Maria Giuseppina di Gesù Crocifisso

Giuseppina Catanea, OCD (in religion, Maria Giuseppina of Jesus Crucified; 18 February 1894 - 14 March 1948) was an Italian Catholic member of the Discalced Carmelites. She was born to noble parents from the Marquises Grimaldi and was known during her childhood for her careful attention to the poor. This intensified after she became a Carmelite in 1932 and she held positions of leadership despite her failing health, which led to her death. She was beatified on 1 June 2008, with Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe presiding on the behalf of the pope.

Biography Giuseppina Catanea was born in Naples in 1894 to noble parents from the Marquises Grimaldi. Her parents and other relatives often referred to her as "Pinella". She was also noted for her strong devotion to the Eucharist and in the Blessed Mother and would recite rosaries whenever she had opportunities to do so. It was sometime later she felt that Jesus Christ was calling her to the Carmelite life and so she overcame the resistance of her parents and joined a Discalced Carmelite group on 10 March 1918 at Santa Maria ai Ponti Rossi.

Her writings were placed in the care of theologians who deemed them to be in line with the magisterium of the faith in a decree of approval in 1964. Once the approval had been granted a second process opened in 1977 and continued the work of the first process until its closure in 1980. Both processes were deemed to have completed their work according to the set criteria and were thus ratified on 18 March 1982.

Ratification of the diocesan processes allowed for the postulation to compile and submit the Positio to officials of the C.C.S. in Rome in 1985 for their own evaluation. It led to Pope John Paul II declaring Catanea to be Venerable on 3 January 1987 once he had acknowledged the fact that Catanea had lived a model Christian life of heroic virtue.

The process for a miracle attributed to her commenced in 2004 and concluded its work in 2005 in which it collated witness testimonies and all available medical documentation and evidence. Pope Benedict XVI approved the healing to be a legitimate miracle on 17 December 2007 in a move that would allow for her beatification to take place. Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe presided over the beatification on the behalf of the pontiff on 1 June 2008 in the Naples Cathedral.

The current postulator of the cause is the Discalced Carmelite Luigi Borriello.