Maria Crocifissa Cosulich

Marija Krucifiksa Kozulić (; ; born Marija Nikolina Kozulić; 20 September 1852 – 29 September 1922) was a Croatian Italian Catholic nun who was part of the community of Sisters of the Sacred Heart. She was the founder of the Catholic order of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the only order indigenous to the Archdiocese of Rijeka in Croatia, and the first prioress of the order. Her beatification began in 2008 and her confirmation process started in 2013.

Biography Kozulić was born Marija Nikolina Kozulić in Rijeka, Habsburg Kingdom of Croatia, on 20 September 1852 to a wealthy family from the nearby island of Lošinj. Her parents were Caterina from Veli Lošinj and Giovanni Matteo Kozulić/Cosulich from Mali Lošinj. The area was at that time ethnically mixed, with fluid ethnic borders between Istrian Italians and Slavs. Kozulić had eleven siblings and she was the eldest of the five who survived.

She began her education in Rijeka and later studied in the multicultural milieu of Gorizia (the seat of an archdiocese and of the Habsburg Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca at that time), learning Italian (her first language), Croatian, French, German, and Hungarian. She was highly educated and became a kindergarten and music teacher. Here she joined the Pious Union of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart among the poor. She was particularly focused on abandoned girls, teaching them faith and devotion, as well as providing shelter and clothing. Kozulić died on 29 September 1922 in Rijeka. In 2008, the process of her beatification was begun when an arterial street connecting the avenue of John Paul II and Pomerio Streets was dedicated. in 2012 to be consecrated. In February 2013, a decree was signed by Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints for the confirmation process to officially begin. The date of starting the beatification process was on 20 October 2013, the anniversary of the date she had taken the oath to join the Pious Union of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1879.