The Servant of God, Mother Mary Magdalena Bentivoglio of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Foundress and former Abbess of the Order of St. Clare of the Strict Observance of the First Rule in the United States of America, was born in Rome, Italy, on July 29, 1824.
A stubborn but pious child who enjoyed being at the Colosseum, imaging that she was living and dying alongside the ancient martyrs, she became a Poor Clare Nun of the Primitive Observance of San Damiano at the age of 30. She found however, the discipline difficult, but saw it as a way to reach God, and practiced a strict observance to the Rule.
Mary Magdalena and her blood sister Costanza, were sent to the United States of America in 1875, to institute the Poor Clares. Pope Pius IX had requested the Order's expansion to the United States, and a Franciscan Order in Minnesota asked for their presence. Before they left, Sister Mary Magdalen was named Abbess. Some clerics told them that they would fail, as contemplative life was not suited to Americans, but the Sisters pressed on, sometimes having to move several times before being allowed to settle in peace.
When they arrived in New York, though, they received a message that the Franciscans in Minnesota were expecting teaching sisters, not cloistered nuns.
Mother Magdalen went to see Cardinal John McCloskey, who wasn't interested in having contemplative sisters, telling them that "their form of life was contrary to the spirit of the country." They tried Philadelphia, where Archbishop James Wood initially welcomed them. Two months later, though, influenced by Cardinal McCloskey, he withdrew his approval.
They moved on to Cincinnati, but were rejected there, too, this time by Archbishop John Purcell.
As Franciscan Father Pius J. Barth wrote in a chapter about Mother Magdalen in Joseph Tylanda's book, "Portraits in American Sanctity", the Bishops in those Dioceses "sought to recruit these cultured ladies as teachers, nurses, social workers and catechists, but these ministries were not part of the vocation of a Poor Clare."
Finally, Archbishop Napoleon Perché of New Orleans invited the Sisters there. They arrived in March 1877, and their first postulant joined them. But then the Franciscan Provincial who had been delegated authority over Mother Magdalen arrived and ordered the Sisters to leave New Orleans because they were too far from other Franciscan houses. He suggested Cleveland so the three Sisters moved there in August 1877. Their convent was a converted cigar factory.
In January 1878, Poor Clare Colletine Sisters from Dusseldorf, Germany, joined them. While the German and Italian sisters discovered they could not co-mingle their two branches of the Poor Clares, although the Poor Clares returned to New Orleans, Mother Mary Magdalena did decree that every OSC foundation would have a sister named Collette in honor of the Poor Clare Colletine Nuns. With the Apostolic Vicar of Omaha, James O'Connor, inviting them to Omaha, where the Creighton family offered them a home, they moved into their monastery in 1882 and soon, other postulants and sisters from an active religious community joined them.
In 1888, Mother Magdalen and Sister Constanza were denounced by an emotionally unstable Sister as guilty of irregular personal conduct, alcoholic intemperance, financial mismanagement and acting without due deference to the Bishop. There followed a 19-month ordeal that included three trials, in all of which the Sisters were found innocent, plus a formal investigation ordered by the Vatican before all charges were dropped.
When the Monastery of St. Clare developed in Evansville, Mother Magdalen and three other Sisters went there.
It was a difficult time for the Nuns, who were literally living for a time on bread and water. Sister Constanza died in 1902. Mother Magdalen died in 1905 at age 71, of natural causes. During the last half hour of her life witnesses say that her wall Crucifix gave off light which shone on her. Her body was found incorrupt when exhumed thirty years later.
Mother Bentivoglio's cause for canonization was introduced in June 1929, resuming in 1969.
A stubborn but pious child who enjoyed being at the Colosseum, imaging that she was living and dying alongside the ancient martyrs, she became a Poor Clare Nun of the Primitive Observance of San Damiano at the age of 30. She found however, the discipline difficult, but saw it as a way to reach God, and practiced a strict observance to the Rule.
Mary Magdalena and her blood sister Costanza, were sent to the United States of America in 1875, to institute the Poor Clares. Pope Pius IX had requested the Order's expansion to the United States, and a Franciscan Order in Minnesota asked for their presence. Before they left, Sister Mary Magdalen was named Abbess. Some clerics told them that they would fail, as contemplative life was not suited to Americans, but the Sisters pressed on, sometimes having to move several times before being allowed to settle in peace.
When they arrived in New York, though, they received a message that the Franciscans in Minnesota were expecting teaching sisters, not cloistered nuns.
Mother Magdalen went to see Cardinal John McCloskey, who wasn't interested in having contemplative sisters, telling them that "their form of life was contrary to the spirit of the country." They tried Philadelphia, where Archbishop James Wood initially welcomed them. Two months later, though, influenced by Cardinal McCloskey, he withdrew his approval.
