Maria Crocifissa di Rosa
Italian Catholic nun and saint (1813-1855)
Feast: 15 December (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Paola Di Rosa was born of a noble family of Brescia on 6 November 1813; after her mother's death she spent six years from the age of eleven with the Visitation nuns, deepening a piety eager to suffer for Christ.
She consecrated her goods and herself to the spiritual and material good of others and founded the Handmaids of Charity, for care in hospitals and homes, the elderly and children, with schools, orphanages and rest homes. She bore great physical pain and anguish of soul with courage.
The miracles
The Dicastery's biography does not describe the miracles approved in the cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
A noblewoman who gave her wealth and herself to the sick, the old and the young.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Maria Crocifissa Di Rosa
- Wikidata Q459108 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Maria Crocifissa di Rosa (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.