Maria Gargani
Maria Gargani, religious name Maria Crocifissa del Divino Amore, (23 December 1892 - 23 May 1973), was an Italian member of the Secular Franciscan Order and the founder of the Sisters Apostles of the Sacred Heart. Gargani was involved with Catholic Action during her teaching career but is best known for having been a close friend and correspondent with Pio from Pietrelcina from World War I until the saint's death in 1968; the saint wrote a total of 67 letters to Gargani during this period.
The cause for her beatification opened in 1988 and she became titled as a Servant of God. Pope Francis named her as venerable in mid-2017 and later approved a miracle attributed to her in 2018 which confirmed she would be beatified. The beatification took place in Naples in the metropolitan cathedral on 2 June 2018.
Patron saint of Sisters Apostles of the Sacred Heart
In the Martyrology
- May 23 Blessed Maria Crocifissa del Divino Amore (Maria Gargani), religious