Bienheureuse Marie
Mancini
Moniale dominicaine (+
1431)
Elle vécut à Pise en
Toscane. Elle fut d'abord épouse et mère de famille. Mariée à douze ans, mère
de deux enfants, elle devint veuve à seize ans. Remariée, elle perdit son
second époux huit ans plus tard. Grande était sa miséricorde pour les pauvres.
Devenue moniale dominicaine, elle réalisa pleinement sa vocation de
contemplative et de mystique.
À Pise en Toscane, l’an
1431, la bienheureuse Marie Mancini. Deux fois veuve, ayant perdu tous ses
enfants, elle institua, avec les encouragements de sainte Catherine de Sienne,
la vie commune au monastère de Saint-Dominique qu’elle dirigea pendant dix ans.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/9862/Bienheureuse-Marie-Mancini.html
Bienheureuse Marie
Mancini
Veuve, Dominicaine
(† 1431)
Catherine Mancini, fille
d'une haute famille de Pise, étant encore au berceau, vit son Ange gardien et
en reçut un avertissement qui préserva ses jours. Quelques temps après, elle en
eut une seconde visite, et dès lors il s'établit entre l'âme virginale de
l'enfant et l'esprit bienheureux un mystérieux échange de prières et de grâces.
C'est à cette école que Catherine apprit les secrets de l'amour divin.
Elle eût désiré n'être
épouse que de Jésus-Christ, elle fut obligée au mariage par son père; mais elle
perdit en peu de temps son mari et deux petits enfants. Contrainte à une
seconde alliance, Catherine, malgré son attrait pour la vie religieuse, obéit
de nouveau. Dieu saura tirer Sa gloire de son obéissance et purifier cette âme
d'élite par le sacrifice. En quelques années, elle fut entourée d'une nombreuse
famille. Au milieu des occupations, des fatigues, des peines que lui donnaient
le soin de sa maison et l'éducation de ses enfants, elle sut, par un emploi
actif et minutieux de tous ses instants, trouver le loisir de s'entretenir avec
Dieu dans la plus haute contemplation. Sa charité était inépuisable; jamais un
pauvre ne frappait en vain à sa porte. Elle se plaisait surtout à soulager les
malades, à panser leurs plaies, à leur distribuer, avec des aumônes, des
paroles de paix et de consolation.
Dieu l'éprouva encore par
les pertes bien douloureuses de ses six enfants et de son époux lui-même. Elle
rejeta dès lors toute alliance terrestre, fit voeu de jeûner quatre fois la
semaine, de prendre chaque jour une rude discipline, et de ne se permettre un
léger repos que sur un lit de planches. Bientôt même elle quitta le monde pour
entrer au cloître, dans l'Ordre des Soeurs de Saint-Dominique. Désormais elle
s'appellera soeur Marie. Là elle se distingue par d'héroïques excès de
pénitence, qui lui méritent des visions célestes, et par un zèle admirable pour
la délivrance des âmes du purgatoire.
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie
des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/bienheureuse_marie_mancini.html
Bienheureuse Marie
Mancini, de Pise, de l'ordre de Saint-Dominique. 1431
" Placez vos
richesses dans le ciel, et le poids de votre veuvage deviendra tolérable."
Saint Jean Chrysostome.
La bienheureuse Marie,
que le monde appelait Catherine, naquit à Pise vers la fin du XIVe siècle. Son
père, nommé Barthélémy, était de la noble famille des Mancini, fameuse alors en
Toscane. Humble et pure, ses premières années s'écoulèrent dans la paix et les
soins pieux de la famille. Encore au berceau, elle reçut de son ange un
avertissement qui préserva ses jours. Plus tard, ce même ange lui apparut dans
une autre vision, et dès lors entre elle et lui s'établit un mystérieux échange
de prières, de grâces et de pieux avis.
Bien jeune encore, notre
bienheureuse - qui était d'une grande beauté - fut mariée, et de cette union
eut deux filles qui, après quelques jours de vie, s'envolèrent au ciel. Son
mari lui-même passa bientôt de ce monde à l'autre. La bienheureuse avait pris
un époux non par choix mais par obéissance ; l'obéïssance lui fit accepter un
second mariage. Elle en eut cinq fille et un fils.
