Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus In The Kingdom of the Divine Will
From the Writings of
The Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta
The Little Daughter of the Divine Will
Volume 10 – November 28, 1920
Luisa’s prayer to Jesus.
…Only and always together with Jesus
and in Jesus I shall live,
into His Heart I will plunge myself,
and together with Jesus, and with His Heart,
Love, Love, I will love You.
Letter of Luisa Piccarreta to Federico Abresch from Bologna
Don’t you know that Redemption is preparation for the Kingdom of the Divine Will? And the Sacred Heart of Jesus is nothing other than the immense Reign of His Will. It is not the Heart that dominates; it is the Divine Will that dominates His Divine Heart. Poor Heart, if it did not have a Will to dominate it, it would be good at nothing. If the will is good, the heart is good; if the will is holy, the heart is holy. If our will gives place to the Divine, letting It raise Its throne in our will, the heart acquires the divine qualities by grace. Therefore, both in the Divine and in the human order, it is always the will that has the first place, the prime act, it’s rule. The heart and all the rest are in the secondary order…
Therefore, to say that the Heart reigns, if the Divine Will does not reign, is absurd. They can be called devotions, pious practices…; if the Divine Will does not reign, the Kingdom does not exist. It exists in Heaven, but has no place on earth. However, the Holy Church, organ and messenger of the Supreme Fiat, through the Sacred Heart, through the Celestial Mama, beseeches the Kingdom of the Divine Will. She does not say it with words, but says it with facts. The Divine Volition is the King – His Heart, His wounds, His precious Blood, the sweet Queen, form the ministers that surround the King, and through them beseech the Kingdom of the Divine Will in souls.
Now, how can one know It? All the necessary things, the different circumstances in which we may find ourselves, are Will of God for us. If we are really determined to live in It, God is so pleased that, if miracles are needed, He will make them in order not to let us use our will. It is up to us to truly decide, and be willing even to give our lives in order to live in It; and dear Jesus and the Sovereign Queen will take on the commitment, will be our sentries, and will surround us with such graces as to not let us be betrayed by our own wills. More so, since our Lord does not teach difficult things, nor does He impose them or want them, but He facilitates all that He wants from us in an admirable way; even more, He puts Himself in our place to make it easy for us, and does together with us all that He wants us to do.
Extending the Rays of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Volume 24 – March 25, 1928
After this, my sweet Jesus made Himself seen with His Divine Heart unleashing many rays of light; each knowledge about the Divine Will was impressed at the point from which the rays started, in such a way as to form the most beautiful crown of light around that Divine Heart. And my beloved Jesus added:
“My daughter, look what a beautiful crown of glory and of light my Divine Heart possesses! A more beautiful and refulgent crown It could not possess. These rays are all the knowledges about my Will; however, these rays are hampered – they cannot extend, because their knowledges are not known; this is why they cannot extend and expand so as to fill the whole earth with light. It happens as it would to the Sun if its rays, which start from the center of its sphere, were forced to remain in the air, without being able to extend so as to touch the earth and invest it with light and heat. Unable to extend its rays, the Sun would not be able to give the effects that its light contains, nor could the earth receive them. There would be a certain distance between the earth and the light of the Sun, and this distance would prevent the Sun from doing good to the earth, and the earth would be sterile and infertile. Such are the knowledges about my Fiat:
if they are not made known, their rays cannot extend and take souls as though in their hands to warm them, to remove from them the torpor of the human will, to mold them anew, to transform them again in the life which my Fiat wants to infuse into them; because these knowledges are, and contain, the new creation of transforming the creature as he came out of Our creative hands.”
Fiat!
Volume 2 – April 12, 1899
Jesus says: “Being in the Sacrament for Me is the same as being in your heart”. Hypocrisy, a profound pain for Jesus.
Today, without having me wait too long, Jesus came quickly and told me: “You are my tabernacle. Being in the Sacrament for Me is the same as being in your heart; or rather, in you I find something more: I am be able to share my pains with you and to have you with Me, a living victim before divine justice, which I do not find in the Sacrament.” And while saying these words, He enclosed Himself within me.
While within me, Jesus would make me feel, now the pricks of the thorns, now the pains of the cross, the labors and the sufferings of His Heart. Around His Heart I could see a braid of iron spikes, which made Jesus suffer very much. Ah, how much pity I felt in seeing Him suffer so much! I would have wanted to suffer everything myself, rather than let my sweet Jesus suffer, and from the heart I prayed Him to give the pains and the suffering to me.
Jesus told me: “Daughter, the offenses which most pierce my Heart are the masses said sacrilegiously, and the hypocrisies.” Who can say what I understood in these two words? It seemed to me that externally one shows that he loves and praises the Lord, but internally he has poison ready to kill Him; externally, one shows that he wants the glory and the honor of God, while internally he seeks his own honor and esteem. All works done with hypocrisy, even the holiest ones, are works completely poisoned, which embitter the Heart of Jesus.
Volume 4 – July 31, 1902
True charity must be disinterested.
As I was in my usual state, I saw my adorable Jesus several times, but always in silence. I felt all confused and would not dare to ask Him anything, but it seemed that He wanted to tell me something which wounded His Sacred Heart. Finally, the last time He came, He told me: “My daughter, true charity must be disinterested on the part of one who does it, and on the part of one who receives it. If there is interest, that mud produces a smoke which blinds the mind, and prevents one from receiving the influence and the effects of divine charity. This is why in many works that are done, even holy, in many charitable cares that are performed, one feels as though a void, and they do not receive the fruit of the charity they do.”
Volume 4 – November 16, 1900
Jesus removes her heart and gives her His love as heart.
This morning, after I received Communion, my adorable Jesus made me see my interior all strewn with flowers, in the shape of a hut, and He was inside of it, amusing and delighting Himself completely. Seeing Him in that attitude, I said: ‘My most sweet Jesus, when will it be that You take this heart of mine to conform it completely to Yours, in such a way that I may live from the life of your Heart?’ While I was saying this, my highest and only Good took a lance and opened me at the place corresponding to my heart; then He pulled it out with His hands, and He looked at it thoroughly to see whether it was stripped and possessed those qualities to be able to be inside His Most Holy Heart. I too looked at it, and to my surprise I saw, impressed on one side of it, the cross, the sponge and the crown of thorns. But as I wanted to see the other side and the inside, for it seemed swollen as if it could be opened, my beloved Jesus prevented me, saying to me: “I want to mortify you by not letting you see all that I have poured into this heart. Ah, yes! Here inside this heart there are all the treasures of my graces that human nature can arrive at containing.” At that moment He enclosed it inside His Most Holy Heart, adding: “Your heart has taken possession within my Heart, and I will give you my love as heart, which will give you life.” And drawing near that part, He sent three breaths containing light which took the place of my heart. Then He closed the wound, telling me: “Now more than ever is it appropriate for you to fix yourself in the center of my Will, having my love alone as heart. You must not go out of It even for one instant, for my love will find its true nourishment in you only if it finds my Will in you, entirely and completely. In It will my love find its contentment and true and faithful correspondence.”
Then, drawing near my mouth, He sent me three more breaths, and He also poured a most sweet liqueur which inebriated me completely. Then, as though taken by enthusiasm, He said: “See, your heart is in Mine, therefore it is no longer yours.” And He kissed me over and over again, and made many finesses of love to me. But who can say them all? It is impossible for me to manifest them. Who can say what I felt when I found myself inside myself? I can only say that I felt as if I were no longer myself: with no passion, with no inclination, with no desire – completely immersed in God. At the place of my heart I could feel a sensible icy cold compared to the other parts.
Volume 4 – November 18, 1900
The union of one’s heart with that of Jesus makes one pass on to the state of perfect consummation.
