Maria Cristina of Savoy, Queen of the Two Sicilies

Maria Cristina of Savoy (Maria Cristina Carlotta Giuseppa Gaetana Efisia; 14 November 1812 – 21 January 1836) was Queen of the Two Sicilies as the first wife of Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies. She died as a result of childbirth. She is venerated in the Catholic Church, having been beatified by Pope Francis.

Family Maria Cristina was the youngest daughter of King Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia and Archduchess Maria Teresa of Austria-Este.

Her maternal grandparents were Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este and Maria Beatrice Ricciarda d'Este. Ferdinand was the fourteenth child and third son born to Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Maria Theresa of Austria. Maria Beatrice was the eldest daughter of Ercole III d'Este and Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina, Duchess of Massa and Princess of Carrara.

Queen

On 21 November 1832, Maria Cristina married Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies at the sanctuary of Our Lady of Acquasanta. The bride was twenty years old and the groom twenty-two. The next day, she donated her gold-threaded wedding dress to the Redemptorists to adorn a statue of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Maria Cristina was described as beautiful but also timid and shy: modest and reserved, she was deeply religious. Her relationship to Ferdinand was not happy, and he had little patience for her nervous modesty. While she was Queen of the Two Sicilies, she prevented the use of death sentences, and was known as "the Holy Queen".

She died at the age of 23, after having given birth five days before to her only child, later Francis II of the Two Sicilies.

Beatification On 9 July 1859 she was declared to be a Servant of God, on 6 May 1939 a Venerable Servant of God, Her beatification took place on 25 January 2014 at the Basilica of Santa Chiara (Naples), where she is buried, making her Blessed Maria Cristina of Savoy. Ancestry