Blessed Maria Candida of the Eucharist

Maria Candida of the Eucharist, OCD (born Maria Barba; 16 January 1884 – 12 June 1949) was an Italian Discalced Carmelite. Barba desired to become a nun in her adolescence but her parents forbade this and she was forced to wait two decades to realize her dream; she entered the order after her parents died, though she alienated her brothers in the process. They refused to ever see her due to their resentment of her decision. Barba became a noted member of her convent in Ragusa and she served as prioress. Her devotion to the Eucharist was a focal point for her spiritual thinking and her own life. Pope John Paul II beatified Barba in Saint Peter's Square on 21 March 2004. Maria Barba was born on 16 January 1884 in Catanzaro as the tenth of twelve children (five of whom died in their childhoods) to the appellate court judge Pietro Barba and Giovanna Flora; she was baptised on the following 19 January. Her parents and siblings all hailed from Palermo but moved to Catanzaro while her father was in that town during a brief assignment. In 1886 the family returned to Palermo. In 1891 she began her time at school and achieved excellent grades while there; she completed her studies in 1898. That same year she began to learn the piano. On 3 April 1894 she received her First Communion and from that point on fostered a special devotion to the Eucharist and developed what she referred to as her "vocation for the Eucharist". Barba despaired at not being able to receive it on a frequent basis. In 1899 she felt a strong calling to the consecrated life as she reflected before an image of the Sacred Heart. She would call this experience her "transformation", and the investiture of her cousin as a nun in 1899 augmented this desire. Barba informed her parents of her decision but her parents opposed this, believing it nothing more than initial spiritual fervour rather than an actual desire.