LIFE OF SAINT MARIA CRISTINA BANDO

ST. MARIA CRISTINA BRANDO

(May 01,1856-January 20,1906)

FOUNDRESS

 of the

OBLATION SISTERS OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT (OSBS)

 

ST. MARIA CRISTINA BRANDO

(1856-1906)

 

BIOGRAPHY

 

St. Maria Cristina Brando was born in Casoria, Naples, Italy on May 1, 1856 of wealthy parents, Giovanni Giuseppe Brando and Maria Concetta Marazzo. Her mother died few days after the birth of the servant of God.

Possessing a gentle and docile nature, she received a fruitful and sound religious education within her family and early on, showed clear signs of an inclination toward prayer and celibacy.

Attracted by the things of God, she fled from worldly vanities, and in addition to a love for solitude, she frequently celebrated the sacrament o Penance and was a daily received Holy Communion. She heeded the teaching of our Savior (cf. Mt 5, 48), and was accustomed to say repeatedly: "l want to be a saint." Approximately at the age of twelve, before an image of the Child Jesus, she professed a vow of perpetual chastity.

When she perceived that she had vocation to a religious life. She tried to enter the Monastery of the Sacramentine Sisters in Naples, but she prevented from doing so by her father. However, she did obtain his consent to be received as a candidate for the Poor Clare Nuns at their Monastery of the Fiorentino. Nevertheless, because of illness she was prevented twice from entering and was forced to return to her family for medical care. Following her recuperation she received permission to enter the Monastery of the Sacramentine Nuns. In 1876 she was vested with the religious habit and took the name, Sister Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception. Here too she became ill and was forced to abandon the venture that she had undertaken with such great fervour.

At this point she understood that the moment had arrived for her to dedicate her life to an institute to which she had always felt a calling. Therefore in 1878, while renting a room with the Teresiane Sisters of Torre del Greco, she laid the foundation for a new religious family that currently bears the name: the Congregation of the Sisters Expiatory Victims of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. The new congregation grew quickly despite economic constraints and other obstacles, as well as the unstable health of the foundress herself.

After residing in various places, the community with the guidance of the Servant of God, Michelangelo of Marigliano and St. Ludovico of Casoria, settled in Casoria not far from Naples. The new Institute encountered numerous difficult situations, but in many ways the congregation also experienced divine Providence through the help of many benefactors and clergy, most especially the priest, Fr. Domenico Maglione. The institute grew with members and new houses were added. The foundress and community members devoted to great devotion to the Eucharist and diligently cared for the education of young boys and girls.

In 1897 the servant of God professed temporary vows and on July 07, 1903 the Congregation received canonical approbation from the Holy See. On November 2, the same year, the foundress, together with many of her sisters, professed perpetual vows.

She lived her consecration with generosity, perseverance and spiritual joy. She held the office of the Superior General with humility, prudence and amiability, giving her sisters continual examples of fidelity to God and to one's vocation and of zeal for the growth of the kingdom of God. She walked the path of holiness with exactitude and generosity, and with the help of God's grace she continually progressed in imitation of the Lord, in obedience to the Gospel and in Christian perfection in her spiritual journey towards God and to reach what her heart has ardently desired — "HOLINESS."

The servant of God entered eternal life on January 20, 1906, to which even as a young child, she always aspired and for which she had prepared herself so diligently.

HER SPIRITUALITY

The life of St. Maria Cristina Brando was always characterized by faith that was simple, consistent, and lively and which was nourished by listening to the word of God, by fruitful celebration of the sacraments, by assiduous contemplation of the eternal truths and fervent prayer. She particularly cultivated the devotion to the Incarnation, Passion and Death of Christ and to the Eucharist. In order to be nearer in spirit and in body to the tabernacle, she built a cell adjacent to the church, which she called the "groticella" (the little grotto) recalling the creche of the Nativity. It was a source of edification for everyone in Casoria. Here she spent every night of her life, seated in a chair, so as to accompany Jesus in the Eucharist, while awake and while resting

Her spirituality of expiation was so strong, that it became the charisma of the congregation. In fact, among the remaining fragments of her autobiography, written in obedience to her spiritual director, we read: "the principal purpose of this work of reparation for the offences that are received by the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, especially so many acts of irreverence and carelessness, sacrilegious communions, and sacraments poorly celebrated, Holy Masses assisted at inattentively and that which bitterly pierces that Scared Heart, that so many of his ministers and so many souls that are consecrated to him, align themselves with this ignorant people and thus pierce his heart even more to the Perpetual Adorers, the divine Heart of Jesus wants to entrust the sweet and sublime office of Victims of perpetual adoration and reparation to his Divine Heart, so horribly offended affronted in the Blessed Sacrament of Love. (...) To the Perpetual Adorers, in the active and contemplative lifestyle, (...) the Sacred Heart of Jesus entrusts the sweet office of Victims of Charity and reparation; of charity because they entrusted with the care of children."

WORKS OF CHARITY

In light of this second dimension, various works would be established: Promotion of devotion of the Eucharist, education for Christian youth, instruction in catechism, assistance of the orphans and elderly. All these: for reparation. In fact, bringing the knowledge of the love of God wherever it is not known, makes him become loved and doing so, helps other to avoid those offences that Mother Cristina lived to expiate.

This becomes very clear in the two elements which summarize the charisma that Mother Cristina imparted to her sisters. Expiatory Victims: The Love of God and the love of neighbour, which she defined as "two branches that originate from the same trunk."

Today her spirituality, charisma and various works of charity are still continued to flourish in four continents: Europe, South America,Asia and Africa. The congregation is present in Italy, Brazil, Columbia, Philippines and Indonesia. The mother house and general house is located in Casoria, Naples, Italy which the foundress had worked so fervently for the love of God and neighbor both spiritual and material. 

CANONIZATION

Mother Maria Cristina Brando's cause for canonization was opened under Pope Paul VI on May 04, 1972 and she was declared a Servant of God. Pope John Paul Il recognized that she had led a life of heroic virtues and proclaimed her to be venerable on July 02, 1994. An independent process on a miracle needed for beatification opened and closed in 1995 and it culminated in the promulgation of a decree on that miracle on December 20, 2001. This led her beatification on April 27, 2003 by Pope John Paul Il.

Pope Francis approved the final miracle needed for her canonization on September 17, 2014 on a consistory was held on October 20, 2014 to determine the date of her canonization but it was not decided upon. In a consistory February 14, 2015, the pope declared the canonization would occur on May 17, 2015; she was canonized at the Vatican. Her feast day is January 20, the day she entered eternal life.