BL. MARIE CHRISTINE OF SAVOY, QUEEN OF THE TWO SICILIES - 31 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 31st of January

WELCOME!

BLESSED MARIE CHRISTINE OF SAVOY, QUEEN OF THE TWO SICILIES

Marie Christine of Savoy

Marie Christine was born at Cagliari, Sardinia, November 14, 1812; died at Naples, January 31, 1836 [some sources state that she passed away on January 21]. She was the daughter of Victor Emanuel I, King of Sardinia, and of Maria Teresa of Austria, niece of the Emperor Joseph II. She lost her father in 1824 and her mother at the beginning of the year 1832. 

Charles Albert, who succeeded to the throne of Sardinia, insisted upon her appearing at the court of Turin, and she married Ferdinand II, King of the Two Sicilies (November 21, 1832). She died at the age of twenty-three, after having given birth fifteen days before to a son, Francesco-Maria-Leopold, Duke of Calabria. 

The renown of her virtues had been so great during her brief life, and after her death the graces obtained by her intercession were so numerous, that the Italian episcopate and many Catholic sovereigns obtained from Pius IX the signature, on February 9, 1859, of the decree by which the process of her canonization was introduced before the Congregation of Rites. This resulted in her name being inscribed, in 1872 in the list of the Blessed.

Source: Leon Clugnet, Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Blessed Marie Christine may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.