I bet many of you have never heard of Maria Celeste
Born the tenth of
twelve children to the Crostarosa family, Celeste was baptized Giulia. Little Giulia, so loved spiritual things that
by the age of six, sensed the presence of Jesus in her heart. Yet, when she was nine years old, Giulia
became lax in her fervor because she enjoyed the company of the servants
learning their nonsense songs and worldly ways.
But the Lord pursued her to change her foolish conduct and after a few
months Giulia made a good confession and resolved to do better.
On
the day of her First Communion, when Giulia was 11, the Lord invited her into His Heart saying, "Enter into this
wound; and I will purify you from all your sins." With that, she entered into a profound
recollection, and heard Jesus say, "I wish to be your Guide. Love Me alone."
Giulia
responded, “My Lord, You have always
loved me; keep me close to You.” And from
then on, she
wished to live a humble life. The Lord
was pleased and said within her heart: “You must imitate my life and unite
whatever you do to My life.”
At
15, Giulia, still a beginner in the spiritual life, made the mistake of
changing her confessor to a much younger, inexperienced priest. This led to
spiritual darkness. Gone were the
consolations but not the guidance from her Lord, who said, “Look at the sun. Now behold how the warmth
of the Divine Son lights up everything and makes the plants of virtues grow in
your soul to produce flowers and fruits for eternal life. By My Divine Fire, I
burn up all the bad weeds of your soul. Your
eyes are closed by sin. Open your eyes
to My Divine Light.”
This
spiritual darkness lasted two years. By seventeen she had become a very subdued
young woman. Young Giulia had always been the pet of the family because of her
intelligence and vivaciousness. The change in her was so remarkable that her
family feared for her health and thought she was dying.
Now
enters a wise old Dominican who understood her struggles. He advised Giulia to break with that young confessor. When she did, the Dominican unlocked the mysterious way Jesus was working in her
heart.
While
recovering her health, Giulia saw from her window a priest coming down the
street holding a monstrance. No, not a
priest, but Jesus Himself in all His splendor.
She rushed to follow and ended up in church sobbing and confessing her
sins aloud for all to hear. Those who heard her confession were astounded by her
humility and love for the Savior. Once more Giulia felt that Sweet Divine
Companion enter her heart and was at peace.
From
that day on, she was determined to be the true daughter of God the Father, and
pure spouse of the Son through the Holy Spirit.
Giulia wanted to become a religious.
Her first attempt to enter religious
life was when Giulia was nineteen. She
and her older sister, Ursula, tricked their mother into letting them enter a
Carmelite conservatory by plotting beforehand their course of action. What was
supposed to be a friendly visit to a holy nun turned out to be a formal
entrance. The two young women were so
captivated by the Religious and the monastery that they begged their surprised
mother to let them enter religious life right there and then. Signora
Crostarosa finally gave the permission but on the condition that if Signore
Crostarosa did not approve, a carriage would be sent to fetch them. The carriage never came.
The
Carmelites so regarded Giulia’s talents that in just a year Giulia was given a
Carmelite habit, and in quick succession, was professed and named Novice
Mistress! Giulia had observed a certain
laxity in the monastery and attempted to rectify that by instructing her
novices with lights she received from the Lord: “The
Lord has breathed into my heart all teachings regarding Pure Love, so desire
Jesus alone as the only treasure of your soul.
In Christ’s Light your soul will see its darkness, and will then desire
to be clothed with holy virtues.”
After
6 years, unfortunately, the monastery was dissolved because of the interference
of their main benefactor in their Carmelite life.
In 1722, Giulia had the occasion
to meet someone who would impact her life for years to come: Fr Tommaso
Falcoia. He was a member of the Pious
Workers who had great organizational skills and a number of nuns as spiritual daughters.
He was very impressed with this young religious and encouraged her to
take him as her spiritual father.
Eventually, she did and opened her soul to him.
Falcoia encouraged Celeste to entered a monastery in Scala,
Italy, high above the Amalfi coast where he was the Spiritual Father. She was 27. Sr. Maria Celeste thought she had reached heaven. In later years she says, “My ignorance was profound because I did not see the signs that should have enlightened me. Oh! I was far indeed from that sublime state, being not yet purified by the fire of sufferings and tribulations.”
