Anna Marie Taigi

 All Christians are called to a life of holiness - we are all called to be Saints. However, most canonized Saints that you will read about are priests or vowed religious. A primary reason for this is that the canonization process is lengthy and requires someone who is interested in seeing a person beatified and then canonized to follow the cause through the process. Religious orders often have the experience and persistence to follow through on a cause for one of their members, whereas there is seldom anyone to do this for a lay person. That being said, there are still many laypersons who have lived heroic lives and are worth knowing better.

Blessed Anna Marie was born in Siena, Italy. When she was five, her family moved to Rome due to financial distress. Her father, who was trained as a pharmacist, had to take a job as a household servant. When Anna Marie completed her schooling, she also went into domestic service as a maid. At the age of 20 she married Dominico Taigi, who worked as a butler or porter. The couple were married for 48 years and had seven children. 

Early in her marriage, Anna Marie was vain and concerned with her appearance. When she made up her mind to turn her life around, she met with several priests who misunderstood her, and a period of discouragement followed. Finally, she found a confessor who was able to offer her the guidance she was seeking. Under his direction, she began a life of prayer and penances, as far as her state in life as a wife and mother would allow. Not long after coming back to Christ, she began to hear an inner voice of Jesus and the Blessed Mother speaking to her. Jesus called her to a life of self-sacrifice and redemptive suffering to be lived out in the midst of her marriage and motherhood.

Anne Marie became a third order member of the Trinitarian Order. She gave all she could to the poor, visited the sick, and helped care for patients in Rome's hospitals. She was so well-respected that cardinals and nobles sought her counsel. Shortly before her death, she met with Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget, the first bishop of Bardstown, KY (now the diocese of Louisville). 

Blessed Anna Marie Taigi died on June 9, 1837, at the age of 68. When her cause for Sainthood was opened witnesses included two of her daughters, many cardinals and bishops and her 92 year old husband. She was beatified in 1920. Her Feast Day is June 9.

Blessed Anna Marie Taigi, pray for us.