He continues to keep my heart inside His Heart, and every now and then He deigns to let me see it, making feast as if He had made a great gain. In these days, when I find myself outside of myself, at the place that corresponds to the heart, instead of the heart I see the light that blessed Jesus sent me in those three breaths. Then, this morning, on coming, showing me His Heart, He told me: “My beloved, which one would you like: my Heart or yours? If you want Mine, you will have to suffer more. Know, however, that I have done this to make you pass on to another state, because when one reaches union, one passes to another state, which is that of consummation, and in order to pass to this state of perfect consummation, the soul needs either my Heart in order to live, or her own completely transformed into Mine. Otherwise, she cannot pass on to this state of consummation.” And I, all fearful, answered: ‘My sweet love, my will is no longer mine, but Yours – do whatever You want, and I will be more than happy.’
After this, I remembered about some difficulties of the confessor, and Jesus, seeing my thought, showed me as if I were inside a crystal, and this prevented others from seeing what the Lord was operating in me. Then He added: “Only in the reflections of light can one know the crystal and what it contains. The same with you: one who carries the light of faith will touch what I operate in you with his own hand; if then he does not, he will see things in a natural way.”
Volume 4 – November 20, 1900
Since Luisa must live from the Heart of Jesus, He gives her rules in order to undertake a more perfect way of living.
While I am outside of myself, my adorable Jesus continues to show me my heart inside of His – but so transformed, that I can no longer recognize which one is mine and which one is Jesus’s. He has conformed it perfectly to His own; He has impressed on it all the insignia of the Passion, making me understand that, from the moment of His conception His Heart was conceived with these insignia of the Passion; so much so, that what He suffered at the end of His life was an outpouring of that which His Heart had suffered continuously. I seemed to see one just like the other. I seemed to see my beloved Jesus occupied with preparing the place in which He was to put the heart, perfuming it and bejeweling it with many different flowers. And while He was doing this, He told me: “My beloved, since you must live from my Heart, it is appropriate for you to undertake a more perfect way of living. Therefore, from you I want:
- Perfect conformity to my Will, because you will only be able to love Me perfectly if you love Me with my own Will. Even more, I tell you that by loving Me with my own Will, you will arrive at loving Me, and your neighbor, with my same way of loving.
- Profound humility, placing yourself, in front of Me and of creatures, as the last among all.
- Purity in everything, because any slightest fault against purity, both in loving and in operating, is reflected all in the heart, and it remains stained. Therefore I want purity to be like dew upon the flowers at the rising of the sun, which, its rays reflecting upon them, transmutes those little drops into as many precious pearls, such as to enchant the people. In the same way, if all your works, thoughts and words, heartbeats and affections, desires and inclinations, are adorned with the celestial dew of purity, you will weave a sweet enchantment, not only for the human eye, but for the whole of Heaven.
- Obedience, which must be connected with my Will, because if this virtue regards the superiors I have given you on earth, my Will is obedience which regards Me directly; so much so, that it can be said that both one and the other are virtues of obedience – with this difference alone: one regards God, and the other regards men. However, both of them have the same value, and one cannot be without the other; therefore you must love both one and the other in the same way.”
Then He added: “Know that from now on you will live with my Heart, and you must see things the way my Heart does, that I may find my satisfactions in you. Therefore be careful, for this is no longer your heart, but Mine.”
Volume 4 – November 22, 1900
Jesus puts Himself in the place of the heart, and tells her what food He wants from her.
My adorable Jesus continues to make Himself seen. This morning, having received Communion, I saw Him in my interior, as well as our two hearts so identified with each other as to seem to be one. My most sweet Jesus told me: “Today I have decided to give you back, not your heart, but Myself in its place.” At that moment I saw Jesus placing Himself in that point where the heart is, and from within Jesus I received respiration and I felt the beating of His Heart. How happy I felt, living in this position!
After this, He added: “Since I Myself have taken the place of the heart, it is appropriate for you to have food always ready to nourish Me. This food will be my Will, and everything through which you will mortify yourself and of which you will deprive yourself for love of Me.” But who can say all that passed between Jesus and me in my interior? I believe it is better to keep silent, otherwise I feel as if I would ruin it, since my tongue is not well refined to be able to speak of graces so great which the Lord has given to my soul. There is nothing left for me but to thank the Lord who has looked upon a soul so miserable and sinful.
Volume 4 – September 4, 1901
Gratitude is the key to open the treasures of God. Ardors of the Heart of Jesus for the glory of the Divine Majesty and the good of souls. What the soul can do to fill the voids of His glory on the part of creatures.
As my adorable Jesus continued to come, this morning, as I saw Him, I felt such a yearning to ask Him whether He had forgiven my sins; so I said to Him: ‘My sweet Love, how I yearn to hear from your lips whether You have forgiven my many sins.’ Jesus drew close to my ear, and with His gaze He seemed to scrutinize all of my interior; and He told me: “Everything is forgiven, and I remit them. There is nothing left in you but a few defects committed by you in passing, without realizing it – and I remit those as well.”
After this, it seemed that Jesus placed Himself behind my shoulders, and touching my back with His hand, He fortified it thoroughly. Who can say what I felt at that touch? I can only say that I felt a refreshing fire, a purity united to a fortitude. Then, after He touched my back, I prayed Him to do the same to my heart, and Jesus, to content me, condescended. Afterwards, it seemed to me as if blessed Jesus was tired because of me, and I said to Him: ‘My sweet Life, You are tired because of me, aren’t You?’ And He: “Yes, at least be grateful for the graces I am giving you, because gratitude is the key to be able to open as one pleases the treasures that God contains. Know, however, that what I did to you will serve to preserve you from corruption, to strengthen you, and to dispose your soul and body for the eternal glory.”
After this, He seemed to transport me outside of myself, and He made me see the multitude of the peoples, and the good which they can do, but do not, and therefore the glory which God must receive, but does not. All afflicted, Jesus added: “My beloved, my Heart burns for the honor of my glory and the good of souls. For each good they omit, my glory and their souls receive a void. Even if they do no evil, by not doing the good they could do, they are like those empty rooms which, though beautiful, contain nothing to be admired, nothing which strikes one’s gaze, and therefore their owner receives no glory. If then they do one good and neglect another, they are like those rooms all vacated, in which one can see just a few objects, with no order. My beloved, come and take part in these pains, in the ardors which my Heart feels for the glory of the Divine Majesty and the good of souls, and try to fill these voids of my glory. You can do this by letting not a single moment of your life pass without being united to my Life; that is, in all your actions, be they prayer or suffering, rest or work, silence or conversation, sadness or joy, and even in the food you take – in sum, in everything that may happen to you, you will place the intention of giving Me all the glory which others should give Me in that action, and of making up for the good they should do, but do not, intending to repeat this intention for as much glory as I do not receive, and for as much good as they omit. If you do this, you will somehow fill the void of the glory which I must receive from creatures, and my Heart will feel a refreshment in my ardors; and from this refreshment rivulets of grace will flow for the good of mortals, which will infuse in them more fortitude to do good.” After this, I found myself inside myself.
Volume 4 – June 2, 1902
The Throne of Jesus is composed of virtues. The soul who possesses virtues makes Him reign in her heart.
This morning, after I struggled very much, blessed Jesus moved in my interior, and I saw that He was inside of me as though embraced and sustained by someone else. I was surprised at seeing this, and Jesus told me: “My daughter, the interior of the soul is a filling of passions, and as the soul keeps knocking passions down, so does each virtue take its place, accompanied by degrees of grace; and according to how the virtue keeps being perfected, so does grace administer its degrees to it. And since my Throne is composed of virtues, the soul who possesses virtues provides Me with arms and with the Throne to be able to reign in her heart, keeping Me continuously embraced and courted, until I delight with her. However, the soul can stain herself, while the virtue remains always intact; so, as long as the soul knows how to keep it, the virtue remains with her; but when she does not, the virtue returns to Me – to the place from which it came. Therefore, do not be surprised if you saw Me like this in your interior.”
