Blessed Maria Bolognesi

Maria Bolognesi (21 October 1924 – 30 January 1980) was an Italian Catholic. Throughout her life she suffered from debilitating diseases and was reportedly subject to various demonic possessions and visions. Her numerous visions were of Jesus Christ and through him saw Heaven while also receiving the stigmata herself. Bolognesi was beatified on 7 September 2013; Cardinal Angelo Amato presided over the beatification on the behalf of Pope Francis. The cause opened under Pope John Paul II in 1992 while Pope Benedict XVI had named her as Venerable in mid-2012. Maria Bolognesi was born as Maria Semiolo on 21 October 1924 in Rovigo to Giuseppe Samiolo. Her natural father - himself illegitimate - did not want to wed her mother and split from her which left Bolognesi to live until 1929 in her mother's home with her mother's name. Her maternal grandmother Cornetto Cesira was perhaps the most influential individual in her childhood in terms of instilling in the girl a religious education and love for God. Bolognesi received the name of her stepfather after her mother married Giuseppe Bolognesi in 1930; the pair went to live with him at San Cassiano. Her step-grandfather was Luigi Bolognesi. In 1932 she ran a high fever and her mother at the same time had contracted meningitis and was on her deathbed. Bolognesi had begun to prepare for her First Communion at this time and the nun that was instructing her at the time told her that Jesus Christ would grant her a wish. She wished that her mother would recover and she did; Bolognesi went on to make her First Communion on 22 May 1932 with much emotion. Her stepfather often beat her mother due to his somewhat abrasive nature. Their son Luigi was born on 21 June 1940. In summer 1940 Maria began to experience what were considered diabolical attacks. She could not enter a church, the blessings of priests failing to have an effect on her.