The feast day of Bl. Maria Candida is celebrated on March 21. Maria Barba was born in Cantanzaro, Calabria. She was raised in Palermo, Sicily.
From the time of her first communion at the age of ten, Maria had a great devotion to the Eucharist. Her devotion grew when she read The Story of a Soul by a Carmelite nun, St. Thérèse of Lisiuex. At the age of 15 she wished to join a religious order, but her parents resisted. It was more than twenty years before her wish came true. Five years after the death of her mother she joined the Carmel of Ragusa in 1919, taking the name Maria Candida of the Eucharist. On April 23, 1924 she made her solemn profession as a Carmelite Nun. Within 6 months she became prioress of the Monastery.
As prioress Bl. Maria Candida worked diligently to revive the spirit of their foundress, St. Teresa of Jesus among the nuns of the monastery. The community grew under her leadership, making it possible to begin a new foundation in Syracuse.
Bl. Maria Candida shared her love of the Eucharist in the book she wrote: Eucharist; True Jewel of Eucharistic Spirituality.
Bl. Maria Candida of the Eucharist died from liver cancer in 1939 on the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity.
Our Lord does not come from Heaven every day to stay in a golden ciborium. He comes to find another heaven, the heaven of our soul in which He loves to dwell.
St. Thérèse of Lisiuex; Feast day October 1
March is the Month of St. Joseph