About Luisa Piccarreta, Daughter of Divine Will:
Born on April 23, 1865 Luisa he was the fifth of eight daughters. Her father, a farmer, managed the land of a rich lord. Early on, it seemed strange that Luisa spent so much of her time hiding away in long meditations and prayers. At the age of 9 years, she received her First Communion and Confirmation on the same day.
She received only a first grade education, and as a teenager she joined the Third Order of Saint Dominic. About the age of 13 she felt she had to immerse herself in the Passion of Jesus and began to meditate daily. She also had a vision in which Jesus was being led to the crucifixion and asked her for help. After that, there began a long period of desolation and oppression by demons. As an adult, she took up lacemaking.
By 1889, she became bedridden. She began to hear to the voice of Jesus in her in a series of inner locutions. He corrected and guided Luisa in her spiritual life so that she become could His “perfect image” and He educated her to the mortification of the will for love. That is why the Eucharist became her “predominant passion” in she tried to participate whenever she could. Annibale Maria di Francia, who had been appointed as the Ecclesiastical Censure for all her writings, asked her to begin a diary of her spiritual experiences, which she did. After she finished writing her manuscript she sent it to di Francia along with a letter telling of the satisfaction that Jesus feels whenever we meditate on the hours of the passion. She wrote: “as if Jesus heard his own voice and his prayers being reproduced in those reparations, just as the ones he raised to his father during the 24 hours of his sorrowful passion“.
Also, Luisa included along with the manuscript and letter some additional notes in which she listed the effects and promises that Jesus makes to whoever meditates on these hours of his passion.
In 1926, di Francia was in Trani to open branches of his newly established institutes; he asked Piccareta to write her autobiography. She did this until 1938, with her writings running to thirty-six volumes. She stopped writing after her three first books (L’Orologio della Passione, Nel Regno dellà Divina Volontà et La Regina del Cielo nel regno della Divina Volontà) were added to the Index Librorum Prohibitorum by the Holy Office.[4] Piccarreta died of pneumonia on 4 March 1947, at the age of 81.[1]
Beatification process
In 1994, the Archbishop of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie opened her cause for beatification. By October 2005, the diocesan process of inquiry and documentation within the Diocese of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie-Nazareth was completed. Her case was then passed on to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the Holy See, and she was titled Servant of God. On several occasions, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith refused to give its nihil obstat to the pursuit of the beatification process. The canonical process for Piccareta was suspended in January of 2024 because of “theological, christological and anthropological” issues related to her writings, but resumed in June 2024 with the issuing of the nihil obstat by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
This review was somewhat complicated by the fact that she wrote her works in the Barese dialect of Southern Italy. In a letter dated November 1, 2012, Archbishop Giovan Battista Pichierri pointed out that until such time as the review was finished, it would have been premature to render any opinion as to whether or not Piccarreta’s writings conformed to Catholic teaching. Archbishop Pichierri also stated that a “typical and critical edition” of her writings will then be issued. He further specified that the Archdiocese is not the legal owner of her writings.
Editor’s Note: It is our opinion that often times errors in translation….or mis-understandings by visionaries themselves…can lead to confusion as to the authenticity of visions and apparitions. That is why, although we take them seriously, we always try to exercise caution when promoting them. And, as we have stated before, these are private revelations…not part of the the Deposit of the Faith, so you are free to disregard them.
Luisa Piccaretta died in Corato on March 4, 1947 at the age of 81. Her tomb is here in the Church of Santa Maria Greca.
The status of Luisa Piccarreta in the Church:
Luisa Piccaretta was declared “Servant of God” in 1994, the first step on the way to sainthood. As in many previous cases, there has been a fair amount of confustion over the status of Luisa Piccaretta and here writings.
On October 29, 2005, the conclusion of the Diocesan Phase of the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta, was officially celebrated and transferred to the Vatican.
The Church has not yet officially given the writings of Luisa Piccaretta her full approval (ie, “worthy of belief”) but neither does she condemn them. As far as the Vatican is concerned, it is the same with Luisa Piccarreta as it once was with Padre Pio (who apparently had great respect for Luisa) before he was declared venerable and then a saint. Catholics are free to take or leave her and her writings.
About the Church of Santa Maria Greca:
The church was founded following the miraculous discovery of the icon of the Madonna Greca on July 18, 1656 at which time the plague, that had ravaged the region, finally died out. The image of the city’s Protector is still kept today in the Sanctuary. Probably more notable is the fact that Servant-of-God Luisa Piccarreta is buried in the church.
On April 23, 2019 (anniversary of the birth of Luisa Piccarreta) the newly restored Blessed Sacrament Chapel and tomb of Luisa Piccarreta were unveiled.
Traveling to the Church of Santa Maria Greca in Corato, Italy:
Corato is on the east coast of Italy, not far from Bari.
Address: Corso Garibaldi, 55, 70033 Corato BA
Tel: +39 0808721389
email: info@santamariagreca.org
Click here for the official website of the Church of Santa Maria Greco in Corato, Italy.