Blessed Barbara Maix

Barbara Maix, ICM, religious name religious name Maria Barbara of the Most Holy Trinity, (27 June 1818 – 17 March 1873) was an Austrian Catholic religious sister who established the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Brazil. Maix dedicated her life and service to the adequate treatment of the poor and ill with an added emphasis on the recognition of female dignities. Maix's death in 1873 prompted calls for her beatification which commenced in 1993 and culminated in her beatification that was celebrated on 6 November 2010 in Brazil where she worked. Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri presided over the celebration on the behalf of Pope Benedict XVI. Barbara Maix was born in Vienna on 27 June 1818 to Joseph Maix and Rosalia Mauritz; one of her sisters was Maria. Several siblings died in their childhood which left four other sisters and Maix. Her father served as a chamberlain to Archduke Franz Karl of Austria in the Schönbrunn Palace. In her childhood - even further into adulthood - she suffered from a series of heart ailments in addition to asthma. In her adolescence she worked as a kitchen hand and as a maid at the Schönbrunn Palace in the capital. It was around this time at the age of fifteen that both her parents died. At the age of 18 she and her sister Maria left the place the pair resided in and opened a home for those who needed assistance which included the poor population of Vienna. It was at this time she wrote a rule of life that sought to promote the dignities of females and it was this that inspired her to establish a Marian order for women to that effect. Maix established her new Marian order in Vienna in 1843 but desired the blessing of the Supreme Pontiff for his formal approval. She travelled to Rome for a scheduled audience with Pope Gregory XVI but the pontiff died on 1 June 1846 - a day before the two were to meet. Maix did not remain in Rome following this and nor did she attempt to have an audience with the new Pope Pius IX.