Saint Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, Virgin
S. Mariae Magdalenae de Pazzis Virginis
Saint Mary Magdalen de Pazzi was a Carmelite nun of Florence, a mystic favoured with extraordinary graces, who burned with love for God and offered herself in prayer and penance for the renewal of the Church.
Saint Mary Magdalen de Pazzi was born of a noble family in Florence in 1566, and was given the name Catherine. Drawn to God from her earliest years, she entered the Carmelite monastery of Saint Mary of the Angels in her native city, taking the name Mary Magdalen, and there she lived the whole of her hidden, prayerful life.
A life of love and suffering
Within the cloister Saint Mary Magdalen was favoured with remarkable mystical graces — raptures, visions, and an intimate knowledge of the things of God — which her sisters recorded as she spoke during her ecstasies. Yet she did not rest in consolations alone. For many years she was tried by a great interior darkness and by bodily sufferings, all of which she embraced with patience as a sharing in the Cross of Christ.
Above all she was consumed by a longing for the renewal of the Church and the salvation of souls. She prayed and did penance for sinners, for priests and religious, and for the whole Church, offering her sufferings that others might be drawn to God. Her watchword was love: she desired only that God should be loved, and she grieved that His love was so little known. She bore everything for the sake of that love, and so spent herself for souls until her death in 1607.
Her witness today
The Church venerates Saint Mary Magdalen de Pazzi among the holy virgins, and the collect of her Mass calls upon God as the “lover of virginity,” who enkindled in her heart a burning love and adorned her with heavenly gifts; it asks that we who keep her feast may imitate her in purity and charity. Her feast on the twenty-ninth of May honours the hidden power of the contemplative life, and the truth that a soul wholly given to love can intercede for the whole Church.
The Collect
O God, the lover of virginity, who didst enkindle in the heart of blessed Mary Magdalen, Thy Virgin, a burning love for Thee, and didst adorn her with heavenly gifts: grant that we who venerate her with festal solemnity may imitate her in purity and charity.
Deus, virginitátis amátor, qui beátam Maríam Magdalénam Vírginem, tuo amóre succénsam, cæléstibus donis decorásti: da; ut, quam festíva celebritáte venerámur, puritáte et caritáte imitémur.
Patronage
She is venerated as a Carmelite mystic of Florence and is invoked by those who pray for the renewal of the Church and the conversion of sinners.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar her feast is observed on 25 May as an optional memorial.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Mary Magdalen de Pazzi?
In the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal her feast is kept on 29 May as a Third Class feast. In the modern calendar it is observed on 25 May.
Who was Saint Mary Magdalen de Pazzi?
She was a Carmelite nun of Florence (1566–1607), a mystic favoured with extraordinary graces who offered her prayers and sufferings for the renewal of the Church and the salvation of souls. She is honoured among the holy virgins.
Is she the same as Saint Mary Magdalene of the Gospels?
No. Saint Mary Magdalen de Pazzi was a sixteenth-century Carmelite who took that religious name. Saint Mary Magdalene of the Gospels, whose feast is 22 July, was a disciple of the Lord in the first century. They are different saints.
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