What sufferings? What tribulations?
It
all began while Celeste was still a novice in Scala. She writes, “At Communion time, the Lord made her experience a
transformation of herself into Him. The
Lord spoke within the very center of her soul the words in the Creed:
‘Con-substantial with the Father.’
On
the next day, April 25, 1725, came another revelation. Again, after Communion the Lord revealed to
Celeste the ‘Intent of the Father’ to make that community a “Viva Memoria,” a
‘living memorial’ of all that it pleased the Only Begotten Son to do for their
salvation. He set a seal on her heart to
be on earth a living portrait of the Beloved Son. Florilegium
But not only on her,
but on all those souls who would have life by means of her. This new institute would have as its rule His
very life.
You
can image how her soul quaked at the thought of what she must share with her Novice
Mistress and Spiritual Father. Celeste suspected
Falcoia would not be thrilled over replacing his idea for a rule by a new Rule,
supposedly dictated to a novice by the Lord Himself.
The
very next day the visions continued and the Lord strengthened Celeste, saying, “It
is really I and not the demon.” And in
the Sacred Host she saw the Lord clothed in the habit of the Order, and understood
that she must change her life into His.
Moreover, she saw Jesus writing on her heart with His own blood the new Rule for the community. Jesus ordered her to write down these Rules in His name every day after Communion for an hour. The Redeemer said, “In this Order, He Himself was the cornerstone, the Gospel was the mortar; and His Father was the Builder.”
It was just as Celeste feared when she shared these visions
with the Novice Mistress, who then wrote to Fr. Falcoia describing the
situation and inviting him to Scala as soon as possible. He wrote a swift reply accusing Celeste of
being a “mad-woman,” a “dreamer” and a “troublemaker” and ordered that she not
receive Communion as a mortification.
Despite all this, Sr.
Celeste, and her two blood sisters who had joined her in religious life, were
professed. But this tension between Sr.
Celeste, Fr Falcoia and the community continued for five more years. Things turned
around when a young priest came to the monastery in Scala, at the request of
Falcoia, to give a retreat to the nuns.
This priest also happened to be a spiritual son of Falcoia, and was
warned of ‘a nun there filled with illusions.’
This young priest is Alphonsus Liguori.
Alphonsus came
prepared for the worst. With his
characteristic legal thoroughness, Alphonsus interviewed each nun personally
and had repeated interviews with Maria Celeste.
The crucial issue was the authenticity of the revelation and the
feasibility of a new Rule. To both
questions Alfonso answered in the affirmative. Thanks to his powers of
persuasion, all the nuns finally agreed to accept the new Rule. MWR
This meeting of these two souls was the beginning of a
life-long friendship. Celeste writes to
Alphonsus: “O My Father, I make my communions united to your spirit. I thirst
for your companionship. May the Lord
bless this friendship of ours forever, for the glory and honor of His name.”
On the feast of Pentecost, May 13, 1730, the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer began. And then on the feast of the Transfiguration the nuns donned the red, blue and white habit. The Holy Redeemer had explained earlier the meaning of the colors: Red is for ‘the robe of charity’ which the God-Man clothed himself on earth and, in turn, bestows on us by his merciful Love. The sky-blue mantel is a sign of Christ’s humility by who’s cross earth is united to heaven. The white shoes signify that the nuns are detached from earthly things. The Portrait of the Redeemer worn over the breast is a sign that Christ is living in their hearts.
On
October 3, 1731 Celeste had another revelation.
This time involving Alphonsus. Duty bound to her spiritual Father Falcoia,
she wrote to him about the vision. She
had seen Christ, St. Francis of Assisi and Alphonsus Liguori conversing
together. The Lord said to her, "This soul is chosen as
the head of My Institute to go and preach to every creature that the
Kingdom of God. It is he who will be the first superior of the
Congregation of men."
