Blessed Maria Anna Donati

Maria Anna Donati (26 October 1848 - 18 March 1925) was an Italian Roman Catholic nun who had established the Calasanzian Sisters in Florence with the aid of Celestino Zini. Upon her profession as a religious she assumed the new name of "Celestina of the Mother of God" in honor of Zini. Her beatification was celebrated in Florence on 30 March 2008 - Cardinal José Saraiva Martins celebrated it on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI who had approved the beatification months prior. Maria Anna Donati was born in Florence on 26 October 1848 to the judge Francesco Donati; a sibling was Gemma. Donati received her First Communion at the age of thirteen in 1861. In her childhood she spent an extensive period of time with nuns of the Vallumbrosan Order at Vallombrosan and even desired entering the religious life upon realizing that their manner of life was the one in which she felt she was called to; her father prevented her from doing so. However, her time with them was inconclusive, for she failed to perceive the full depth of her calling and instead had a brief understanding of what she aspired for. It was around this time that she placed herself under the spiritual direction of the Piarist Celestino Zini – the future Archbishop of Siena. In her Zini saw spiritual richness and he encouraged her to listen for God and his call to service. Her father could not bear being separated from Donati and so forbade her from entering the religious life. This was coupled with the fact that, when she was 33 in 1881, her mother died and her father become far more attached to her and relied more upon her around the house. At the age of 40 in 1888, she once more expressed her will to become a nun and her reluctant father demanded that she take him as well as an aunt and Donati's sister Gemma with her. Francesco said to her: "I want you to be near me to close my eyes when my last hour strikes".