Is there a patron saint for the sterile?
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The National Enquirer carried an article about a saint named Maria Francesca.... Who was this saint?
In Butler's Lives of the Saints and in other dictionaries of the saints you will find this saint under St. Mary Frances of Naples. Apparently her father, Francis Gallo, was not only hot-tempered but also rough and brutal to both Mary Frances and her mother.
Eventually he was persuaded to allow her to become a Franciscan tertiary. In the beginning she lived at home and devoted herself to prayer and works of piety. Later she took over the management of a priest's household. She was something of a mystic and mystical phenomena were associated with her.
She is said to have received the stigmata—the wounds of Jesus—in her own body.
What is her connection with sterile women? The Enquirer seems to indicate that many miracles involving impossible pregnancies were worked through her intercession previous to her canonization in 1867.
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Friday, November 23, 2012
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