From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8(a) -   
      
       Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it   
   is   
   not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,   
   it   
   keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with   
   the   
   truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.   
   Love   
   never fails.   
   ___________________________________________________________________   
      
    "A wise lover values not so much the gift of the lover as the love of the   
   giver."   
       - Thomas A Kempis   
      
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   February 25th - Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani, O.S.B.   
      
   Maria Adeodata Pisani, O.S.B., was born in Naples on the 29th December 1806,   
   the   
   only daughter of Baron Benedetto Pisani Mompalao Cuzkeri and Vincenza   
   Carrano.   
   She was baptized on the same day in the Parish of St Mark at Pizzofalcone,   
   and   
   named Maria Teresa. Her father had the title of Baron of Frigenuini, one of   
   the   
   oldest and richest barony in Malta, whilst her mother was an Italian.   
   Unfortunately, her father took to drink and this soon led to marital   
   problems,   
   so much so that whilst Maria Teresa was still a small child her mother left   
   the   
   conjugal house and entrusted the child to her husband's mother, Elisabeth   
   Mamo   
   Mompalao, who lived in Naples. The grandmother took good care of Maria   
   Teresa,   
   but when she died her grandchild was only 10 years of age. After her   
   grandmother's death, she was sent to a famous boarding school in Naples,   
   known   
   as the 'Istituto di Madama Prota', where the aristocratic ladies of the area   
   used to get their education.   
      
   Maria Teresa stayed in this college till she was 17 years of age, and here   
   she   
   received her religious and social education. In the meantime, her father   
   continued to create problems and in 1821, due to his involvement in the   
   uprising   
   in Naples, he was sentenced to death. Since he was a British citizen, his   
   sentence was suspended and he was expelled from Naples and deported to   
   Malta.   
      
   In 1825, Maria Teresa and her mother came to live in Malta. They settled in   
   Rabat where her father was also living his dissolute life, but they never   
   lived   
   together with him. Although her mother had been trying to find a suitable   
   man to   
   get her married, Maria Teresa always declined such proposals. She preferred   
   to   
   lead a quiet life, going out to Church daily, and when the occasion   
   presented   
   itself to help the poor she met on the streets. The people who knew her   
   started   
   to comment about her pious behavior. She was never put off by her father's   
   behavior and whenever she met him she would ask for his blessing.   
      
   On one occasion, she was impressed by a sermon she heard at the 'Ta' Giezu'   
   church in Rabat. She went to pray in front of the picture of Our Lady of   
   Good   
   Counsel, in the Augustinian's Church in Rabat, the church where she usually   
   went   
   for her daily mass and evening prayers. There for the first time she felt   
   the   
   calling to become a nun and dedicate her life to God in prayer. Her parents   
   immediately opposed her wish to become a nun, and her mother forced her to   
   wait   
   for a year before making any final decision. Maria Teresa waited obediently   
   for   
   a whole year, but her resolve did not change.   
      
   On the 16th July 1828, she joined the Benedictine Community in St Peter's   
   Monastery in Mdina. In choosing this kind of life, she had chosen a life of   
   prayer, work, silence and obedience. After six months as a postulant, at the   
   beginning of 1829  in a special ceremony of investiture as a novice took   
   place,   
   surrounded by her parents and relatives, and she changed her name to Maria   
   Adeodata. During the one year she was a novice, she impressed not only her   
   companions in the noviciate but also the nun who was in charge of the   
   novices.   
   This nun confessed that she never found any fault in Adeodata, and that   
   instead   
   of teaching her, she used to learn from her.   
      
   On the 4th March 1830, the required Notarial Act of Renouncement was   
   performed,   
   which was the last formal step required to be admitted as a nun. In this   
   Act,   
   she renounced her titles and distributed the vast inheritance she had   
   inherited   
   from her paternal grandmother, keeping just enough for herself to be able to   
   help others during her lifetime.   
      
   The solemn monastic profession took place on the 8th March 1830, and for the   
   next 25 years she lived as a cloistered nun in St Peter's monastery. During   
   this   
   period, not only the nuns in the monastery but many persons outside   
   benefited   
   from her acts of charity and her saintly life. She held various official   
   responsibilities within the monastery, but the ones she treasured most were   
   that   
   of looking after the chapel, which gave her more time to be near the Blessed   
   Sacrament and that of porter, which kept her close to the poor people who   
   used   
   to come daily to the monastery seeking help. For four years she was in   
   charge of   
   novices, and from 1851 to 1853 she was elected as Abbess. During the two   
   years'   
   mandate she had to face difficulties from a few members of the community,   
   since   
   she tried to bring about some changes in community life in order to help the   
   community live more in accordance with the Benedictine rule and monastic way   
   of   
   life. Some nuns were also jealous of her since so many people revered her   
   for   
   her saintly way of life.   
      
   She was renowned for her spirit of self-sacrifice and self-denial. The best   
   she   
   had, whether food or clothes, were always given to those in need, whilst she   
   was   
   happy to live on leftovers and worn out clothes. During her life in the   
   monastery she also wrote various works, the most famous of which is "The   
   mystical garden of the soul that loves Jesus and Mary", which collects   
   together   
   personal spiritual reflections written in the form of a diary between 15th   
   August 1835 and 3rd May 1843. She also wrote her reflections about spiritual   
   direction, and a good number of prayers some of which were meant to be used   
   in   
   the community. Although her native language was Italian, she did her best to   
   learn how to speak and write in Maltese, and she wrote some prayers in   
   Maltese   
   for common use in the Monastery. Throughout her life as a nun, she was a   
   shining   
   example to all in her observance of the Rule of St Benedict, obedience to   
   her   
   superiors, her acts of charity, her devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to   
   the   
   Blessed Virgin, and her total commitment to love God.   
      
   During the last two years of her life, heart trouble slowly eroded her   
   health   
   which was never all that good. Yet she continued to force herself to live a   
   normal life within her community, always striving for perfection and leading   
   others through her example.   
      
   On the 25th February 1855, at the age of 48, she realized that the end was   
   near.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)