Volume 4 – November 5, 1902
The Tree of Life, rooted in the Heart of Jesus.
This morning my adorable Jesus made Himself seen in my interior, and He seemed to have a tree planted in His Heart, and so rooted into It, that its roots arose from the center of His Heart. In sum, it seemed to be born together with It, with the same nature. I was amazed at seeing its beauty, strikingness and height, which seemed to touch the heavens; and its branches extended out to the farthest ends of the world. Now, on seeing me so amazed, blessed Jesus told me: “My daughter, this Tree was conceived together with Me, in the center of my Heart, and from that moment I felt in my inmost Heart all the good and the evil that man would do with this Tree of Redemption, called ‘Tree of Life’. In fact, all those souls who remain united to this Tree will receive the life of grace in time, and when the Tree has raised them well, It will administer to them the life of glory in eternity. Yet, what is not my sorrow? Even though they cannot root out the Tree, nor can they touch the trunk, many try to cut some branches so that souls may not receive life, and to take away from Me all the glory and the pleasure that this Tree of Life would have produced for Me.” While saying this, He disappeared.
Volume 6 – August 25, 1905
True virtues must have their roots in the Heart of Jesus, and be developed in the heart of the creature.
This morning, on coming, blessed Jesus told me: “My daughter, the soul must reside in my Heart; and her very virtues… she must make it in such a way that they have their roots in my Heart and be developed in her heart. Otherwise, there might be the natural virtues, or those of sympathy, which are called virtues at times and circumstances, and are mutable; while the virtues whose roots are fixed in my Heart and are developed in the soul, are stable and adapt themselves to all times and to all circumstances, and are the same for all. But the others are not, and it happens that they feel an unlimited charity for someone, that is, at one time they are all fire, they make true sacrifices, they would want to lay down their lives; but then someone else comes, perhaps more in need than the first one, and in one moment the scene changes: they become icy, they don’t even want to make the sacrifice of listening or saying a word; they are listless and send him back embittered and irritated. Is this perhaps the charity whose root is fixed in my Heart? Certainly not. On the contrary, it is a vicious charity, all human and of sympathy, which seems to flourish at one moment, and it withers and disappears at another. Someone else is obedient to someone, submitted, humble; he makes himself a rag, in such a way that the other can do with him what he wants. But with another he is disobedient, recalcitrant, proud. Is this the obedience that comes from my Heart; as I obeyed everyone, even my very executioners? Certainly not. Someone else is patient on certain occasions; be they even serious sufferings, he looks like a lamb that does not even open its mouth to lament. But with another suffering, maybe smaller, he loses his temper, he gets irritated, he swears. Is this perhaps the patience whose root is fixed in my Heart? Certainly not. Someone else one day is all fervent, he prays always, to the point of transgressing the duties of his state; but another day he has had an encounter a little disappointing, he feels cold, and he abandons prayer completely, to the point of transgressing the duties of a Christian – the prayers of obligation. Is this perhaps my spirit of prayer, as I reached the point of sweating blood, of feeling the agony of death, and yet I never neglected prayer for one single moment? Certainly not. And so with all the other virtues. Only the virtues which are rooted in my Heart and grafted in the soul are stable and lasting, and shine as full of light. The others, while they appear to be virtues, are vices; they appear to be light, but they are darkness.”
Having said this, He disappeared, and as I continued to desire Him, He came back and added: “The soul who desires Me always impregnates herself with Me continuously; and I, feeling Myself impregnated by the soul, impregnate Myself with the soul, in such a way that, wherever I turn, I find her with her desires, and I touch her continuously.”
Volume 6 – August 28, 1905
The Heart of Jesus binds the human hearts to Itself, and they take everything of His Heart, even His very life, if they correspond to Him.
This morning, on coming, my adorable Jesus made me see His most lovable Heart. Something like many shining threads of gold, of silver, and red-colored, were coming out from within It, and it seemed that they were forming a net which, thread after thread, bound all human hearts. I remained enchanted on seeing this, and He said to me: “My daughter, with these threads my Heart binds to Itself all the affections, the desires, the heartbeats, the love and even the very life of the human hearts, which are similar to my human Heart in everything – except, mine is different in sanctity. And having bound them, as my desires move from Heaven, the thread of desires excites their desires; if the affections move, the thread of affections moves their affections; if I love, the thread of love excites their love, and the thread of my life gives them life. Oh, what harmony between Heaven and earth, between my Heart and the human hearts! But only those who correspond to Me can perceive this, while those who reject Me with the effectiveness of their wills perceive nothing, and render vain the operations of my human Heart.”
Volume 8 – March 9, 1908
The lives of all palpitated in the Heart of Jesus.
Continuing in my usual state, blessed Jesus came for just a little, and He seemed to draw near me, letting me hear the beats of His Heart – but so very strongly; and many other little heartbeats palpitated in His heartbeat. He told me: “My daughter, this is the state in which my Heart found Itself in the act of my Passion. All human lives palpitated in my Heart, which, with their sins, were all in the attitude of giving Me death; and my Heart, in spite of their ingratitude, taken by violence of love, gave back life to all. This is why I palpitated so strongly, and in my heartbeat I enclosed all human heartbeats, making them rise again into heartbeats of grace, of love and of divine delights.” And He disappeared.
In addition to this, having spent a day with many visits, I was feeling tired, and in my interior I was lamenting to Our Lord, saying: “Move creatures away from me; I feel very oppressed – I don’t know what they find or want from me. Have pity on the violence I do myself continuously, to be with You in my interior and with creatures externally.’ At that moment, the Queen Mama came, and raising her right hand, pointing to my interior, in which there seemed to be lovable Jesus, told me: “My beloved daughter, do not oppress yourself, creatures run to where there is a treasure. And since in you there is the treasure of sufferings, in which my sweet Son is enclosed, they come to you. You, however, while dealing with them – do not get distracted from your treasure, making each one love the treasure you contain within you, which is the cross and my Son. In this way, you will send them back all enriched.”
Volume 8 – August 14, 1908
The human will serves as brush for Jesus in order to portray His image in the heart.
Having received Communion, I could see the Baby within my interior, as though looking for something important; and I said: ‘My pretty little one, what are You looking for with so much zeal? And He said: “Daughter, I am looking for the brush of your will to be able to portray my image in your heart. In fact, if you do not give me your will, I lack the brush to be able to portray Myself freely in you; and just as your will serves as brush in my hands, love serves as colors in order to impress the variety of colors of my image. Moreover, just as the human will serves as brush for Me, my Will serves as brush in the hands of the soul in order to portray her image in my Heart; in Me, then, she will find abundant color of love for the variety of colors.”
Volume 10 – November 2, 1911
Jesus gives her a heart of light, and tells her to do everything by means of that heart.
Continuing in my usual state, blessed Jesus came for just a little, and as I lamented to Him because He was coming only in passing and did not give me time to tell Him anything about the so many needs that exist – with the addition that when He comes, now He clasps me tightly, now He transforms me so much within His Will as to leave me not even a little space to be able to plead for His creatures – Jesus told me: “My daughter, you always want to know it. I tell you: things will be grave – extremely grave, and this is the whole reason; and if I placed Myself in intimacy with you, you would bind Me and would come up with something of yours; rather, you must have patience, and let Me bind you for now.”
Then He took a heart of light and placed it in my interior, adding: “You will love, you will speak, you will think, you will repair – you will do everything by means this heart.”
Volume 11 – June 15, 1916
In the Divine Will everything is complete. The most powerful prayers over the Heart of Jesus, and those which move Him the most, are to clothe oneself with all that He Himself did and suffered.