They moved on to Cincinnati, but were rejected there, too, this time by Archbishop John Purcell.
As Franciscan Father Pius J. Barth wrote in a chapter about Mother Magdalen in Joseph Tylanda's book, "Portraits in American Sanctity", the Bishops in those Dioceses "sought to recruit these cultured ladies as teachers, nurses, social workers and catechists, but these ministries were not part of the vocation of a Poor Clare."
Finally, Archbishop Napoleon Perché of New Orleans invited the Sisters there. They arrived in March 1877, and their first postulant joined them. But then the Franciscan Provincial who had been delegated authority over Mother Magdalen arrived and ordered the Sisters to leave New Orleans because they were too far from other Franciscan houses. He suggested Cleveland so the three Sisters moved there in August 1877. Their convent was a converted cigar factory.
In January 1878, Poor Clare Colletine Sisters from Dusseldorf, Germany, joined them. While the German and Italian sisters discovered they could not co-mingle their two branches of the Poor Clares, although the Poor Clares returned to New Orleans, Mother Mary Magdalena did decree that every OSC foundation would have a sister named Collette in honor of the Poor Clare Colletine Nuns. With the Apostolic Vicar of Omaha, James O'Connor, inviting them to Omaha, where the Creighton family offered them a home, they moved into their monastery in 1882 and soon, other postulants and sisters from an active religious community joined them.
In 1888, Mother Magdalen and Sister Constanza were denounced by an emotionally unstable Sister as guilty of irregular personal conduct, alcoholic intemperance, financial mismanagement and acting without due deference to the Bishop. There followed a 19-month ordeal that included three trials, in all of which the Sisters were found innocent, plus a formal investigation ordered by the Vatican before all charges were dropped.
When the Monastery of St. Clare developed in Evansville, Mother Magdalen and three other Sisters went there.
It was a difficult time for the Nuns, who were literally living for a time on bread and water. Sister Constanza died in 1902. Mother Magdalen died in 1905 at age 71, of natural causes. During the last half hour of her life witnesses say that her wall Crucifix gave off light which shone on her. Her body was found incorrupt when exhumed thirty years later.
Mother Bentivoglio's cause for canonization was introduced in June 1929, resuming in 1969.
The Servant of God, Mother Mary Magdalena Bentivoglio of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Foundress and former Abbess of the Order of St. Clare of the Strict Observance of the First Rule in the United States of America, was born in Rome, Italy, on July 29, 1824.
A stubborn but pious child who enjoyed being at the Colosseum, imaging that she was living and dying alongside the ancient martyrs, she became a Poor Clare Nun of the Primitive Observance of San Damiano at the age of 30. She found however, the discipline difficult, but saw it as a way to reach God, and practiced a strict observance to the Rule.
Mary Magdalena and her blood sister Costanza, were sent to the United States of America in 1875, to institute the Poor Clares. Pope Pius IX had requested the Order's expansion to the United States, and a Franciscan Order in Minnesota asked for their presence. Before they left, Sister Mary Magdalen was named Abbess. Some clerics told them that they would fail, as contemplative life was not suited to Americans, but the Sisters pressed on, sometimes having to move several times before being allowed to settle in peace.
When they arrived in New York, though, they received a message that the Franciscans in Minnesota were expecting teaching sisters, not cloistered nuns.
Mother Magdalen went to see Cardinal John McCloskey, who wasn't interested in having contemplative sisters, telling them that "their form of life was contrary to the spirit of the country." They tried Philadelphia, where Archbishop James Wood initially welcomed them. Two months later, though, influenced by Cardinal McCloskey, he withdrew his approval.
They moved on to Cincinnati, but were rejected there, too, this time by Archbishop John Purcell.
As Franciscan Father Pius J. Barth wrote in a chapter about Mother Magdalen in Joseph Tylanda's book, "Portraits in American Sanctity", the Bishops in those Dioceses "sought to recruit these cultured ladies as teachers, nurses, social workers and catechists, but these ministries were not part of the vocation of a Poor Clare."
Finally, Archbishop Napoleon Perché of New Orleans invited the Sisters there. They arrived in March 1877, and their first postulant joined them. But then the Franciscan Provincial who had been delegated authority over Mother Magdalen arrived and ordered the Sisters to leave New Orleans because they were too far from other Franciscan houses. He suggested Cleveland so the three Sisters moved there in August 1877. Their convent was a converted cigar factory.