Marie sut joindre à ses
travaux de mère, à ses devoirs d'épouse, la contemplation la plus haute, la plus
large, et la plus tendre charité. Les pauvres étrangers et les malades
trouvaient dans la maison de cette pieuse dame les secours les plus empressés
et les soins les plus affectueux : elle aimait à remplir envers les membres
souffrants de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ tous les devoirs de la charité.
Veuve une seconde fois,
et ayant vu mourir tous ses enfants, elle refusa désormais les alliances
terrestres et résolut de mener une vie plus austère. Aussi fit-elle voeu de
jeûner quatre fois la semaine, de flageller son corps par des disciplines
quotidiennes, de ne s'accorder que le sommeil nécessaire sur un lit de bois, et
de s'adonner nuit et jour à l'oraison. Elle ajoutait à ces pieux exercice le
travail manuel qui lui procurait les aliments nécessaires, et souvent elle les
donnait, pleine de joie, aux malades et aux indigents. Elle demandaient sans
cesse à Dieu de se conformer en tout à sa sainte volonté.
Vers ce temps-là, sainte
Catherine de Sienne vint à Pise : Marie eut avec elle des rapports très intimes
et en reçut de salutaires avis. A son exhortation, elle prit l'habit des soeurs
de l'ordre de Saint-Dominique, que l'on nommait alors soeurs de la Pénitence,
et peu après elle résolut d'entrer dans une maison d'observance. Car, comme
toutes les religieuses vivaient de leurs propres revenus, Marie mena une vie
commune avec six compagnes qui étaient à sa charge, et qu'elle dirigeait avec
prudence. Son amour pour la perfection lui fit quitter ce couvent pour passer,
avec la bienheureuse Claire, dans celui de Saint-Dominique que venait de fonder
Pierre Gambacorti, père de celle-ci.
Alors, de concert avec
quelques compagnes embrasées de la même ardeur, elle fit tous ses efforts pour
mettre en vigueur la stricte observance de la règle, et tel fut son zèle qu'à
la mort de la bienheureuse Claire, les religieuses l'eurent prieure.
On raconte mille choses
merveilleuses dont fut remplie la vie cloîtrée de notre bienheureuse Marie
Mancini : visions célestes, étranges et terribles assauts de l'enfer, excès
héroïques de pénitence, immense charité, tendre et généreuse compassion pour
les pauvres âmes du purgatoire.
Enfin, avancée en âge,
elle s'envola au ciel en l'année 1431.
Son corps, tiré du
tombeau quelques années après sa mort, fut placé sur les autels et devint
l'objet d'un culte perpétuel. La souverain pontife Pie IX, après avoir consulté
la sacrée Congrégation des Rites, l'approuva canoniquement le 2 août 1855, et
accorda à tout l'ordre des Frères Prêcheurs, ainsi qu'au diocèse de Pise, le
privilège d'une messe et d'un office en l'honneur de la bienheureuse Marie
Mancini. Cette fête a été fixée le 30 janvier.
Elle est considérée comme
une des saintes patronnes des familles et des religieuses.
Rq : On veillera à éviter
l'outrage de confondre notre prodigieuse bienheureuse avec son homonyme, nièce
de Mazarin, maîtresse du Bourbon Louis XIV, roi de France...
Also
known as
Mary Mancini
Mary of Pisa
Catherine Mancini
Profile
By age 25, Maria had
been married twice,
to Baccio Mancini and them Guillermo Spezzalaste, widowed twice,
and saw all seven of
her children die in childhood.
She became a spiritual student Saint Catherine
of Siena and took the veil of
the Dominican Third
Order at the Holy Cross monastery in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy.
Discipline there was lax, and many of the sisters were more meddlesome than
holy. Maria was soon the leader of a small group of young, pious but timid
sisters, all of whom moved to the new monastery of
Saint Dominic in Pisa.
