Ven. Maria Addolorata Luciani, CP, was born on 2 May 1920 in Montegranaro, in the Marche region of Italy. Two days after her birth she received the sacrament of Baptism. On 28 March 1927 she was confirmed and on May 6 of the same year she received her First Holy Communion.

At the age of thirteen she expressed, for the first time, the desire of consecrating herself to God in a cloistered monastery. At the age of twenty the vocation to the monastic life grew stronger and clearer and so, on June 4, 1945, after bidding farewell to her relatives, and accompanied by her mother she departed for the monastery of the Passionist cloistered nuns in the Italian city of Ripatransone.

After almost a year of novitiate and having overcome various obstacles of poor health, on November 5, 1947, the Servant of God professed First Vows. However, her health progressively worsened due to tuberculosis, making the administration of any therapy useless. However, despite intense physical and spiritual struggles, she demonstrated extraordinary strength and an uncommon serenity.

The characteristic spirituality of Sr. Maria Addolorata was characterized by the offering of her life in order to be conformed to Jesus Crucified. This was demonstrated in her total and unconditional acceptance of her physical sufferings, of which she willingly spoke and wrote, so that everyone would know about her great love for Jesus.

Tireless in her constant ascent to perfection, the Servant of God knew well that the road that she was called to travel to its end was replete with difficulties; however, she firmly proposed not to show weakness or to have second thoughts. It was enough to remain faithful to following Jesus with all the humility of which she was capable. It may well be said that faith and hope were her faithful travel companions, while the intimate union with God was the lighthouse that illuminated her path.

By 22 July 1954, her clinical condition was irreversible. The Servant of God was consumed by the illness and on 23 July 1954 she died at the hospital in the city of Teramo.

The Holy Father Pope Francis, ratifying the vote of the Congregation of the Causes of Saints in declaring her heroic virtue on 7 November 2018, said:

"The theological virtues of faith, hope and charity towards God and neighbor, as well as of the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance and of the annexed virtues, in an heroic degree are attributed to the Servant of God, Addolorata del Sacro Costato (in the world: Maria Luciani), a professed religious of the Congregation of the Nuns of the Passion of Jesus Christ, for the case and the effect which it concerns."

~ Excerpted from the Passionist International Bulletin, January 2018, p. 18