Of The Word

By Phil Smith, CPPS

In his biography of Maria De Mattias, the author, Mario Spinelli, best captures one of the many delightful aspects of ...Maria De Mattias … by calling her, "Woman of the Word."  In fact, that is how he titled the book.  That title best captures the meaning of the entire ambiance surrounding her canonization on May 18, 2003.  On that day, Maria's name, along with three others, was added to the catalogue or book of saints.  This canonization was special because it highlighted the importance of preaching the Good News in any era, ours being no different.  It was not accidental that in the midst of the violence of our own day, the name of Maria De Mattias should be proclaimed as a messenger of peace and reconciliation.  She, who was born in the midst of conflict and division in the early nineteenth century,  (is) rightly …declared a saint in the midst of the conflict and division of today's world, the beginning of the twenty-first century.  It only proves how much further the message of reconciliation needs to be made known, and how important it is to have people like Maria ready and willing to pour out their own life-blood to make that message clear.

….  A passage from one of the Letters of Maria was proclaimed (at her canonization), reminding us of her vibrant message to be full of courage and trust in God…because we are enjoying the grace of Jesus Crucified."  One cannot reflect upon the life of …Maria, however, without also reflecting upon John Merlini, Maria's spiritual director for the vast majority of her life.  How wonderful it was for us to hear from him, that "the most holy virgin showed Maria Calvary and the Cross and invited her to climb."  Calvary, cross, redemptive love, all central to the message of Maria's life, challenge(s) all of us … to see that love in the face of '"our dear neighbor."  . . .

. . . . Names such as Gaspar del Bufalo, Biagio Valentini, John Merlini, Maria De Mattias and many others remind us that holiness is not far way.

Holiness is deeply rooted in our earthiness and ordinary life.  Through the blood of Christ, we who were separated from holiness, are now brought near through the merits of the Blood of the Paschal Lamb.  Now that we call this woman St. Maria De Mattias, it should remind all of us that our spiritual foundation, like hers, needs to be grounded in the Word.  We, too, men and women, are people on the move.  Like Maria, we are challenged to hear the reconciling message of hope in the midst of the noise, the clamor, the injustice, and the oppression of our own day.  The canonization (of Maria De Mattias) invites us to sing the canticle of the new creation, that the Blood of Christ still continues to do marvelous things for us and both the heavens and earth resound with the glory of the Blood of the Lamb.

Excerpts from

The New Wine Press
Volume 12, No. 11
PP 677, 680 and 684
REFLECTION
 

1.       How was Maria De Mattias a messenger of peace and reconciliation in her own day? For all times?

2.       How can I, like Maria, be a messenger of peace and reconciliation in the "ordinariness" of my daily life?