Continuing in my usual state, my always lovable Jesus came, He transformed me completely in Him, and then He told me: “Daughter, pour yourself into my Will to make complete reparations for Me. My love feels an irresistible need for them; after so many offenses of creatures, it wants one at least who, placing herself between Me and them, would give Me complete reparations, love for all, and would snatch from Me graces for all. But you can do this only in my Will, in which you will find Me and all creatures. Oh, with what yearnings am I waiting for you to enter into my Will, to be able to find in you the satisfactions and the reparations of all! Only in my Will will you find all things in act, because I am engine, actor and spectator of everything.” Now, while He was saying this, I poured myself into His Will – but who can say what I saw? I was in contact with every thought of creature, the life of which came from God; and I, in His Will, multiplied myself in each thought, and with the sanctity of His Will I repaired everything, I had a ‘Thank You’ for all, a love for all. Then I multiplied myself in the gazes, in the words and in everything else – but who can say what was happening? I lack the terms, and maybe the very angelic tongues would stammer; therefore I stop here.
So I spent the whole night with Jesus in His Will. Then I felt the Queen Mama near me, and She told me: “My daughter, pray.” And I: ‘My Mama, let us pray together, for by myself I don’t know how to pray.’ And She added:
“The most powerful prayers over the Heart of my Son, and those which move Him the most, are for the creature to clothe herself with everything He Himself did and suffered, since He gave everything as gift to the creature.
Therefore, my daughter, surround your head with the thorns of Jesus, bead your eyes with His tears,
impregnate your tongue with His bitterness,
clothe your soul with His Blood,
adorn yourself with His wounds,
pierce your hands and feet with His nails,
and like another Christ present yourself before His Divine Majesty.
This sight will move Him in such a way that He will not be able to deny anything to the soul who is clothed with His own insignia. But – oh, how little do creatures know how to make use of the gifts which my Son gave them! These were my prayers upon earth, and these are my prayers in Heaven.” So, together we clothed ourselves with the insignia of Jesus, and together we presented ourselves before the Divine Throne. This moved all; the Angels made way for us and remained as though surprised. I thanked Mama, and I found myself inside myself.
Volume 12 – January 27, 1919
The three mortal wounds of the Heart of Jesus.
As I was in my usual state, my always lovable Jesus, in coming, showed me His adorable Heart, all full of wounds, from which rivers of blood gushed. All sorrowful, He told me: “My daughter, among the many wounds that my Heart contains, there are three wounds which give Me mortal pains and such bitterness of sorrow as to surpass all the other wounds together. These are the pains of my loving souls. When I see a soul, all Mine, suffering because of Me, tortured, crushed, ready to suffer for Me even the most painful death, I feel her pains as if they were Mine – and maybe even more. Ah! love can open the deepest gashes, to the extent of making one feel no other pains.
My dear Mama enters first into this first wound. Oh, how her Heart, pierced because of my pains, overflowed into Mine, and felt vividly all of Its piercings! In seeing her dying, without dying, because of my death, I felt the torment, the cruelness of her martyrdom in my Heart, and I felt the pains of my death which the Heart of my dear Mama felt, and my Heart died together with Hers. Therefore, all my pains, united with the pains of my Mama, surpassed everything. It was right that my Celestial Mama had the first place in my Heart, both in sorrow and in love, because each pain suffered for love of Me opened seas of graces and of love, which poured into her pierced Heart. All the souls who suffer because of Me, and only out of love, enter into this wound. You yourself enter into it; and even if all offended Me and nobody loved Me, I would find in you the love which can compensate Me for all. Therefore, when creatures drive Me away and force Me to run away from them, I very quickly come to take refuge in you as though in my hiding place; and finding my own Love, not their own, and a Love suffering only for Me, I say: ‘I do not regret having created Heaven and earth, and having suffered so much. A soul who loves Me and who suffers for Me is all my contentment, my happiness, my reward for everything I have done’. And as though putting all the rest aside, I delight and play with her.
However, while this wound of my Heart is the most painful, such as to surpass everything, it contains two effects at the same time: it gives Me intense pain and highest joy; unspeakable bitterness and indescribable sweetness; painful death and glorious life. These are the excesses of my Love – inconceivable to created mind. In fact, how many contentments did my Heart not find in the sorrows of my pierced Mama?
The second mortal wound of my Heart is ingratitude. With ingratitude, the creature closes my Heart; even more, she herself turns the key with double locks. My Heart swells, wanting to pour out graces and love, but It cannot, because the creature has closed It, and has sealed It with her ingratitude. And I become delirious – I agonize, without hope that this wound of Mine may be healed, because ingratitude keeps embittering it more and more, giving Me mortal pain.
The third one is obstinacy. What a mortal wound for my Heart! Obstinacy is the destruction of all the goods I have done for the creature; it is the signature that the creature puts on her declaration that she no longer recognizes Me – that she no longer belongs to Me. It is the key of hell into which the creature hurls herself. My Heart feels this tearing; It is torn to pieces – and I feel one of these pieces being taken away from Me. What a mortal wound obstinacy is!
My daughter, enter my Heart and take part in these wounds of Mine. Compassionate my tormented Heart. Let us suffer together, and let us pray.” I entered into His Heart. How painful but beautiful it was to suffer and pray with Jesus.
Volume 12 – June 27, 1919
The Heart of Jesus: spring of Glory and of Graces.
Continuing in my usual state, my lovable Jesus showed me His Most Holy Heart, telling me: “My daughter, as many virtues as my Heart practiced, so many springs were formed in It. And as they formed, innumerable rivulets gushed forth, which, spurting up to Heaven, worthily glorified the Father in the name of all, and dropped again from Heaven for the good of all creatures. Now, as creatures too, practice virtues, they form little springs in their hearts, from which their little rivulets gush forth, which cross Mine and, spurting together, glorify the Celestial Father and descend for the good of all, forming such harmony between Heaven and earth that even the Angels remain astonished at the enchanting sight. Therefore, be attentive in practicing the virtues of my Heart, so as to let Me open the springs of my Graces.”
Volume 14 – May 8, 1922
The pains of one who loves Jesus the most are in continuous currents with His Heart.
Continuing in my usual state, blessed Jesus just barely made Himself seen, like a flash that runs away. He showed now the shadow of His light, now His hand. I felt an indescribable pain; and He, caressing my face with His hand, told me: “Poor daughter, how much you suffer.” And immediately He withdrew.
So, I thought to myself: ‘Jesus told me many times that He loves me very much, and that He suffers greatly when He sees that I suffer because of His privation. Who knows how much He suffers now, in seeing me petrified by the pain of His privation? So, in order not to make Him suffer much, I want to pluck up my strength, and try to be more content, less oppressed, more attentive in maintaining my flight, my attitude in His Will, so as to bring Him my kiss – not embittered, but peaceful and content, which may not sadden Him, but rather, console Him.’
While I was thinking of this, He came out from within my interior, all sorrowful, and with His Heart all wounded. In the center of It a wound could be seen, and a little flame coming out from within it. And He told me: “My daughter, indeed the more I see you suffer when I deprive you of Myself, the greater pain I feel; because since your pain is caused by the privation of Me, it is nothing other than the effect of the love you have for Me. Therefore, if you are embittered and oppressed, your heartbeat echoes in my Heart, and I feel your bitterness and oppression. Oh, if you knew how much I suffer when I see you suffer because of Me, you would always use this caution, this attention, so as not to embitter Me more. These are the pains of one who loves Me the most, which are in continuous currents with my Heart.
See, the wound that you see in the center of my Heart, from which the little flame comes out, is precisely yours. But, be consoled; if it gives Me highest pain, it also give Me highest love. You, however, stay calm, and I will go forward to fulfill my Justice. But I do not leave you, I will return often; be it even like a flash, I will not cease to make you my little visits.”
Volume 14 – November 6, 1922
The little lambs of the Heart of Jesus.
