Elisabetta Martinez
Italian Roman Catholic nun, foundress and blessed
Feast: 8 February (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
The Vatican record
- 13 October 2021 — Heroic virtue declared — title Venerable (decree list, 2021)
- 23 February 2023 — Miracle through their intercession approved (decree list, 2023)
Who they were
Elisa Martinez was born at Galatina, in Apulia, on 25 March 1905, the eldest child of a comfortable family. Her father, who had other plans for her, tried to distract her from religious life with endless parties; she would greet the guests politely and slip away to pray. In 1928 she entered a congregation at Angers, and later founded the Daughters of St Mary of Leuca, which received pontifical approval in 1943 and spread across the world.
In 1965 a group of sisters engineered her removal as superior general; she accepted it with great humility and obedience. She died in 1991.
The miracles
An unborn baby girl — Rimini, Italy — 2018
During a pregnancy, scans showed the baby's growth slowing, too little amniotic fluid and no blood flow in one of the umbilical arteries, which was blocked by a calcified clot, with extensive damage to the placenta. After prayers to Mother Elisa, the baby girl was born at Rimini hospital on 19 March 2018 in good health.
Why that counted as sanctity
The case of an unborn baby girl was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle on 23 February 2023, opening the way to beatification.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography of Blessed Elisa Martinez, with the miracle
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints — promulgated decrees (causesanti.va), summarised in our own words
- Wikidata Q117531894 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Elisabetta Martinez (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.