Blessed Alexandrina


Although I happily celebrated the feast day Mass of St Edward the Confessor this morning, a correspondent reminded me that today is also the feast day of Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa. Here is some basic information about her:
Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa of Balasar, Portugal (1904 – 1955), one of the great mystics of modern times, was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2004. A ‘victim soul', chosen by Christ to suffer in atonement for the sins of humanity, she was bedridden for life from the age of twenty after sustaining injuries while escaping from an attacker. She mystically underwent the Passion of Christ on Fridays and her sufferings helped to shorten World War II. Her astounding life has many connections to the events of Fatima and she is known in Portugal as ‘ the fourth seer of Fatima '. She urged all to “ Do penance, sin no more, pray the Rosary, receive the Eucharist ”. For the last thirteen years of her life she miraculously lived on the Holy Eucharist alone, a medically confirmed fact. She has been proposed by the Church as “ a model of purity and perseverance in the Faith for today's youth ”.
You can find out more about her at the Blessed Alexandrina website.

I think that in the 20th century God raised up some extraordinarily great saints in response to the extraordinary evils that took place at the time, and that Blessed Alexandrina was one, along with St Gemma Galgani, for example.

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