Maria assisted its founder, Blessed Chiara
Gambacorta, to make the house an example of the Domincan religious
life. Prioress of
the house for ten years. Received visions of
the wounded Jesus.
Born
22 January 1431 in Pisa, Italy of
natural causes
buried in
the church of
the Saint
Dominic monastery in Pisa
2 August 1855 by Pope Pius IX (cultus
confirmation)
Additional
Information
Saints
and Saintly Dominicans, by Blessed Hyacinthe-Marie
Cormier, O.P.
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italianon
MLA
Citation
“Blessed Maria
Mancini“. CatholicSaints.Info. 23 December 2021. Web. 4 January 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-maria-mancini/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-maria-mancini/
Saints
of the Day – Blessed Mary of Pisa, Widow, Tertiary
Article
(also known as Catherine
Mancini)
Born in Pisa, Italy,
1355; died 1431; cultus confirmed by Pius IX in 1855; feast day formerly on
December 22.
Almost from the moment
Catherine Mancini was born into that noble family she began enjoying the
miraculous favors with which her life was filled. At the age of three, she was
warned by some heavenly agency that the porch on which she had been placed by
her nurse was unsafe. Her cries attracted the nurse’s attention, and they had
barely left the porch when it collapsed. She also was able to see her guardian
angel from her childhood.
When she was 5, she
beheld in an ecstasy the dungeon of a palace in Pisa in which Blessed Peter
Gambacorta, one of the leading citizens, was being tortured. At Catherine’s
prayer, the rope broke and the man was released. Our Lady told the little girl
to say prayers every day for this man, because he would one day be her
benefactor.
Catherine would have much
preferred the religious life to marriage, but she obeyed her parents and was
married at the age of 12. Widowed at 16, she was compelled to marry again. Of
her seven children, only one survived the death of her second husband, and
Catherine learned through a vision that this child, too, was soon to be taken
from her. Thus she found herself, at age 24, twice widowed and bereft of all
seven of her children. Refusing a third marriage, she devoted herself to prayer
and works of charity.
She soon worked out for
herself a severe schedule of prayers and good works, fasting, and
mortifications. She tended the sick and the poor, bringing them into her own
home and regarding them as our Lord Himself. She gave her goods to the poor and
labored for them with her own hands. Our Lord was pleased to show her that He
approved of her works by appearing to her in the guise of a poor young man,
sick, and in need of both food and medicine. She carefully dressed his wounds,
and she was rewarded by the revelation that it was in reality her Redeemer whom
she had served.
Saint Catherine of Siena
visited Pisa at about this time, and the two saintly women were drawn together
into a holy friendship. As they prayed together in the Dominican church one
day, they were surrounded by a bright cloud, out of which flew a white dove.
They conversed joyfully on spiritual matters, and were mutually strengthened by
the meeting.
On the advice of Saint
Catherine of Siena, Catherine Mancini retired to the enclosed Santa Croce
convent of the Second Order. In religion, she was given the name Mary, by which
she is usually known. She embraced the religious life in all its primitive
austerity and reformed the convent. With Blessed Clare Gambacorta and a few
other members of the convent, she founded a new and much more austere house,
which had been built by Peter Gambacorta. Our Lady’s prophecy of his
benefaction was thus fulfilled.
Blessed Mary was favored
with many visions and was in almost constant prayer. She became prioress of the
house on the death of her friend Blessed Clare Gambacorta, and ruled it with
justice and holiness until her death (Attwater2, Benedictines, Dorcy).
MLA
Citation
Katherine I
Rabenstein. Saints of the Day, 1998. CatholicSaints.Info.
14 May 2020. Web. 4 January 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-blessed-mary-of-pisa-widow-tertiary/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-blessed-mary-of-pisa-widow-tertiary/
Saints
and Saintly Dominicans – 22 December
Blessed Mary
Mancini, Widow, O.P.
