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September 14, 2024St. Mary Joseph Rossello (May 27, 1811-December 7, 1880) whose given name was Benedetta, was one of nine children, born to a poor family in the seaport of Albisola Marina, Liguria, Italy. At a young age she was sent to live with and work for a childless couple. She stayed in their service for seven years, but even during this time her calling was strong, and she entered the third order of Franciscans at the age of 16. However, she longed to dedicate her life to God in a community of sisters. The religious orders of the time were accustomed to receiving dowries when young women sought entrance, but her poor family had nothing to give. Although the couple in whose service she worked could have supplied the dowry, they selfishly wanted to keep her for themselves, and so she was denied entry.
The Lord provided for St. Mary Joseph in the form of the bishop of Savona who recognized in her a unique ability to teach. She and three other young women were given a house, with some rooms made into classrooms and in 1837 they began the Institute of the Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy, teaching the young and caring for the sick. Benedetta took the name Mary Joseph when she professed her vows in 1840. She was appointed Superior General of the order and led the community as mother superior for 40 years. A dowry was never required to enter the order.
In 1875 the order opened their first house in the Americas in Buenos Aires, Argentina and continued to grow to more than three thousand sisters in two hundred houses spread across the world. St. Mary Jospeh was beatified in 1938, and canonized Pope Pius XII in 1949. St. Mary Joseph Rossello, pray for us!
