Saint Maria Cristina Brando

Originally published in the bulletin of St. Vincent Ferrer Church, Delray Beach, FL on January 15, 2023.

        Religious orders have been founded since the early years of the church. In the 19th century, numerous orders were founded throughout the world, including the Congregation of Holy Cross, the Salesians of Don Bosco, the Congregation of St. Paul, Little Servant Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, and the Congregation of the Sisters, Expiatory Victims of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. This founder of this last order is this week’s Saint of the Week.

 Adelaida Brando was born on May 5, 1856 in Naples, Italy, and by the time she was twelve years old, she already had formed the habit of going to Communion every day, and frequently receiving the Sacrament of Penance.

 When Adelaida was just twenty, she entered a religious order devoted to the perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and took the name Sister Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception. Illness forced her to leave that order and return home. Two years later, in 1878, she founded the Congregation of the Sisters, Expiatory Victims of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Their name means being in love with Jesus in the Eucharist. The nuns of this order devote themselves to perpetual Eucharistic adoration.

  Sister Maria Cristina was known for her devotion to Jesus Christ and the Eucharist. She would even sleep near the exposed Host to be close to Jesus and draw strength from him. She died on January 20, 1906, and is remembered for her deep love of God and his people. She was canonized May 17, 2015 by Pope Francis.