God leads His elect by
ways which are as impenetrable and varied as they are wise. The servant of God,
Mary Mancini, who had been visited by angels from her childhood, and strongly
attracted by grace to perfection, was twice obliged to marry, and only escaped
a third alliance by an energetic refusal. Her house then became a hospital for
the sick and pilgrims. She entered the Third Order at Pisa, by the advice of
Saint Catherine of Siena, which as often happens, was her preparation for the
religious life. She finally entered a monastery of the Second Order, directed
by Blessed Clara Gambacorti, whom she powerfully assisted in reforming several
Italian convents. Her fervor and regularity were great, so also were her
penances, which she specially offered for the Holy Souls. The devils afflicted
her for a long time, but she triumphed over them by her patience, thus meriting
wonderful heavenly favors. Amongst others she had an apparition of Saint
Bridget, and another time she saw sixty-three angels each offering Mary a
flower! her angel guardian graciously provided her with one to offer the Mother
of God. (1431)
Prayer
Blessed Mary, show me all
that is wanting to make me entirely God’s. This sight will fill me with shame.
But I prefer salutary confusion to a dangerous illusion.
Practice
From now till the end of
the year scrupulously deprive yourself of all superfluities, that you may give
extra alms to the poor, either in the way of food or clothing.
– taken from the
book Saints
and Saintly Dominicans, by Blessed Hyacinthe-Marie
Cormier, O.P.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-and-saintly-dominicans-22-december/
Blessed Mary Mancini of
Pisa
Memorial day: January
30th
Profile
Catherine Mancini was
born in Pisa, of noble parentage, and almost in babyhood began enjoying the
miraculous favors with which her life was filled. At the age of three, she was
warned by some heavenly agency that the porch on which she had been placed by a
nurse was unsafe. Her cries attracted the nurse's attention, and they had
barely left the porch when it collapsed. When she was five, she beheld in an
ecstasy the dungeon of a place in Pisa in which Peter Gambacorta, one of the
leading citizens, was being tortured. At Catherine's prayer, the rope broke and
the man was released. Our Lady told the little girl to say prayers every day
for this man, because he would one day be her benefactor.
Catherine would have much
preferred the religious life to marriage, but she obeyed her parents and was
married at the age of twelve. Widowed at sixteen, she was compelled to marry
again. Of her seven children, only one survived the death of her second
husband., and Catherine learned through a vision that this child, too, was soon
to be taken from her. Thus she found herself, at the age of twenty five, twice
widowed and bereft of all her children. Refusing a third marriage, she devoted
herself to prayers and works of charity.
She soon worked out for
herself a severe schedule of prayers and good works, fasting and
mortifications. She tended the sick and the poor, bringing them into
her own home and regarding them as Our Lord Himself. She gave her goods to the
poor and labored for them with her own hands. Our Lord was pleased to
show her that He approved of her works by appearing to her in the guise of a
poor young man, sick, and in need of both food and medicine. She carefully
dressed his wounds, and she was rewarded by the revelation that it was in
reality her redeemer whom she had served.
St. Catherine of Siena
visited Pisa at about this time, and the two saintly women were drawn together
into a holy friendship. As they prayed together in the Dominican church one
day, they were surrounded by a bright cloud, out of which flew a white dove.
They conversed joyfully on spiritual matters, and were mutually strengthened by
the meeting.
On the advice of St.
Catherine of Siena, Catherine (Mary Mancini) retired to an enclosed convent of
the Second Order. In religion, she was given the name Mary, by which she is
usually known. She embraced the religious life in all its primitive austerity,
and, with Blessed Clare Gambarcota and a few other members of the convent, she
founded a new and much more austere house, which had been built by Peter
Gambacorta. Our Lady's prophecy of his benefactions was thus fulfilled.
Blessed Mary was favored
with many visions and was in almost constant prayer. She became prioress of the
house on the death of her friend Blessed Clare Gambacorta, and ruled it with
justice and holiness until her death.
Born: 1355
Died: 1431
Beatified: Pius IX
confirmed her cult in 1855
First Vespers:
Ant. Come, O My chosen
one, and I will place My throne in therefore the King hath exceedingly desired
thy beauty.
