Who is the Servant of God?
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The Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta, was born in the small town of Corato in southern Italy, on April 23, 1865, on what is now called The Feast of Divine Mercy. Her parents, who had five daughters in all, were Catholics and farm workers. As a child she was frequently tormented by attacks of the devil. On her ninth birthday, she received her first Holy Communion and was confirmed. It was shortly after this that she began to hear Our Lord’s voice in her interior, instructing her in the spiritual life.When she was around eighteen she saw, from the balcony of her home, a vision of Jesus carrying the Cross, surrounded by a hateful mob that cruelly tortured Him. He cried to her, “Soul, help Me!” After this experience she offered herself to Him as a Victim Soul, and her sufferings greatly increased. One of these sufferings was to fall into a state of death-like rigidity from which no doctor could release her. Finally, it was discovered that a Catholic priest making the Sign of the Cross over her would bring her out of this rigid state. Though she was greatly persecuted by the priests who, for a time, left her for many days in the state of rigidity – because they believed she was putting on a show to get attention – her condition finally came to the attention of her Archbishop, Giuseppe B. Dottula, who in 1884, assigned Fr. Michele De Benedictus to be her special confessor. He came to see her daily, and she in turn opened to him the depths of her soul. She submitted herself in obedience to him, and he imposed restrictions on the sufferings she could accept as victim. It was during this time that Luisa received permission to remain constantly in bed and to abstain from eating, except for one small meal a day, which she always vomited back up. She remained a victim in bed, living solely on the Holy Eucharist and on the Divine Will for the rest of her life – some sixty years.
In 1898, Luisa was assigned a new confessor by the name of Fr. Gennaro Di Gennaro who gave her the obedience to write down everything that took place between her and Jesus. Although it was a harsh sacrifice about which she often complained, she continued to write in obedience to her various appointed confessors until 1938, when this obedience was lifted. All that she wrote during this time comprise the thirty-six volume Book of Heaven (and a few other related works), all pertaining to the knowledge and practice of Living in the Divine Will.
On March 4, 1947, after a short bout with pneumonia – the only diagnosable illness of her life – the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta, entered into eternal life to continue doing the Divine Will in Heaven, in the heavenly manner she had learned to do It on earth. To us she has bequeathed her writings, that we too might learn the happiness of doing the Divine Will on earth as It’s done in Heaven, and to bring the happiness to all on earth by making the Kingdom of God’s Will reign here.
As a final note, having received a letter of Non Obstare from the Holy See, on November 20, 1994 – the Feast of Christ the King, Most Reverend Monsignor Carmelo Cassati, Archbishop of Trani) the Diocese in which Luisa lived), established a diocesan tribunal for the process of the Cause of Beatification of the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta. The tribunal continues its work today to further the process, that Luisa may soon be raised to the altars of the Church.
In 1898, Luisa was assigned a new confessor by the name of Fr. Gennaro Di Gennaro who gave her the obedience to write down everything that took place between her and Jesus. Although it was a harsh sacrifice about which she often complained, she continued to write in obedience to her various appointed confessors until 1938, when this obedience was lifted. All that she wrote during this time comprise the thirty-six volume Book of Heaven (and a few other related works), all pertaining to the knowledge and practice of Living in the Divine Will.
On March 4, 1947, after a short bout with pneumonia – the only diagnosable illness of her life – the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta, entered into eternal life to continue doing the Divine Will in Heaven, in the heavenly manner she had learned to do It on earth. To us she has bequeathed her writings, that we too might learn the happiness of doing the Divine Will on earth as It’s done in Heaven, and to bring the happiness to all on earth by making the Kingdom of God’s Will reign here.
As a final note, having received a letter of Non Obstare from the Holy See, on November 20, 1994 – the Feast of Christ the King, Most Reverend Monsignor Carmelo Cassati, Archbishop of Trani) the Diocese in which Luisa lived), established a diocesan tribunal for the process of the Cause of Beatification of the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta. The tribunal continues its work today to further the process, that Luisa may soon be raised to the altars of the Church.
