Luisa Piccarreta, (23 April 1865–4 March 1947) now a Servant of God and also known as the "Little Daughter of the Divine Will", was a
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
mystic and author whose spirituality centred on union with the
Will of God
The will of God or divine will is a concept found in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament and the Quran, according to which God's will is the first cause of everything that exists.
See also
* Destiny
* ''Deus vult'', a Latin expression meaning ...
.
For some time, her
confessor
Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways.
Confessor of the Faith
Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.SaintAnnibale Maria di Francia. Piccarreta is currently under investigation for possible canonization as a saint of the Church.
Biography
Luisa Piccarreta was born in the ''
comune
The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...
Province of Bari
The Province of Bari ( it, provincia di Bari, nap, pruvincia 'e Bari, nap, label= Barese, provinge de Bare) was a province in the region of Apulia, Italy. Its capital was the city of Bari.
It has an area of , and a total population of 1,594,1 ...
, southern
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, on 23 April 1865 to Vito Nicola and Rosa Tarantino Piccarreta. She received only a first grade education, and as a teenager she joined the
Third Order of Saint Dominic
The Third Order of Saint Dominic ( la, Tertius Ordo Praedicatorum; abbreviated TOP), also referred to as the Lay Fraternities of Saint Dominic or Lay Dominicans since 1972, is a Roman Catholic third order affiliated with the Dominican Order.
Lay ...
. As an adult, she took up lacemaking.
By 1889, she became bedridden. After the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta had been living continuously the Hours of the Passion for over thirty years, (now Saint) Annibale Maria di Francia, who had been appointed as the Ecclesiastical Censor for all her writings, commanded her under Holy Obedience to put them into writing. In February of that year, (now Saint) Hannibal Maria Di Francia asked her to begin a diary of her spiritual experiences. After the S.G. Luisa Piccarreta finished writing the original manuscript she sent it to St. Hannibal along with a letter. In this letter she speaks of the complacency that Jesus feels whenever we meditate on these Hours. She says, “as if Jesus heard His own voice and His prayers being reproduced in those reparations, just as the ones He raised to His Father during the 24 hours of His sorrowful Passion.” Also, Luisa included along with the manuscript and letter some additional notes in which she listed the effects and promises that Jesus makes to whoever meditates on these Hours of His Passion.
In 1926, Annibale Maria di Francia was in
Trani
Trani () is a seaport of Apulia, in southern Italy, on the Adriatic Sea, by railway west-northwest of Bari. It is one of the capital cities of the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani.
History
Overview
The city of ''Turenum'' appears for the fir ...
to open branches of his newly established institutes; he asked her to write her autobiography. She did this until 1938, with her writings running to thirty-six volumes. Piccarreta died of pneumonia on 4 March 1947, at the age of 82.
Cause for canonization
In 1994, the
Archbishop of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie ( la, Archidioecesis Tranensis-Barolensis-Vigiliensis (-Nazarensis)) is a Latin rite archbishopric in the administrative province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, in the southeastern Italian regi ...
opened her cause for
beatification
Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...
. By October 2005, the diocesan-level process of inquiry and documentation within the Diocese of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie-Nazareth was completed. Her case was then passed on to the
Congregation for the Causes of Saints
In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pass ...
at the
Holy See
The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...
"This creature, Luisa, who was visited by suffering --because indeed in her life of a confirmed Christian the Lord asked of her something exceptional, something special - said "yes" to Christ; and Christ identified her completely with the one plan of the Father..." ("Luisa la Santa" Archbishop Giovanni Battista Pichierri, May 2000)
In 2007, the investigation turned to examining Piccarreta's writings, "...to clarify difficulties of a theological nature." This review was somewhat complicated by the fact that she wrote her works in the Barese dialect of Neapolitan. In a letter dated 1 November 2012, Archbishop Giovan Battista Pichierri pointed out that until such time as the review was finished, it would have been premature to render any opinion as to whether or not Piccarreta's writings conformed to Catholic teaching. Archbishop Pichierri also stated that a "typical and critical edition" of her writings will then be issued. He further specified that the Archdiocese is the legal owner of her writings, and no other translations have been authorized.
On 1 November 2012, Archbishop Pichierri reiterated what he had earlier observed in 2006, "that the doctrine of the Divine Will has not always been presented in a respectful and correct manner, according to the Doctrine of the Church and the
Magisterium
The magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church is the church's authority or office to give authentic interpretation of the Word of God, "whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition." According to the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Chu ...
, placing on the lips of Luisa claims that not even implicitly are found in her writings. This causes trauma in the consciousness and even confusion and rejection in people and among the priests and bishops." (Letter of 09 March 2006).
"...the initiatives that are taken in reference to the spirituality of Luisa, such as conferences, days of spirituality, prayer meetings, etc., To give peace of mind to those who participate, must be authorized by their Bishop." (Letter dated 24 November 2003).