V. Pray for us, Blessed
Mary
R. That we may be made
worthy of the promises of Christ.
Lauds:
Ant. She hath opened her
hand to the needy; her palms she hath extended to the poor; fortitude and
beauty are her vesture, and she shall rejoice on the last day.
V. God hath chosen her,
and preferred her.
R. He maketh her to dwell
in His tabernacle.
Second Vespers:
Ant. She hath girded her
loins with courage and hath, strengthened her arm. She hath tasted and seen,
for her occupation is good: her lamp shall not be put out in the night.
V. Pray for us, Blessed
Mary.
R. That we maybe made
worthy of the promises of Christ.
Prayer:
Let us pray: O God,
who didst make Blessed Mary, early enriched with the abundance for the gift of
contemplation, and for singular charity towards the neighbor, grant us that, in
imitation of her, by meditation on heavenly things and showing mercy to others,
we may merit to attain with her to everlasting glory. Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
SOURCE : http://www.willingshepherds.org/Mary%20Mancini%20of%20Pisa.html
Beata Maria Mancini Madre
e monaca
Festa: 22 gennaio
Pisa, 1355 - 1431
Rimasta vedova due volte,
vide morire tutti i suoi sette figli; allora per consiglio di s. Caterina da
Siena, prima prese l'abito del Terz'Ordine, poi entrò nel monastero fondato
dalla b. Chiara Gambacorta a Pisa. Qui visse come monaca, tutta dedita alla
contemplazione e alla penitenza. Successe alla b. Chiara nel governo della
comunità, fino alla morte avvenuta il 22 gennaio.
Martirologio
Romano: A Pisa, beata Maria Mancini, che, rimasta per due volte vedova e
perduti tutti i figli, dietro esortazione di santa Caterina da Siena, iniziò la
vita comunitaria nel monastero di San Domenico, che guidò per dieci anni.
La Beata Maria Mancini fu
discepola di Santa Caterina da Siena e da lei ereditò l’ardente desiderio del
ritorno dell’Ordine al suo primitivo splendore. Dopo aver condotto una vita di
gran perfezione nello stato del matrimonio, unendosi con Baccio Mancini, e poi
in quello vedovile, periodo nel quale perse anche i suoi due bambini, anelante
al completo sacrificio di se, dopo essere passata a seconde nozze con Guglielmo
Spezzalaste, dal quale ebbe sei figli, che ben presto trovarono anche loro la
morte, entrò, ancor giovane, a venticinque anni, nel Monastero Domenicano di
Santa Croce, in provincia di Pisa. In questo sacro asilo era invalso il
deplorevole abuso della vita privata, che, infiltratosi nell’Ordine, ne minava
la disciplina regolare fin dalle fondamenta. Animata dai più santi ideali,
Maria non si lasciò trascinare dalla corrente. Le più timide consorelle,
rianimate dai suoi esempi e dal suo fervore, le si strinsero intorno ed essa
vide in breve intorno a sé un bel gruppo di religiose ferventi tra le quali
brillava la giovanissima Chiara Gambacorta. Queste anime elette dettero così
inizio a quella vita comune, che poi, passando nel nuovo Monastero di S.
Domenico, costruito da Pietro Gambacorta per la figlia Chiara, poterono
proseguire e restaurare in pieno. Inaugurata in questo novello cenacolo la vita
austera e santa voluta dal glorioso fondatore, lo spirito di Dio incominciò ad
operare meraviglie in quei cuori generosi. Maria fu rallegrata da celesti
visioni e la sua tenera carità meritò di lavare le piaghe a Gesù, apparsole in
sembianze di giovane piagato. Alla morte di Chiara Gambacorta, che fu la prima
Priora del monastero, le successe nel governo che tenne fino alla sua beata
morte, avvenuta il 22 gennaio 1431. E’ sepolta a Pisa nella chiesa del
Monastero di San Domenico. Papa Pio IX il 2 agosto 1855 ha confermato il culto.
L'Ordine Domenicano la ricorda il 30 gennaio.
Autore: Franco Mariani
