Maria Laurentia Longo, ven.

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MARIA LAURENTIA LONGO, VEN.

Foundress of the Capuchinesses (see franciscan sisters); b. Barcelona, 1463; d. Naples, 1542. Her husband, the Catalan Juan Llonc, royal chancellor in Naples, died in 1507. As a widow, she was active in the Oratory of Divine Love of St. cajetan and founded (152122) a hospital for incurables in Naples. To the convent of nuns she instituted in 1535 she gave first the rule of St. clare of assisi and then statutes inspired by those of the Capuchin monks: personal sanctification by work, poverty, and humility, and the service of one's neighbor with sacrifice and works of charity. Pope Paul III approved the order in December 1538. In 1576 a house was founded in Rome, and in 1599 (Ven.) Angela Serafina de Manresa founded the first convent outside Italy, in Barcelona. The process for Maria's beatification was introduced in 1892.

Bibliography: j. a. de harsberg, Die Maria Laurentia Longo, Stifterin der Kapuzinerinnen (Munich 1903). f. s. da brusciano, "M. L. L. e l'opera divino amore a Napoli," Collectanea Franciscana 23 (1953) 166228, sources, literature. Lexicon Capuccinum (Rome 1951) 1049.

[j. pÉrez deurbel]

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Maria Laurentia Longo, ven.

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Maria Laurentia Longo, ven.