Bl. Mary of the Divine Heart

Maria Droste zu Vischering was born in 1863 in Münster, Germany, the daughter of noble parents. From her youth she was drawn to serving girls in trouble. She entered the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, who cared for such girls, taking the name Mary of the Divine Heart. She had a special preference: "When I favoured a girl, it was always the most unhappy and unfortunate one."

In 1894 she was sent to Lisbon and then made superior of the convent in Porto, Portugal, which was in disorder. She restored it, and people of every class came to her for help. She took in especially poor small children. Her rule was "never to refuse a child while there is still a corner free in the house". From 1896 bone tuberculosis of the spine (Pott's disease) left her unable to get up unaided. Following an inner prompting, she wrote to Pope Leo XIII asking him to consecrate the whole human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He did so on June 11, 1899. She had died three days earlier, aged thirty-five.

Busy with work, she wondered whether it was drawing her away from Jesus. In Holy Week 1890 she believed she heard within: "When you work, I work through you… I see with your eyes, work with your hands." Her illness then took away her work, and she kept praying.

The Church has declared Mary of the Divine Heart Blessed.

Beatification allows public veneration, usually in a particular region or religious family. Canonization extends it to the whole Church.