Blessed Marie des Anges

Marianna Fontanella, OCD (7 January 1661 – 16 December 1717), also known as Maria degli Angeli or Mary of the Angels, was an Italian Catholic member of the Discalced Carmelites. Fontanella studied with the Cistercians as a child and entered the Discalced Carmelites despite the protests of her mother and siblings. She soon became a noted abbess and prioress and in 1703 inaugurated a new convent of which she herself oversaw the establishment. Her beatification cause commenced under Pope Innocent XIII in 1722 and she was titled as Venerable in 1778 under Pope Pius VI. She was beatified in 1865 by Pope Pius IX. Marianna Fontanella was born in Turin in 1661 as the ninth of eleven children to the nobleman Giovanni Fontanella, Count of Santena, and his wife, Maria Tana. On the maternal side she was related to Mara Tana who was the mother of Aloysius Gonzaga and also had ties to the Della Rovere family. In 1667 she schemed with a little brother to imitate the saints and to run off to live "in the desert", but at the time it was meant to happen the two slept in and it spoiled their plans. Due to her family relationship, she adopted Aloysius Gonzaga as a model for personal holiness and made an effort to imitate his example. In 1673 she became a student of the Cistercians in Saluzzo but the death of her father in 1675 prompted her to cut her education short so that she could return home to Turin where she was until 1677 supporting her mother and siblings. It was in 1677 that she announced her intention to join the Discalced Carmelites despite her mother and her siblings voicing their opposition to her decision. Fontanella entered the order at their convent of Santa Cristina. Fontanella entered because she liked their charism and was fascinated with the examples of Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross. She was at first overcome with homesickness and at first disliked their pattern of life in addition to not getting along with the novice mistress at the time.