Costanza Starace
| Blessed Maria Maddalena Starace O.S.M. |
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| Born |
5 September 1845 Castellammare di Stabia, Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies |
| Died | 13 December 1921 (aged 76) Castellammare di Stabia, Naples, Kingdom of Italy |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 15 April 2007, Naples, Italy by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins |
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Blessed Costanza Starace (5 September 1845 – 13 September 1921) was an Italian Roman Catholic nun. She was the founder of the religious congregation known as the Compassionist Sisters Servants of Mary. Starace later assumed the new name of "Maria Maddalena of the Passion" upon the occasion of her solemn profession. She became a secular member of the Servite Order after she failed to join a religious order.
Starace devoted her life to Jesus Christ and to the Mother of God in her mission to evangelize and provide relief to the ill - this was evident during a series of cholera outbreaks near Naples. She established her order to assist in proving relief and extending that service to the poor.
She was beatified on 15 April 2007.
Costanza Starace was born on 5 September 1845 to Francesco Starace and Maria Rosa Cascone as the first of six children. At her baptism she was consecrated to the Mother of God for protection.
As a child she attended a boarding school that the Daughters of Charity ran in Castellammare di Stabia. She was attracted to religious life and entered a convent at the age of twelve but was discharged and returned home at the age of fourteen due to her poor health. It was back at home that she enlisted the aid of a tutor who also helped her to start a regular life of reflection. As an adolescent she made efforts twice to enter religious life but was hampered with her health and thus she was required to return to her home; despite these attempts her parents objected. She became a Servite tertiary and made her final profession on 18 June 1867 in the name of "Maria Maddalena of the Passion". The Bishop of Casteallammare di Stabia Francesco Petagna placed her as the head of the Pious Union of the Daughters of Mary and part of her time involved teaching catechism to the youth.
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