![]() Hello Everyone: Today is the Traditional feast day of St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi. She was an amazing Carmelite mystic. She is a great example for us parents who try to pamper our children and make life easy for them. Remember that Our Lady of Fatima showed a 7, 9 and 10 year old Hell. This saint is a great inspiration for all of us at any age. Be sure to watch the link below on her vision of Purgatory. St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi was born in Florence on April 2, 1566, Mary Magdalene (baptized Catherine) was taught mental prayer when she was nine years old at the request of her mother. Her introduction at this age to this form of prayer which involves half an hour of meditation did not seem to be unusual. And yet today we often believe children incapable of all but the simplest rote prayers. At twelve years old she experienced her first ecstasy while looking at a sunset which left her trembling and speechless. With this foundation in prayer and in mystical experience, it isn't surprising that she wanted to enter a contemplative monastery of the Carmelite Order. She chose the monastery of St. Mary's of the Angels because the nuns took daily Communion, unusual at the time. In 1583 she had her second mystical experience when the other nuns saw her weeping before the crucifix as she said, "O Love, you are neither known nor loved." Mary Magdalene's life is a contradiction of our instinctive thought that joy only comes from avoiding suffering. A month after being refused early religious profession, she fell deathly ill. Fearing for her life the convent had her professed from a stretcher at the altar. After that, she experienced forty days of ecstasies that coexisted with her suffering. Joy from the graces God gave were mixed with agony as her illness grew worse. In one of her experiences Jesus took her heart and hid it in his own, telling her He "would not return it until it is wholly pure and filled with pure love." She didn't recover from her illness until told to ask for the intercession of Blessed Mary Bagnesi over three months later. Intimate union, God’s gift to mystics, is a reminder to all of us of the eternal happiness of union he wishes to give us. The cause of mystical ecstasy in this life is the Holy Spirit, working through spiritual gifts. One such gift was a vision of Purgatory and its description. This is so all of us can try to be holy and refrain from sin as best we can. After watching the link below on Purgatory's description - One might think ----what is Hell? She was called to be a victim soul - one who suffered with Christ for the sake of the world. She “made up for what was wanting in the sufferings of Christ.” Why, then, does God impose such pains on victim souls like St. Mary Magdalen de’Pazzi? I think it is to remind the rest of us that every sin we commit, whether public or private, inevitably imposes grave pain on other innocent people whom we would normally not dream of hurting. I can think of few better deterrents than this to avoiding sin — the thought that my sins wound both God and neighbor. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel pray for us! St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi - pray for us!
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AuthorBernadette Porter is a Traditional Catholic, a wife of 44 years with 6 adult home-schooled children and 8 grandchildren. A sincere devotion to Mary, the Mother of God leads me to want to share "The Church's best kept secret" - Mary! Archives
February 2025
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