As I was in my usual state, my always lovable Jesus made Himself seen holding many little lambs in His arms – some leaning on His breast, some on His shoulders, some clinging to His neck, some on the right, some on the left in His arms, and some peeking out with their little heads from within His Heart. However, the feet of all these little lambs were all in the Heart of Our Lord, and His breath was the nourishment He gave to them. They were all turned with their mouths toward the mouth of my sweet Jesus, to receive the nourishment of His breath. It was really beautiful to see how Jesus took highest delight, all intent on nourishing them and delighting with them; they really seemed as many births delivered by His Most Holy Heart. Then, turning to Me, He said: “My daughter, these little lambs that you see in my arms are the children of my Will, legitimate births from my Supreme Volition. They will come out from within my Heart, but will keep their feet in the center of my Heart, so that they may take nothing from the earth, and may be concerned with nothing but Me alone. Look at them, how beautiful they are; how clean and nourished they grow, fed by my breath alone. They will be the glory, the crown of my Creation.”
Then He added: “My Will crystallizes the soul; and just as when any object is placed close to a crystal, another object is formed within it fully similar to the one which is placed in front of it, in the same way, my Will reflects all It does in these souls, crystallized by my power; and they repeat and do all that my Supreme Will does. And since my Will is everywhere, in Heaven, on earth and in every place, by containing my Will within them as life, wherever my Will acts, these souls absorb It like crystal within them, and they repeat my act. So, as I act, I take great delight in placing Myself in front of them to see my own action being repeated in them. They are my mirrors, and my Will multiplies them everywhere, for every act It does; therefore, there is not one created thing in which they are not present: in the creatures, in the sea, in the sun, in the stars, and even in Heaven; and my Will receives the requital for my act from the creature in a divine manner.
This is also the reason why I love so much that the living in my Will be known: to multiply more of these mirrors, rendered as crystals by my Will, to have my works repeated in them. Then I will not be alone any more, but I will have the creature in my company; I will have her with Me, intimately with Me, in the depth of my Will, almost inseparable from Me, as if she had just come out of my womb when I created her, having followed no other ways contrary to my Will. How happy I will be!”
Volume 16 – February 16, 1924
Immense sorrow and infinite joys of the Heart of Jesus. One who, with love and submission, shares in His sorrows, also shares in His joys.
I was thinking about the sorrows of the Most Holy Heart of Jesus. Oh! how my pains disappeared when compared to His. And my always lovable Jesus told me: “My daughter, the sorrows of my Heart are indescribable and inconceivable to human creature. You must know that each beat of my Heart was a distinct sorrow; each heartbeat brought Me a new sorrow, one different from the other. Human life is a continuous palpitating – if the heartbeat ceases, life ceases. Imagine now, what torrents of sorrow each beat of my Heart brought Me, up to the last moment of my dying; from the moment I was conceived up to my last heartbeat, it did not spare Me bringing Me new pains and bitter sorrows. However, you must also know that my Divinity, which was inseparable from Me, watching over my Heart, while letting a new sorrow enter at each heartbeat, at each heartbeat It also let enter new joys, new contentments, new harmonies and celestial secrets. If I was rich in sorrow and my Heart enclosed immense seas of pain, I was also rich in happiness, in infinite joys and in unreachable sweetness. I would have died at the first heartbeat of sorrow, if the Divinity, loving this Heart with infinite love, had not let each heartbeat resound in two within my Heart: sorrow and joy, bitterness and sweetness, pains and contentments, death and life, humiliation and glory, human abandonments and divine comforts. Oh! if you could look into my Heart, you would see everything centralized in Me – all possible and imaginable sorrows, from which creatures rise again to new life, and all contentments and divine riches, which flow within my Heart like many seas, as I diffuse them for the good of the whole human family.
But who shares more in these immense treasures of my Heart? One who suffers more. For each pain, for each sorrow, there a special joy in my Heart, which follows that pain or sorrow suffered by the creature. Sorrow renders her more dignified, more lovable, more dear, more worthy of sympathy. And just as my Heart drew upon Itself all divine sympathies by virtue of the sorrows suffered, in seeing sorrow in the creature, which is a special characteristic of my Heart, watching over this sorrow, with all love I pour upon her the joys and contentments which my Heart contains. But to my highest sorrow, while my Heart would want to let my joys follow the sorrow I send to creatures, not finding in them love of suffering and true resignation like those which my Heart had, my joys follow the sorrow, but in seeing that the sorrow has not been received with love and honor and with highest submission, my joys do not find the way to enter that sorrowful heart and, grieving, they come back into my Heart. Therefore, when I find a soul who is resigned, who is lover of suffering, I feel her as though regenerated within my Heart, and – oh! how sorrows and joys, bitternesses and sweetnesses, alternate. I hold nothing back of all the goods which I can pour into her.”
Volume 20 – December 8, 1926
How these writings come from the Heart of Our Lord. The works of Our Lord are veils which hide the noble Queen of the Divine Will.
After this, I felt tired and I could not make up my mind to write what my adored Jesus had told me. And Jesus, surprising me, to give me will and strength in order to do it, told me: “My daughter, don’t you know that these writings come from the depth of my Heart, and I make the tenderness of my Heart flow in them, to move those who will read them, and the firmness of my divine speech, to strengthen them in the truths of my Will? In all the sayings, truths, examples which I make you write on paper, I make flow the dignity of my celestial Wisdom, in such a way that those who read them, or will read them, if they are in grace, will feel in them my tenderness, the firmness of my speech and the light of my Wisdom, and as though in between magnets, they will be drawn into the knowledge of my Will. Those who are not in grace, then, will not be able to deny that it is light; and light always does good, it never does harm; it illuminates, it warms, it allows one to discover the most hidden things and moves one to love them. Who can say he does not receive good from the sun? No one. More than sun, I am releasing these writings from within my Heart, that they may do good to all. This is why I have so much interest that you write – for the great good I want to do to the human family; so much so, that I look at them as my own writings, because it is always I the One who dictates, and you are the little secretary of the long story of my Will.”
Then, I was following, in the Divine Will, everything that Jesus had done while being on earth in His Humanity, and I asked in each one of His acts that His Fiat may be known, and that It may come triumphantly to reign in the midst of creatures. And my highest and only Good, moving in my interior, told me: “My daughter, just as all Creation is a veil which hides my Will, in the same way, my Humanity and all of my works, tears and pains are many veils which hide my Supreme Fiat. It reigned in my acts, triumphant and dominating, and It laid the foundations in order to come to reign in the human acts of the creatures. But do you know who tears these veils to let It come out to dominate in her own heart? One who recognizes It in each one of my acts and invites It to come out. She tears the veil of my works, she enters into them, she recognizes the noble Queen, and she prays It – she presses It to no longer remain hidden; and opening her heart to It, she invites It to enter. She tears the veil of my tears, of my Blood, of my pains, the veil of the Sacraments, the veil of my Humanity, and giving her submission to It, she implores It to no longer remain veiled, but to make Itself known as Queen – which It is – in order to take Its dominion and form the children of Its Kingdom. From here the necessity that you go around in Our Will and in all of Our works – to find the noble Queen of Our Will hidden in them, to pray It to unveil Itself, to come out of Its apartments, so that all may know It and let It reign.”
Volume 23 – January 29, 1928
Immense value of the writings on the Divine Will. How they are characters transmitted by the Celestial Fatherland. How they will lay siege to the human will. Desire of the Heart of Jesus. His acts, an army asking for the Kingdom of the Fiat.
