Blessed Maria Assunta Pallotta

Maria Assunta Pallotta (20 August 1878 - 7 April 1905), born Assunta Maria Pallotta, was an Italian Roman Catholic nun who served as a member of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary and also as part of the missions to China in the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion. Following the recognition of two miracles, Pope Pius XII celebrated her beatification on 7 November 1954. Maria Assunta Pallotta was born on 20 August 1878 to Luigi Pallotta and Eufrasia Casali. She was the first of six children and had one sister and four brothers. She was baptized on the following day, 21 August (in the names of Assunta Maria Liberata), and was confirmed at the age of two on 7 July 1880, receiving her Confirmation from the Bishop of Ascoli Piceno, Bartolomeo Ortolani. She began her schooling in 1884, at the age of six, attending until the age of eight in 1886. While she learned to read and write, she did not receive a formal education. By the time she was eleven - in 1889 - her father had left for work purposes, leaving her as the sole breadwinner of the household. Pallotta was forced to help her mother manage the home and to raise her brothers. In testimonies for her beatification people recalled that she was animated when given the chance to teach others about religious issues but was for the most part a solemn child who maintained penitential practices that were far too advanced for a child of her age. She had a love of the rosary and kept one with her at all times. In her late teens she realized she wanted to be a nun. Her parish priest made arrangements for her to join a religious congregation that was a branch of the Franciscan Order. She left for Rome in order to join the order on 5 May 1898. As a postulant she worked in the kitchens. She commenced her novitiate on 9 October 1898 and at her request was able to keep her baptismal name, although it was rearranged to Maria Assunta.