Yesterday the Church received the gift of a new Blessed, one who was renowned for her great devotion to the Rosary. Blessed Anna Maria Adorni was described by Archbishop Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints who presided over the ceremony in Parma, as a "Living Rosary". Blessed Anna Maria was born in 1805, she married, had children, but was widowed when she was 39; she also lost five of her six children. She began to work among the poor and those in prison.
Others were inspired by what she did, and gathering a group of women together she founded the Congregation of Handmaidens of Blessed Mary Immaculate, who through their Institute of the Good Shepherd cared for and helped those released from prison, needy children and orphans. She died in 1893. She found her strength and inspiration in praying the Rosary, and so she serves as a perfect example of how the Rosary can be lived and indeed sanctify us.
Her beatification is a wonderful gift for the Church in these times. In his Angelus address, delivered during his pastoral visit to Sicily, Pope Benedict, speaking of Blessed Anna Maria, prayed that: "daily meditation of the mysteries of Christ in union with Mary, the 'praying Virgin', might fortify us all in faith, hope and charity".
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