I was reading in the 20th volume what regarded the Divine Will, and I felt such impression, as if I would see a divine life, alive and palpitating, flowing in the written words. I could feel the strength of the light, the life of the warmth of Heaven, the virtue, as though operating, of the Divine Fiat in what I was reading, and I thanked my Jesus from the heart, who, with so much love, had deigned to make me write. But while I was doing this, my beloved Jesus, as though unable to contain, Himself, the throbs of His Heart, came out from within my interior, and throwing His arms around my neck, He pressed me tightly to His Heart to let me feel His ardent heartbeats, and told me: “My daughter, you thank Me for I have made you write what regards my Will – doctrine all of Heaven, and which has the virtue of communicating the Life of It, palpitating and all celestial, to those who will read these writings. My Will is palpitating in the midst of creatures, but It lives suffocated by the human will. These writings will make Its heartbeat felt so strongly, that It will suffocate the human will and will take Its first place of life which is due to It, because my Will is the heartbeat and the life of all Creation. Therefore, the value of these writings is immense; they contain the value of a Divine Will. If they were written in gold, they would not surpass the great value which they contain in themselves. These writings are suns impressed with characters of most refulgent light in the walls of the Celestial Fatherland, and they form the most beautiful ornament of those walls of the eternal city, in which all the Blessed remain enraptured and amazed in reading the characters of the Supreme Will. Therefore, greater grace I could not give in these times, than transmitting, through you, the characters of the Celestial Fatherland to creatures, which will bring the life of Heaven into their midst.
Volume 23 – March 8, 1928
How Jesus showed Himself placing all the volumes written on His Will, all ordered, in His Heart. Love of Jesus for the writings, and the good which they will do.
After this, I was feeling worried about these writings on the Divine Will, and my sweet Jesus made Himself seen in my interior, holding all the volumes written on It, taking them in His hands, one by one, looking at them with such loving tenderness, as if His Heart were about to burst. And as He took them, He placed them, all ordered, in His most holy Heart. I was amazed in seeing with how much love He loved these writings, and with how much jealousy He enclosed them in His Heart in order to keep them. And Jesus, in seeing my amazement, told me: “My daughter, if you knew how much I love these writings…. They cost Me more than the very Creation and Redemption. How much love and work I have put into these writings – they cost Me very, very much; in them there is all the value of my Will. They are the manifestation of my Kingdom and the confirmation that I want the Kingdom of my Divine Will in the midst of creatures. The good which they do will be great; they will be like suns which will rise in the midst of the thick darkness of the human will; like lives which will put to flight death for the poor creatures. They will be the triumph of all my works, the most tender, the most convincing narration of how I loved and do love man. Therefore, I love them with such jealousy, that I will keep them in my divine Heart, nor will I permit even a single word to be lost. What have I not put into these writings? Everything – superabundant grace, light that illuminates, warms, fecundates; love that wounds, truths that conquer, attractions that enrapture, lives that will bring about the resurrection of the Kingdom of my Will. Therefore, you too, appreciate them, and hold them in that esteem which they deserve, and delight in the good which they will do.”
Volume 27 – February 17, 1930
How the Divine Will is the heartbeat, and the creature is the heart; the Divine Will the breath, the creature the body. Inseparability of one from the other.
The Divine Volition continues to occupy my little intelligence, and I, immersing myself in It, feel Its vivifying strength that surrounds me inside and out. And my sweet Jesus, who seems to hide behind the gigantic waves of light of His Divine Volition, very often moves in these waves of light; and making Himself seen, with unspeakable tenderness, He told me: “My daughter, my Divine Will is heartbeat without heart – the creature is the heart, my Will is the heartbeat. See what inseparable union exists between my Fiat and the creature. The heart is nothing, it has no value without the heartbeat; with the heartbeat the life of the creature is constituted, but the heartbeat cannot beat without the heart. Such is my Divine Will; if It does not have the nothingness of the heart of the creature, It has no place in which to form Its heartbeat of life to carry out and form Its Divine Life. See then, not having a heart, my Divine Will has created it in the creature, so as to have Its heart in which to be able to form Its heartbeat.
In addition to this, my Divine Will is breath without body – the creature is the body, my Will is the breath. The body without the breath is dead; so, what forms the breath of the creature is my Divine Will; therefore, one can say: ‘The body of It is that of the creature, and her breath is that of my Divine Volition.’ See what further union exists between one and the other – a union which cannot be separated, because if the breath ceases life ceases. Therefore, my Divine Will is everything for the creature; It is word without mouth, It is light without eye, It is hearing without ears, It is work without hands, It is step without feet, and therefore the soul who lives in my Divine Will serves It as mouth, as eye, as ears, as hands and as feet. My Will restricts Itself to enclose Itself in the creature, while remaining immense; and, victorious, It forms Its Kingdom in her, making use of her as if she were Its body, in which It palpitates, breathes, speaks, operates and walks. Therefore, the sorrow of my Divine Fiat, because creatures do not lend themselves to let It carry out all Its operations in them, to let It reign, and they force It to silence and to inactivity, is incomprehensible; and with divine and unspeakable patience, It waits for those who must live in Its Will, so as to resume Its speaking and Its divine activity, to form Its Kingdom in the midst of creatures. Therefore, be attentive, my daughter; listen to the speaking of my Divine Fiat, give It life in all your acts, and you will see the unexpected portents that my Divine Will will do in you.”
May everything be for the glory of God, and for the fulfillment of His Most Holy Will.
Deo Gratias
Biographical notes
The Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta was born in Corato in the Province of Bari, on April 23,1865 and died there in the odor of sanctity on March 4, 1947.
Luisa had the good fortune to be born into one of those patriarchal families that still survive in our realm of Puglia and like to live deep in the country, peopling our farmhouses. Her parents, Vito Nicola and Rosa Tarantino, had five children: Maria, Rachele, Filomena, Luisa and Angela. Maria, Rachele and Filomena married. Angela, commonly called Angelina, remained single and looked after her sister until she died.
Luisa was born on the Sunday after Easter and was baptized that same day. Her father – a few hours after her birth – wrapped her in a blanket and carried her to the parish church where holy Baptism was administered to her.
Nicola Piccarreta was a worker on a farm belonging to the Mastrorilli family, located at the middle of Via delle Murge in a neighborhood called Torre Disperata, 27 kilometers from Corato. Those who know these places, set among the sunny, bare and stony hills, can appreciate the solemnity of the silence that envelops them. Luisa spent many years of her childhood and adolescence on this farm. In front of the old house, the impressive, centuries-old mulberry tree still stands, with the great hollow in its trunk where Luisa used to hide when she was little in order to pray, far from prying eyes. It was in this lonely, sunny spot place that Luisa’s divine adventure began which was to lead her down the paths of suffering and holiness. Indeed, it was in this very place that she came to suffer unspeakably from the attacks of the devil who at times even tormented her physically. Luisa, to be rid of this suffering, turned ceaselessly to prayer, addressing in particular the Virgin Most Holy, who comforted her by her presence.
Divine Providence led the little girl down paths so mysterious that she knew no joys other than God and his grace. One day, in fact, the Lord said to her: “I have gone round and round the world again and again, and I looked one by one at all my creatures to find the smallest one of all. Among so many I found you. Your littleness pleased me and I chose you; I entrusted you to my angels so that they would care for you, not to make you great, but to preserve your littleness, and now I want to begin the great work of fulfilling my will. Nor will you feel any greater through this, indeed it is my will to make you even smaller, and you will continue to be the little daughter of the Divine Will” (cf. Volume XII, March 23, 1921).
When she was nine, Luisa received Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time and Holy Confirmation, and from that moment learned to remain for hours praying before the Blessed Sacrament. When she was eleven she wanted to enroll in the Association of the Daughters of Mary – flourishing at the time – in the Church of San Giuseppe. At the age of eighteen, Luisa became a Dominican Tertiary taking the name of Sr. Maddalena. She was one of the first to enroll in the Third Order, which her parish priest was promoting. Luisa’s devotion to the Mother of God was to develop into a profound Marian spirituality, a prelude to what she would one day write about Our Lady.
