Blessed Adeodata Pisani

Blessed Adeodata Pisani with fellow sisters at their convent

The only daughter of Baron Benedetto Pisani Mompalao and Vincenza Carrano, she was born Maria Teresa Pisani in Naples, Italy on 29 December 1806, and baptized the same day in the Parish of St Mark at Pizzofalcone. Her father held the title of Baron of Frigenuin, one of the oldest and richest baronies in Malta; her mother was Italian.
Her father took to drinking and this soon led to marital problems, so much so that whilst Maria Teresa was still a small child her mother left the conjugal house and entrusted the child's care to her mother-in-law, Elizabeth Mamo Mompalao, who lived in Naples. Elisabeth was a decent caregiver but died when her granddaughter was only ten years old. After her grandmother’s death, Maria Teresa was sent to the famous Istituto di Madama Prota, a boarding school in Naples.
In 1821 her father was involved in the uprising in Naples and sentenced to death. Since he was a British citizen, his sentence was suspended and King Ferdinand of Naples had him expelled and deported to Malta. In 1825, Maria Teresa and her mother came to live in Malta, settling in Rabat.
Once in Malta, Maria Teresa decided to become a nun, although her mother preferred that she marry. Although her mother tried to find her a suitable husband, Maria Teresa invariably declined such proposals, preferring to lead a quiet life, attending church and helping the poor. Upon turning 21, she entered the Benedictine Community in St. Peter’s Monastery and took the name of Maria Adeodata (given to God.) She made her solemn profession two years later. In the cloister, Maria Adeodata was a seamstress, sacristan, porter, teacher and novice mistress. Maria Adeodata wrote various works, the most well-known of which is ‘The mystical garden of the soul that loves Jesus and Mary,’ a collection of her personal reflections between the years 1835 and 1843. She was abbess from 1851 to 1853 but had to retire from her duties because she suffered from heart problems. She died on February 25, 1855, aged 48, and was buried the next day in the crypt of the Benedictine monastery at Mdina. She was remembered for her sanctity, love of the poor, self-imposed sacrifices.
A miracle required for her beatification took place on November 24, 1897, through an incident in which the abbess Giuseppina Damiani from the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist in Subiaco, Italy was suddenly healed of a stomach tumor following her request for Adeodata Pisani’s intervention. However, even though she was revered as a holy person for over a century, it was only in 2001 that she was beatified by the Blessed John Paul II, on May 9, 2001, at Floriana, beatified along with St. George Preca and Blessed Nazju Falzon. Pope St John Paul said during her beatification: ‘Prayer, obedience, service of her Sisters and maturity in performing her assigned tasks: these were the elements of Maria Adeodata’s silent, holy life. Her holy example certainly helped to promote the renewal of religious life in her own Monastery. 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.’ The bishops of Malta released a pastoral letter emphasizing the serious difficulties that she had to face, stating that Maria Adeodata had had "a difficult childhood as her parents did not live together. She renounced and disposed of her wealth, willingly living as a cloistered nun." Next week I will share a beautiful reflection by Pisani on our spiritual life.