Maria Pierina De Micheli

Maria Pierina De Micheli (11 September 1890 – 26 July 1945) was a Roman Catholic religious sister who was born near Milan in Italy. She is best known for her association with devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus and for introducing a medal bearing an image from the Shroud of Turin as part of this devotion. She was beatified on Sunday, 30 May 2010 at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.

Early years She was born Giuseppina De Micheli in Milan on 11 September 1890. She had been aware from an early age of the Holy Face of Jesus devotion, which had been started almost a century earlier by a French Discalced Carmelite nun Mary of Saint Peter, of Tours, France. Giuseppina joined the Congregation of the Daughters of the Immaculate Conception in October 1913, and took the religious name Maria Pierina on 16 May 1914, when she made her vows. She was then sent to the motherhouse in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she remained until 1921, and there her attachment to the Holy Face devotion grew stronger. After her return to Milan, she was eventually elected as mother superior of her house and began to spread the devotion.

Visions

On the first Friday in Lent 1936, she reported a vision of Christ in which he appeared to her and said: "I will that my face, which reflects the intimate pains of my spirit, the suffering and the love of my heart, be more honored. He who meditates upon me, consoles me". Further reported visions of Jesus and Mary urged Maria Pierina to make a medal with the Holy Face of Jesus. Although he was not present for the beatification Mass, Pope Benedict XVI noted her "extraordinary devotion" to the Holy Face of Christ at the weekly papal Angelus address the following Sunday.