Jesus’ voice led Luisa to detachment from herself and from everyone. At about eighteen, from the balcony of her house in Via Nazario Sauro, she had a vision of Jesus suffering under the weight of the Cross, who raised his eyes to her saying: “O soul, help me!“. From that moment an insatiable longing to suffer for Jesus and for the salvation of souls was enkindled in Luisa. So began those physical sufferings which, in addition to her spiritual and moral sufferings, reached the point of heroism.
The family mistook these phenomena for sickness and sought medical help. But all the doctors consulted were perplexed at such an unusual clinical case. Luisa was subject to a state of corpse-like rigidity – although she showed signs of life – and no treatment could relieve her of this unspeakable torment. When all the resources of science had been exhausted, her family turned to their last hope: priests. An Augustinian priest, Fr. Cosma Loiodice, at home because of the Siccardian* laws, was summoned to her bedside: to the wonder of all present, the sign of the Cross which this priest made over the poor body, sufficed to restore her normal faculties instantly to the sick girl. After Fr. Loiodice had left for his friary, certain secular priests were called in who restored Luisa to normality with the sign of the Cross. She was convinced that all priests were holy, but one day the Lord told her: “Not because they are all holy – indeed, if they only were! – but simply because they are the continuation of my priesthood in the world you must always submit to their priestly authority; never oppose them, whether they are good or bad” (cf. Volume I). Throughout her life, Luisa was to be submissive to priestly authority. This was to be one of the greatest sources of her suffering. Her daily need for the priestly authority in order to return to her usual tasks was her deepest mortification. In the beginning, she suffered the most humiliating misunderstandings on the part of the priests themselves who considered her a lunatic filled with exalted ideas, who simply wanted to attract attention. Once they left her in that state for more than twenty days. Luisa, having accepted the role of victim, came to experience a most peculiar condition: every morning she found herself rigid, immobile, huddled up in bed, and no one was able to stretch her out, to raise her arms or move her head or legs. As we know, it required the presence of a priest who, by blessing her with the sign of the Cross, dispelled that corpse-like rigidity and enabled her to return to her usual tasks (lace-making). She was a unique case in that her confessors were never spiritual directors, a task that Our Lord wanted to keep for himself. Jesus made her hear his voice directly, training her, correcting her, reprimanding her if necessary and gradually leading her to the loftiest peaks of perfection. Luisa was wisely instructed and prepared during many years to receive the gift of the Divine Will.
The archbishop at that time, Giuseppe Bianchi Dottula (December 22, 1848-September 22,1892), came to know of what was happening in Corato; having heard the opinion of several priests, he wished to exercise his authority and assume responsibility for this case. After mature reflection he thought it right to delegate to Luisa a special confessor, Fr. Michele De Benedictis, a splendid figure of a priest, to whom she opened every nook and cranny of her soul. Fr. Michele, a prudent priest with holy ways, imposed limits on her suffering and instructed her to do nothing without his permission. Indeed, it was Fr. Michele who ordered her to eat at least once a day, even if she immediately threw up everything she had swallowed. Luisa was to live on the Divine Will alone. It was under this priest that she received permission to stay in bed all the time as a victim of expiation. This was in 1888. Luisa remained nailed to her bed of pain, sitting there for another 59 years, until her death. It should be noted that until that time, although she had accepted her state as a victim, she had only occasionally stayed in bed, since obedience had never permitted her to stay in bed all the time. However, from New Year 1889 she was to remain there permanently.
In 1898 the new prelate, Archbishop Tommaso de Stefano (March 24, 1898 – 13 May 1906) delegated as her new confessor Fr. Gennaro Di Gennaro, who carried out this task for twenty-four years. The new confessor, glimpsing the marvels that the Lord was working in this soul, categorically ordered Luisa to put down in writing all that God’s grace was working within her. None of the excuses made by the Servant of God to avoid obeying her confessor in this were to any avail. Not even her scant literary education could excuse her from obedience to her confessor. Fr. Gennaro Di Gennaro remained cold and implacable, although he knew that the poor woman had only been to elementary school. Thus on February 28, 1899, she began to write her diary, of which there are thirty-six large volumes! The last chapter was written on December 28, 1939, the day on which she was ordered to stop writing.
Her confessor, who died on September 10,1922, was succeeded by the canon, Fr. Francesco De Benedictis, who only assisted her for four years, because he died on January 30, 1926. Archbishop Giuseppe Leo (January 17, 1920-January 20,1939) delegated a young priest, Fr. Benedetto Calvi, as her ordinary confessor. He stayed with Luisa until she died, sharing all those sufferings and misunderstandings that beset the Servant of God in the last years of her life.
At the beginning of the century, our people were lucky enough to have Blessed Annibale Maria Di Francia present in Puglia. He wanted to open in Trani male and female branches of his newly founded congregation. When he heard about Luisa Piccarreta, he paid her a visit and from that time these two souls were inseparably linked by their common aims. Other famous priests also visited Luisa, such as, for example, Fr. Gennaro Braccali, the Jesuit, Fr. Eustachio Montemurro, who died in the odor of sanctity, and Fr. Ferdinando Cento, Apostolic Nuncio and Cardinal of Holy Mother Church. Blessed Annibale became her extraordinary confessor and edited her writings, which were little by little properly examined and approved by the ecclesiastical authorities. In about 1926, Blessed Annibale ordered Luisa to write a book of memoirs of her childhood and adolescence. He published various writings of Luisa’s, including the book L’orologio della Passione, which acquired widespread fame and was reprinted four times. On October 7,1928, when the house of the sisters of the Congregation of Divine Zeal in Corato was ready, Luisa was taken to the convent in accordance with the wishes of Blessed Annibale. Blessed Annibale had already died in the odor of sanctity in Messina.
In 1938, a tremendous storm was unleashed upon Luisa Piccarreta: she was publicly disowned by Rome and her books were put on the Index. At the publication of the condemnation by the Holy Office, she immediately submitted to the authority of the Church.
A priest was sent from Rome by the ecclesiastical authorities, who asked her for all her manuscripts, which Luisa handed over promptly and without a fuss. Thus all her writings were hidden away in the secrecy of the Holy Office.
On October 7, 1938, because of orders from above, Luisa was obliged to leave the convent and find a new place to live. She spent the last nine years of her life in a house in Via Maddalena, a place which the elderly of Corato know well and from where, on March 8, 1947, they saw her body carried out.
Luisa’s life was very modest; she possessed little or nothing. She lived in a rented house, cared for lovingly by her sister Angela and a few devout women. The little she had was not even enough to pay the rent. To support herself she worked diligently at making lace, earning from this the pittance she needed to keep her sister, since she herself needed neither clothes nor shoes. Her sustenance consisted of a few grams of food, which were prepared for her by her assistant, Rosaria Bucci. Luisa ordered nothing, desired nothing, and instantly vomited the food she swallowed. She did not look like a person near death’s door, but nor did she appear perfectly healthy. Yet she was never idle, she spent her energy either in her daily suffering or her work, and her life, for those who knew her well, was considered a continuous miracle.
Her detachment from any payments that did not come from her daily work was marvelous! She firmly refused money and the various presents offered to her on any pretext. She never accepted money for the publication of her books. Thus one day she told Blessed Annibale that she wanted to give him the money from her author’s royalties: “I have no right to it, because what is written there is not mine” (cf. Preface of the L’orologio della Passione, Messina, 1926). She scornfully refused and returned the money that pious people sometimes sent her.
Luisa’s house was like a monastery, not to be entered by any curious person. She was always surrounded by a few women who lived according to her own spirituality, and by several girls who came to her house to learn lace-making. Many religious vocations emerged from this “upper room”. However, her work of formation was not limited to girls alone, many young men were also sent by her to various religious institutes and to the priesthood.
