Saint Maria Domenica Mazzarello

Life story

Maria Domenica Mazzarello was born on 9 May 1837 in Mornese, in Piedmont, northern Italy, into a farming family. From childhood she worked in the fields with her father and had little chance of schooling. As she grew up she joined the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, an association guided by the parish priest Domenico Pestarino. Biographers describe her as practical and cheerful, a woman who ran the daily affairs of the community by example rather than by theory, and who insisted that the sisters work alongside the girls they taught.

Around 1860 she caught typhus after nursing relatives in her family, and her health was visibly weakened. Unable to do heavy work any longer, she learned dressmaking with a friend, Petronilla, and opened a workshop to teach the village girls, giving them both a trade and religious instruction.

She met Saint John Bosco in 1864 and afterwards worked with him on the education of young girls. In 1872 her group at Mornese was formally established as the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, and she became its first superior general. In 1879 the order's headquarters moved to Nizza Monferrato; the sisters later opened many schools and educational centres in Italy and then in the Americas.

She died on 14 May 1881 in Nizza Monferrato, aged forty-four. She was beatified in 1938 and canonised by Pope Pius XII on 24 June 1951.

Works and witness

• Joined the Daughters of Mary Immaculate led by Fr Pestarino at Mornese
• Opened a dressmaking workshop to teach trade and faith to village girls
• Met Saint John Bosco in 1864 and worked with him
• First superior general of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, founded 1872
• Moved the order's headquarters to Nizza Monferrato in 1879

Saints from the same country

Saint Agnes, Saint Lawrence, Saint Cecilia, Saint Sebastian

References

• Martyrologium Romanum
• Dicastery for the Causes of Saints – biographical profile
• Salesian Sisters (FMA), profile of Saint Mary Mazzarello

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.