St. Magdalene of Canossa
The saint of the day for May 8th is St. Magdalene of Canossa, virgin, foundress of the Canossian Family of Daughters and Sons of Charity (1774-1835). Magdalene of Canossa was born in 1774, the second child of a noble family from Verona, the Marquis Octavius Canossa and Countess Maria Terese Szluha. During her early childhood, Magdalene experienced deep suffering. At the age of five, her father died in a geological expedition and her mother remarried and left the Canossa Palace and her children behind to be raised by an uncle when Magdalen was just seven years old. Magdalene was 15 years old when the French revolution broke out and shook the whole of Europe. In Verona the real consequences were felt about seven years later, when, on June 10, 1796, General Napoleon entered the city as a conqueror. The following year Napoleon was a guest at Canossa Palace and Magdalene, being the lady of the house, had to do the honors to the General. At the age of seventeen...