…but better late than never.
February 4, which was Sunday, was the memorial of St. Maria de Mattias, a 19th century woman whose story is well worth reading…and emulating:
Maria’s plans for Acuto included far more than a school. Drawing on Albertini’s writings, the Fundamental Articles, she envisioned a complete program of devotions, spiritual formation, and retreats, educating women and girls in the faith and its practice–a mission house for women directed by women. The school opened on March 4, 1834. The people of Acuto were enthusiastic and responsive.
What characterized the community from the beginning was its distinctive combination of adoration and apostleship. A daily hour of adoration, to which lay auxiliaries were soon invited, anchored their lives. In these hours, fifteen minute reflections by one of the sisters alternated with fifteen minute periods of silence. When confessors would allow it, Maria encouraged the sisters to receive communion daily, a daring intimacy and opportunity for nourishment we sometimes take for granted, but a radical breakthrough and break with the piety and practice of the time. Meditating on the decades of the rosary and Jesus’s seven sheddings of blood in the chaplet of the Precious Blood framed their days. When Merlini sent him the draft of Maria’s rule, Gaspar commented that the lifestyle of the sisters should not be austere, because of their heavy apostolic work.
Teacher and Preacher
Word of what Maria was doing spread throughout the villages and towns of central Italy. There was great need for schools for the children and catechetical instruction for both children and adults. Mayors and bishops besieged Maria with requests for teachers. As often as she could be away from Acuto and Rome, Maria made arduous journeys to visit the small communities scattered throughout the mountains. Many of these places had no resident priests, so instructions and devotions led by the sisters were the only regular source of spiritual life. Maria describes her visit to Vallerotonda in 1860: "giving instructions to the girls and married women; in the evening there are about a hundred, but on Sundays there are around three hundred, not counting the men who stand outside." Maria preached from balconies and standing on tables in town squares. In her letters to Merlini, Maria expressed doubts about speaking in public, but she also reported her satisfaction at the number of people seeking confession and communion in response.
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