In January 1878, Poor Clare Colletine Sisters from Dusseldorf, Germany, joined them. While the German and Italian sisters discovered they could not co-mingle their two branches of the Poor Clares, although the Poor Clares returned to New Orleans, Mother Mary Magdalena did decree that every OSC foundation would have a sister named Collette in honor of the Poor Clare Colletine Nuns. With the Apostolic Vicar of Omaha, James O'Connor, inviting them to Omaha, where the Creighton family offered them a home, they moved into their monastery in 1882 and soon, other postulants and sisters from an active religious community joined them.
In 1888, Mother Magdalen and Sister Constanza were denounced by an emotionally unstable Sister as guilty of irregular personal conduct, alcoholic intemperance, financial mismanagement and acting without due deference to the Bishop. There followed a 19-month ordeal that included three trials, in all of which the Sisters were found innocent, plus a formal investigation ordered by the Vatican before all charges were dropped.
When the Monastery of St. Clare developed in Evansville, Mother Magdalen and three other Sisters went there.
It was a difficult time for the Nuns, who were literally living for a time on bread and water. Sister Constanza died in 1902. Mother Magdalen died in 1905 at age 71, of natural causes. During the last half hour of her life witnesses say that her wall Crucifix gave off light which shone on her. Her body was found incorrupt when exhumed thirty years later.
Mother Bentivoglio's cause for canonization was introduced in June 1929, resuming in 1969.
A stubborn but pious child who enjoyed being at the Colosseum, imaging that she was living and dying alongside the ancient martyrs, she became a Poor Clare Nun of the Primitive Observance of San Damiano at the age of 30. She found however, the discipline difficult, but saw it as a way to reach God, and practiced a strict observance to the Rule.
Mary Magdalena and her blood sister Costanza, were sent to the United States of America in 1875, to institute the Poor Clares. Pope Pius IX had requested the Order's expansion to the United States, and a Franciscan Order in Minnesota asked for their presence. Before they left, Sister Mary Magdalen was named Abbess. Some clerics told them that they would fail, as contemplative life was not suited to Americans, but the Sisters pressed on, sometimes having to move several times before being allowed to settle in peace.
When they arrived in New York, though, they received a message that the Franciscans in Minnesota were expecting teaching sisters, not cloistered nuns.
Mother Magdalen went to see Cardinal John McCloskey, who wasn't interested in having contemplative sisters, telling them that "their form of life was contrary to the spirit of the country." They tried Philadelphia, where Archbishop James Wood initially welcomed them. Two months later, though, influenced by Cardinal McCloskey, he withdrew his approval.
They moved on to Cincinnati, but were rejected there, too, this time by Archbishop John Purcell.
As Franciscan Father Pius J. Barth wrote in a chapter about Mother Magdalen in Joseph Tylanda's book, "Portraits in American Sanctity", the Bishops in those Dioceses "sought to recruit these cultured ladies as teachers, nurses, social workers and catechists, but these ministries were not part of the vocation of a Poor Clare."
Finally, Archbishop Napoleon Perché of New Orleans invited the Sisters there. They arrived in March 1877, and their first postulant joined them. But then the Franciscan Provincial who had been delegated authority over Mother Magdalen arrived and ordered the Sisters to leave New Orleans because they were too far from other Franciscan houses. He suggested Cleveland so the three Sisters moved there in August 1877. Their convent was a converted cigar factory.
In January 1878, Poor Clare Colletine Sisters from Dusseldorf, Germany, joined them. While the German and Italian sisters discovered they could not co-mingle their two branches of the Poor Clares, although the Poor Clares returned to New Orleans, Mother Mary Magdalena did decree that every OSC foundation would have a sister named Collette in honor of the Poor Clare Colletine Nuns. With the Apostolic Vicar of Omaha, James O'Connor, inviting them to Omaha, where the Creighton family offered them a home, they moved into their monastery in 1882 and soon, other postulants and sisters from an active religious community joined them.
In 1888, Mother Magdalen and Sister Constanza were denounced by an emotionally unstable Sister as guilty of irregular personal conduct, alcoholic intemperance, financial mismanagement and acting without due deference to the Bishop. There followed a 19-month ordeal that included three trials, in all of which the Sisters were found innocent, plus a formal investigation ordered by the Vatican before all charges were dropped.
When the Monastery of St. Clare developed in Evansville, Mother Magdalen and three other Sisters went there.
It was a difficult time for the Nuns, who were literally living for a time on bread and water. Sister Constanza died in 1902. Mother Magdalen died in 1905 at age 71, of natural causes. During the last half hour of her life witnesses say that her wall Crucifix gave off light which shone on her. Her body was found incorrupt when exhumed thirty years later.
Mother Bentivoglio's cause for canonization was introduced in June 1929, resuming in 1969.
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