Maria Bolognesi
Italian mystic (1924–1980)
Feast: 30 January (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
The Vatican record
- 2 May 2013 — Miracle through their intercession approved (decree list, 2013)
Who they were
Maria Bolognesi was born in Bosaro, near Rovigo in northern Italy, on 21 October 1924, into extreme poverty; hunger and work allowed her only two years of primary school, and she spent 26 years as a farm labourer. From 1943 she minded the children of poor families while their parents worked, took on any trade that would help them, sat with the sick through the night in hospital and collected money and goods for families in need.
From 1944 she described visions of Christ's Passion, and in 1949 offered her life for priests. She died of a heart attack in Rovigo on 30 January 1980 and is buried in the parish church at Bosaro.
The miracles
Marco Ferrari — near Padua, Italy — 1994
A two-year-old boy had a severe allergic reaction to an ordinary antibiotic syrup given for a cold, and developed Lyell's syndrome: his skin came away as if burned, and he lay bandaged from head to foot, close to death. His grandmother prayed to Maria Bolognesi, and he recovered. The Vatican's medical consultants found the healing scientifically inexplicable. Marco later trained at the seminary in Vicenza and became a priest; he says his vocation came directly from his healing.
She was beatified in Rovigo on 7 September 2013; Marco, then 21, was there. One more approved miracle is needed for canonisation.
Why that counted as sanctity
The case of Marco Ferrari was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle on 2 May 2013, opening the way to beatification. Beatification followed on 7 September 2013 by Cardinal Angelo Amato, for Pope Francis.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography of Blessed Maria Bolognesi
- La Piazza (Rovigo), Apr 2020 - Don Marco, from healed child to priest
- Diocese of Adria-Rovigo - ten years since the beatification
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints — promulgated decrees (causesanti.va), summarised in our own words
- Wikidata Q14929346 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Maria Bolognesi (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.