Gallo, Maria Francesca of the Five Wounds, St.
GALLO, MARIA FRANCESCA OF THE FIVE WOUNDS, ST.
Italian mystic; b. Naples, March 25, 1715; d. there, Oct. 8, 1791. At a very early age she began to practice penances and to meditate on Christ's Passion. After resisting her father's urging to marry, she joined the Third Order of Franciscans (1731) and changed her baptismal name, Anna Maria Rosa Nicoletta. Continuing to live at home, she devoted herself to charitable works for the poor and sick. She was favored with extraordinary mystical graces and was reputed to be endowed with the gift of prophecy. On Fridays, especially, she experienced in a physical manner the agonies of the Passion and stigmatization. Her deep devotion to the suffering Christ and to the Eucharist helped her to endure severe illnesses, misunderstandings by her relatives and by her spiritual directors, and spiritual aridity. She was beatified Nov. 12, 1843, and canonized June 29, 1867.
Feast: Oct. 6.
Bibliography: m. p. adami, S. Maria Francesca delle cinque piaghe di N. S. (Naples 1970). a. butler, The Lives of the Saints 4:46–47. j. l. baudot and l. chaussin, Vies des saints et des bienheureux selon l'orde du calendrier avec l'historique des fětes, by the Benedictines of Paris 10:177–182.
[f. g. sottocornola]