On June 18, 2016, Pope Francis beatified Maria Celeste Crostarosa in the city of Foggia, where her mortal remains rest. Ten years after that celebration, the Redemptorist family and the local Church gather in prayer and gratitude for one of the most luminous mystical figures in Italian religious history and the foundress of the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer.
Born in Naples in 1696, Giulia Marcella Santa Crostarosa felt a strong calling to the consecrated life from her youth. After a spiritual journey marked by trials and misunderstandings, Sister Maria Celeste (the name she assumed in the monastery in Scala), with the decisive support of Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, founded the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer—the Redemptoristine Nuns—in 1731, with the charism of being a “living memory” of Christ’s redeeming love. She died in Foggia in 1755, venerated already in her lifetime for her sanctity. The miracle that paved the way for her beatification occurred in Foggia in 1955, when a novice suddenly regained her hearing by placing her ear to the remains of the Servant of God during a canonical scientific survey.
For the anniversary, the Federation of the Redemptoristine Sisters “Blessed Maria Celeste” wished to renew the memory with a letter from its President, Sister Imma di Stefano, to the Federation’s communities. “We are called not only to remember this event of grace,” Sister Imma writes, “but to rediscover the freshness of the gift received.” In her message, Sister Imma invites the sisters to see in the Foundress’s spiritual legacy a timely response to the concerns of the present time: not extraordinary gestures, but the daily transformation wrought by Christ in every consecrated life.
Celebrations marking the tenth anniversary of the beatification of Mother Maria Celeste Crostarosa will be held in Foggia on Friday, June 19, 2026. At 6:00 PM at the Shrine of the Crowned Mother of God, the Archbishop of Foggia-Bovino, Msgr. Giorgio Ferretti, will preside over a solemn Mass of thanksgiving, open to all faithful and citizens.
Biography of Maria Celeste Crostarosa
Blessed Sr. Maria Celeste Crostarosa, an Italian mystic and foundress of the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptoristine Nuns), was born in Naples on October 31, 1696, and baptized the following day with the names Giulia, Marcella, and Santa. The tenth child of lawyer Giuseppe Crostarosa and noblewoman Paola Battista Caldari, she grew up in a deeply religious family environment, which fostered the development of her strong, outgoing character and extraordinary intelligence.
Out of her great love for Christ, she entered Carmel at the age of 22. However, that monastery was suppressed, and she and her fellow nuns found themselves in Scala, where they embarked on a new journey among the Visitandines. She was still a novice when, on April 25, 1725, after the Eucharistic celebration, she had a revelation that inspired her to found a new religious institute. On the advice of her confessor and novice mistress, she wrote its rules: Institute and Rules of the Most Holy Savior Contained in the Holy Gospels. After several years of difficult trials, thanks to the support of Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, the Order of Redemptorists was born in Scala on May 13, 1731, the day of Pentecost.
Her life, as she herself described in her Autobiography, was illuminated by a Sun that God the Father had kindled in her soul. That Sun is Christ. Transforming her into a living memory of his love, She traced through her the path for her spiritual daughters—the Redemptoristines—so that they might be luminous and radiant witnesses of redeeming love to the world. The radiance of that Sun, which marked the path of the Heavenly Mother, also touched the Founder of the Redemptorists, Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, at the time when God entrusted him with the task of establishing the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (founded on November 9, 1732 in Scala).
Further painful events, linked to her faithfulness to the mission God had entrusted to Maria Celeste, led to her expulsion from the monastery. Finally, in 1738, she founded the monastery in Foggia where she was able to fully implement the Rule written in 1725.
Maria Celeste’s entire earthly pilgrimage was lived in profound union with Jesus, repeating almost with every breath: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Everything she did had a clear purpose, animated by a single desire: “to miss no opportunity for God to be loved by all.”
In Foggia, Maria Celeste renewed her ties with the Redemptorists, particularly with Saint Gerard Majella. Saint Alphonsus Liguori also visited the monastery in Foggia to meet her.
She died on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, September 14, 1755, at 3:00 pm.
Upon hearing of her death, the residents of Foggia, who called her “the holy superior,” flocked to the monastery to entrust themselves to her intercession. That same day, in Materdomini, Saint Gerard—now dying—turned to his brother who was attending him, saying: “Today Mother Maria Celeste has gone to Foggia to be with God.”
In addition to the aforementioned Autobiography and the Rules of the Order, Crostarosa left fourteen works, all of mystical content, and an interesting collection of letters that shed light on her inner attitude during the most critical moments of her life.
She was elevated to the honors of the altars on June 18, 2016, in Foggia. Her liturgical feast day was set for September 11.
