Maria Cristina Brando

Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception Brando was born Adelaide Brando on 1 May 1856 in Naples, then in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. She was the daughter of Giovanni Giuseppe Brando and Maria Concetta Marrazzo. Her mother died shortly after the birth of another child, and Adelaide was placed in the care of relatives and later a boarding school. From childhood she showed a marked inclination to prayer and a desire for consecrated life. At about the age of twelve she received First Communion and Confirmation, which strengthened her resolve to give herself entirely to God.

Despite family resistance, in 1876 she entered a Poor Clare monastery in Naples but was obliged to leave after a short time because of serious illness. After recovering she joined a community of Sacramentine sisters, made a private vow of chastity, and took the religious name Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception, reflecting her devotion to the Eucharist and to Mary under that title. Difficulties in that setting led her to leave, and with a small group of companions she undertook a new foundation devoted to adoration of the Eucharist and to the Christian education of children, especially the poor.

In 1878 the new institute was begun with the blessing of the Bishop of Nola. It became known as the Sisters Expiatory Victims of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament (Suore Vittime Espiatrici di Gesù Sacramentato). The charism joined a spirituality of Eucharistic reparation with teaching and the care of girls in need. The community established its motherhouse in Casoria, near Naples. As superior and foundress, Maria Cristina formed her sisters in humility, poverty, and trust in divine providence. She lived with chronic poor health and presented illness and contradiction as a share in Christ's redemptive suffering.

She died in Casoria on 20 January 1906 and was buried at the motherhouse of her congregation there. The institute continued after her death and later received further ecclesiastical approval. Her cause of canonization was introduced in the twentieth century. Pope John Paul II beatified her on 27 April 2003 in Saint Peter's Square. Pope Francis canonized her on 17 May 2015, also in Saint Peter's Square. The Catholic Church commemorates her on 20 January, the anniversary of her death. She is venerated as a foundress and as a witness to Eucharistic devotion and charitable education in late nineteenth-century southern Italy.