Again,
you can imagine, this did not sit well with the Spiritual Father. His response was dismissive: “It’s all
nothing. Give no credence to it at all.” Falcoia wrote this because he himself was interested
in starting a missionary congregation.
When Alphonsus came to visit the monastery,
Celeste quietly shared with him the vision.
Alphonsus was startled, humbled, and yet his heart was inflamed with
love and joy, for he, too, had thought of a preaching institute. He spent many
months consulting with many spiritual advisors, deliberating, praying about
this new venture to
preach to the poor and abandoned outside of Naples inviting them to a deeper love for God and a fuller practice
of the Christian life. Finally, on November 9, 1732, Alphonsus Liguori
founded the congregation in a house which sat on the corner of the nun’s
property in Scala.
The
following April, Celeste
abandoned Falcoia’s spiritual direction.
She writes to Alphonsus her reasons: Falcoia was unable to properly care
for her soul. Bound by obedience, she
had continually revealed to the spiritual father the state of her soul, but he
always seemed to misinterpret everything she
said in a sinister sense.
Letters
go back and forth between Celeste and Alphonsus.
Alphonsus
writes Celeste a long letter which only made the poor sister feel terrible because Alphonsus wrote, “My dear Celeste, my beloved
sister in Jesus Christ…” then questioned her lack of total submission to the
spiritual father and accused her of being obstinate in listening to Tosquez (a
devout layman who would sometimes advise her). He challenged her humility with,
“Where is the Celeste of former days? It breaks my heart to think of it!” Alphonsus charged her with attachment to her
own judgment, “…what a dangerous hallucination this is!” Such were the words that pierced her
heart. After much weeping and prayer,
she replied with just two lines, “Thank you for your charity towards me. From this hour on, I renounce all these
motives, all my words and judgments for the love of God.”
Throughout all this her Beloved Spouse,
the Redeemer, spoke reassuring words, “You
shall live a life of constant dying to yourself in everything you do,
crucifying yourself on my cross, living crucified in my holy Flesh, yet always
united to the joy of my divine Spirit.”
At that moment an angel pierced her heart with an arrow dipped in the
blood of the Lamb. This mysterious wound
so strengthened her that she felt able to gladly bear all contradictions,
contempt and insults to come in the service of God.
Alphonsus
wrote again after receiving Celeste’s perceived cold reply. (More likely,
Celeste felt the loss of all human consolation and just didn’t have the
strength at that time to answer properly.)
Alphonsus restated just as firmly his points, but in a more conciliatory
tone. He ended with, “It is always
profitable to humiliate a soul overwhelmed with favors from God. It is
impossible for me not to desire your perfection because I love you in Jesus
Christ and if you were offended by it, you would be wronging me. If I could, with the spiritual father’s
permission, I would kiss your feet.”
With
renewed strength it was Maria Celeste’s turn to respond with a long letter
delineating point by point the state of her conscience regarding Falcoia’s inability
to guide her soul and his continual tinkering with the New Rule. Celeste defended her friend Tosquez against
suspicion within the community. And finally, she renounced all supernatural
light and favors, in spite of the fact that the revelations she received were
always founded on the light of holy faith.
She
wrote, “God has no need of me. God can do it all.” Celeste ended imploring
Alphonsus to make known her imperfections, assuring him she feared nothing and
was at peace following the steps of her Savior. She ends with, “Pray for me and
bless me. I, your humble servant,
respectfully kiss your feet.”
Early in May 1733, everything came to a head. The Superioress and Falcoia imprisoned Sr. Maria Celeste in a cubbyhole under the eaves in the monastery attic while she considered three conditions: 1) to accept in writing, Falcoia’s version of the Rule, 2) never to write or consult with Tosquez again and 3) that she keep Falcoia as her Spiritual Director forever.
Isolated from the community, Celeste was forbidden to talk to anyone, even her own two blood sisters. Yet the hardest of all was being deprived of Holy Communion. After two weeks of prayer in the small attic space Sr. Maria Celeste agreed to the first two conditions but, because of ‘grave matters of conscience,’ she refused the third. With that, she was expelled from the monastery in Scala.
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