Today on my mom's birthday, I wanted to pick a special saint, someone special like her. There were a bunch of saints today, July 9, and even one man from Chicago, the first African-American priest in the USA whose cause for canonization is opening: Father Augustus Tolton.
But today we are going to learn about a courageous and busy woman from Croatia, named Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified...courageous and busy, just like my Mom. Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified was born as Maria Petkovic on December 10, 1892 in Blato, Korcula Island, Croatia. She was sixth of eleven children and was raised in a wealthy family known for their charity to the poor. She was educated in public schools and then was educated in the School of Domestic Science run by the Servants of Charity. She made her First Holy Communion in 1905 at age 13.
She joined the Daughters of Mary a year later in 1906, as she felt a very serious call to religious life and at age 21 she made a private vow of chastity. She was the president of the 300 member Daughters of Mercy for ten years from 1909 to 1919. She as a member of the Good Shepherd Association, which was a group of 20 young women who visited the sick and help children prepare for their First Communion. When she was 19 years old in 1911 her father died and she helped raise her younger siblings. In 1915 she founded the Society of Catholic Mothers in 1915. She led a group of 200 Franciscan tertiaries in 1917 and began working in the Servants of Charity soup kitchen. All her work in Blato made her well-loved and well-known and she promised the citizens she would stay there to help them.
On March 25, 1919, she and her friend Marija Telenta joined the Sisters of Charity. In May, the superior died and the Italian sisters were forces to leave the country and Blessed Mary, Marija, and two other Croatian sisters were left to handle the work in that area. Blessed Mary was put in charge and requested that the sisters follow the Rule of the Third Order Franciscans. Even though they were few in numbers, they opened a child-care facility and an orphanage.
On August 25, 1920, Blessed Mary wrote the first constitution of a new order and on October 4, 1920 founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Mercy and took the name of Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified. She was the Superior General of the Congregation for over 30 years and helped to found 46 communities of her order which served in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, seminaries, and parishes. Her health started to fail and she was left partially paralyzed in the last three years of her life. She died on July 9, 1966. She was beatified on June 6, 2003 and awaits canonization.
"Love infinitely the most sweet Lord Jesus Christ; do everything for Him alone and spend your life in works of mercy and of love."
Maria is my blood relative. I am blessed to have her in my family tree. She was a smart and amazing woman♡♡
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