Blessed Maria Domenica Mantovani

Maria Domenica Mantovani (12 November 1862 - 2 February 1934) was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious, and the co-founder of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family; she established them alongside Giuseppe Nascimbeni. As a nun she received the religious name of Maria of the Immaculate. She was beatified on 27 April 2003 and canonized on 15 May 2022. Maria Domenica Mantovani was born on 12 November 1862 in Verona, the eldest of four children born to Giovanni Mantovani and Prudenza Zamperini. Her education did not proceed beyond a period, not very long, in which she studied at a local school. She learnt religion from her parents, which contributed to her sense of having a religious vocation. In her adolescence – in 1877 – her parish priest and spiritual director, Giuseppe Nascimbeni, encouraged her to visit the ill and to teach catechism in the parish. On 8 December 1886, she made a private vow to remain chaste and asked the Blessed Mother to guide her in how best to fulfill her vocation. In 1892, she founded a religious congregation alongside Nascimbeni and became its first superior; she led the order for a total of four decades. Mantovani and four of her companions made their solemn profession into the congregation on 4 November 1892. The institute later received the papal approval of Pope Pius XI on 3 June 1932. Mantovani died in 1934 due to complications from influenza. Her remains were transferred on 12 November 1987 to be near the remains of her friend and confidante, Nascimbeni. The countries in which her order now operates include Albania and Brazil. Mantovani's beatification process commenced after – on 27 January 1987 – the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued a nihil obstat (nothing against) to the cause in a move that accorded Mantovani the posthumous title of Servant of God. The conferral of the title acted as the process's first official stage.