The Hidden Life of Blessed Maria Pisani
February 25th is the liturgical memorial of Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani. This Italian born Benedictine nun surely has left a great legacy that needs to be appreciated both in Malta and beyond its shores.
The life of Sister Maria Adeodata (born Maria Teresa) Pisani was a fairly one: Born on the 29th of December in 1806, she died on February 25th, 1855. Her birthplace was Naples, where she remained until the age of 19 when she went to Malta, the country of origin of her father, Baron Pisani. As her parents’ marriage went through grave difficulty, she was raised by her paternal grandmother and, at the age of 10, after her grandmother’s death, Maria was sent to boarding school, where she received a good Christian education, of which she kept memories for the rest of her life. For just over two years, in Malta in the locality of Notabile (now Medina), Maria lived in a very discreet, humble and pious way. At the age of 22 she entered the Monastery of Saint Peter, of the Benedictine Sisters, which the young woman knew well because it was close to her home. The Servant of God “was found fully educated in spirit”, so much so that, only eight days after her entry, the Mistress of Novices called her to help her in the spiritual instruction of the boarders.
After a year, she began the Novitiate and on 8 March 1830 she made her solemn religious profession. Once fully inserted into the Community, Sister Maria Adeodata continued to lead her life of humility and sacrifice which had already distinguished her as a postulant and novice. Even though she never sought office, over the 25 years following her profession, Sister Maria Adeodata had the opportunity to handle practically all of the roles in her community: She was three times a sacristan and a nurse, roles she preferred, because they gave her greater opportunities, the former to be in direct contact with the Lord whereas the other to serve her sisters even better. She did not shy away from the task of portress, even if it distracted her from silence and meditation. She took advantage of this important role to meet and help the poor, whom under permission, she gathered together and catechized.
On 30 June 1847, Sister Maria Adeodata was elected Mistress of Novices for the first time, an office she held until 30 June 1851, on which day she was elected Abbess. In the two years in which she held that office she did not introduce anything new, but above all she offered the example of her “special virtues” to make the Rule flourish again and help her sisters progress on their path to perfection. On 30 June 1853, Sister Maria Adeodata had to resign as abbess, due to her health conditions, which were never particularly good, exacerbated by her penances and fasting. Sister Maria Adeodata Pisani died on 25 February 1855. The entire spirituality of the Servant of God, reflected in her behavior in the different stages of life and in the teachings contained in her writings, reveals a vividness of theological, cardinal and related virtues, which far exceeds the ordinary levels of Christian life lived in the same religious and cloistered life.
The process of her beatification began as early as 1893 but was interrupted from 1913 to 1989 due to economic reasons. The miracle attributed to the Servant of God dates back to 1897 and concerns the extraordinary healing of Mother Maria Giuseppina Damiani, at the time Abbess of the Benedictine Monastery of Subiaco.
Beautiful and profound are the words which Pope St John Paul II said when he beatified Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani OSB together with Dun Ġorġ Preca and Ignatius Falzon on May 9, 2001, at the “Granaries” of Floriana:
Born in Italy of a Maltese father, Sister Maria Adeodata Pisani came here at the age of nineteen, and spent most of her life as a splendid figure of Benedictine religious consecration in the Monastery of Saint Peter...
Prayer, obedience, service of her Sisters and maturity in performing her assigned tasks: these were the elements of Maria Adeodata’s silent, holy life. Hidden in the heart of the Church, she sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching(cf. Lk 10:39), savouring the things that last for ever (cf. Col 3:2). Through her prayer, work and love, she became a well-spring of that spiritual and missionary fruitfulness without which the Church cannot preach the Gospel as Christ commands, for mission and contemplation require each other absolutely(cf. Novo Millennio Ineunte, 16).
Sister Adeodata’s holy example certainly helped to promote the renewal of religious life in her own Monastery... I commend to all consecrated men and women the example of personal maturity and responsibility which was wonderfully evident in the life of Blessed Adeodata (no. 5).
In his homily at the feast day of Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani OSB, on 25 February 2025, during a mass celebrated at the Benedictine Monastery in Mdina, the auxiliary Bishop of Malta, Monsignor Joseph Galea Curmi, said that Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani, who was rightly called “a humble gem of consecrated and monastic life,” did not have a long life. When she died she was not even 50 years old – there is someone in this monastery who is almost twice as old as she was when she died. In her life, she did not do extraordinary things that made a noise and attracted the attention of many, but in serving the mission that God gave her she lived a full life. She lived a life of complete fidelity to the call that the Lord made to her to be a Benedictine nun. She was most faithful to all her duties.
Blessed Maria Adeodata teaches you and me to live out our vocations in utter faithfulness till the very last breath of our lives. Monsignor Galea-Curmi said: Blessed Mary Adeodata often prayed: “Lord, make that I persevere till the end” And this was also her request to Our Lady: My most holy Mother, earn for me perseverance, for the sake of Jesus your Son. Never leave me alone. This is what I pray for, and mostly for the last breath of my life”.
O God, source of all good, we thank you that in the Blessed Mary Adeodata, you gave us a model of a holy life. Filled with your love, she passed her life in prayer, in self-denial, and in keeping the Rule of Saint Benedict in the silence of the Monastery. Lord, make that as in her life the Blessed Mary Adeodata helped so many people even now, with her intercession, she helps us live a holy life built on prayer, the love of our neighbor, and the fulfillment of your will as she lived for your love and that of our Mother, the Virgin Mary. Amen.
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