Her day began at about 5.00 a.m., when the priest came to the house to bless it and to celebrate Holy Mass. Either her confessor officiated, or some delegate of his: a privileged granted by Leo XIII and confirmed by St. Pius X in 1907. After Holy Mass, Luisa would remain in prayer and thanksgiving for about two hours. At about 8.00 a.m. she would begin her work which she continued until midday; after her frugal lunch she would stay alone in her room in meditation. In the afternoon – after several hours of work – she would recite the holy Rosary. In the evening, towards 8.00 p.m., Luisa would begin to write her diary; at about midnight she would fall asleep. In the morning she would be found immobile, rigid, huddled up on her bed, her head turned to the right, and the intervention of priestly authority would be necessary to recall her to her daily tasks and allow her to sit up in bed.
Luisa died at the age of eighty-one years, ten months and nine days, on March 4, 1947, after a fortnight of illness, the only one diagnosed in her life, a bad attack of pneumonia. She died at the end of the night, at the same hour when every day the priest’s blessing had freed her from her state of rigidity. Archbishop Francesco Petronelli (May 25, 1939-June 16, 1947) archbishop at the time. Luisa remained sitting up in bed. It was impossible to lay her out and – an extraordinary phenomenon – her body never suffered rigor mortis and remained in the position in which it had always been.
Hardly had the news of Luisa’s death spread, like a river in full spate, all the people streamed into her house and police intervention was necessary to control the crowds that flocked there day and night to visit Luisa, a woman very dear to them. A voice rang out: “Luisa the Saint has died“. To contain all the people who were going to see her, with the permission of the civil authorities and health officials, her body was exposed for four days with no sign of corruption. Luisa did not seem dead, she was sitting up in bed, dressed in white; it was as though she were asleep, because as has already been said, her body did not suffer rigor mortis. Indeed, without any effort her head could be moved in all directions, her arms raised, her hands and all her fingers bent. It was even possible to lift her eyelids and see her shining eyes that had not grown dim. Everyone believed that she was still alive, immersed in a deep sleep. A council of doctors, summoned for this purpose, declared, after attentively examining the corpse, that Luisa was truly dead and that her death should be accepted as real and not merely apparent, as everyone had imagined.
Luisa had said that she was born “upside down”, and that therefore it was right that her death should be “upside down” in comparison with that of other creatures. She remained in a sitting position as she had always lived, and had to be carried to the cemetery in this position, in a coffin specially made for her with a glass front and sides, so that she could be seen by everyone, like a queen upon her throne, dressed in white with the Fiat on her breast. More than forty priests, the chapter and the local clergy took part in the funeral procession; the sisters took turns to carry her on their shoulders, and an immense crowd of citizens surrounded her: the streets were incredibly full; even the balconies and rooftops of the houses were swarming with people, so that the procession wound slowly onwards with great difficulty. The funeral rite of the little daughter of the Divine Will was celebrated in the main church by the entire chapter. All the people of Corato followed the body to the cemetery. Everyone tried to take home a keepsake or a flower, after having touched her body with it; a few years later, her remains were translated to the parish of Santa Maria Greca.
In 1994, on the day of the Feast of Christ the King, in the main church, Archbishop Carmelo Cassati, in the presence of a large crowd including foreign representatives, officially opened the beatification cause of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta.
Important dates
1865 – Luisa Piccarreta was born on April 23, the Sunday after Easter, in Corato, Bari, to Nicola Vito and Rosa Tarantino, who had five daughters: Maria, Rachele, Filomena, Luisa and Angela. A few hours after Luisa’s birth, her father wrapped her in a blanket and took her to the main church for baptism. Her mother had not suffered the pangs of labor: her birth was painless.
1872 – She received Jesus in the Eucharist on the Sunday after Easter, and the sacrament of Confirmation was administered to her on that same day by Archbishop Giuseppe Bianchi Dottula of Trani.
1883 – At the age of eighteen, from the balcony of her house, she saw Jesus, bent beneath the weight of the Cross, who said to her: “O soul! Help me!“. From that moment, solitary soul that she was, she lived in continuous union with the ineffable sufferings of her Divine Bridegroom.
1888 – She became a Daughter of Mary and a Dominican Tertiary with the name of Sr. Maddalena
1885-1947 – A chosen soul, a seraphic bride of Christ, humble and devout, whom God had endowed with extraordinary gifts, an innocent victim, a lightening conductor of Divine Justice, bedridden for sixty-two years without interruption, she was a herald of the Kingdom of the Divine Will.
March 4 – Full of merits, in the eternal light of the Divine Will she ended her days as she had lived them, to triumph with the angels and saints in the eternal splendor of the Divine Will.
March 7 – For four days her mortal remains were exposed for the veneration of an immense throng of the faithful who went to her house to have a last look at Luisa the Saint, so dear to their hearts. The funeral was a realm triumph; Luisa passed like a queen, borne aloft on shoulders among the lines of people. All the clergy, secular and religious, accompanied Luisa’s body. The funeral liturgy took place in the main church with the participation of the entire chapter. In the afternoon, Luisa was buried in the family Chapel of the Calvi family.
Jul 3,1963 – Her mortal remains were definitively laid to rest in Santa Maria Greca.
Nov 20, – Feast of Christ the King: Archbishop Cassati officially opened the 1994 beatification cause of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta in the principal church of Corato, in the presence of a huge crowd of people, locals and foreigners.
2005 – Archbishop Giovanni Battista Picchierri, current Archbishop of Trani. It is he who requested that the Cause of Beatification of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta be continued.
CONSECRATION TO JESUS CHRIST,
KING OF THE UNIVERSE
Oh Jesus, King of kings, God of Goodness, God of Love, God of Mercy, I adore, I love, I thank, I glorify Your Most Holy Will emanating from Your Omnipotence, guided by Your Wisdom, accompanied by Your Goodness and Love.
Everywhere and in every time, be it either in joy or in pain, may Your Most Holy Will, Your Divine Love, be the star that I gaze at, the law that governs me, the air that I breathe, the heartbeat of my heart, the substance or, better, the Life of my life. To such an end, I unite all my prayers and actions to Yours, all my life to Yours, as well as to that of the Virgin Mother, of Saint Joseph and of all the Elect that have been, are now and shall ever be, with all good, past, present and future which is real and possible in Heaven and on earth.
I consecrate and give all myself, what I have, what I am, what pertains to me, what is dear to me, my life, my death, my eternity, all that You have created and will create by Your Supreme Volition, by Your Infinite Love. And I pray You, oh Infinite Wisdom, to inscribe me with indelible characters in Your adorable Heart as the ardent and zealous child of Your Divine Volition, of Your pure Love. I make this donation in the Power of the Father, in the Wisdom of the Son, in the Virtue of the Holy Spirit, in my name, and in the name of all creatures to obtain the advent and the expansion of the Kingdom of the Divine Will, of Your Divine Love upon the earth. For pity’s sake, oh my Lord, grant that from every lip and from every heart there may continually be raised, as from a sacred altar, the prayer that You, Yourself, as the first, addressed to the Father, “YOUR KINGDOM COME! YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.”
Amen.
ARCHDIOCESE
Trani – Barletta – Bisceglie – Nazareth
70059 TRANI – VIA BELTRANI, 9 – TEL.0883-583498
Trani, June 4, 2005
COMUNIQUE
The “Divine Will” has guided the Archdiocese, in this last decade, for the completion of the works regarding the process of the Cause of Beatification of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta. The Diocesan Postulation announces having completed this journey. It communicates that on the days of the 27th, 28th, and 29th of October 2005 it will celebrate the 2nd International Congress with the conclusion of the diocesan process.
The Pious Association Luisa Piccarreta Little Children of the Divine Will*, in Corato, has been charged with performing the job of Secretary for the celebration and welcome of guests. Later the program of the celebration will be published in a definitive way.
May Jesus Christ present in the Eucharist guide us as He has guided His Servant Luisa.
The Vicar General
(His Grace Mons. Savino Giannotti)
* Pious Association Luisa Piccarreta Little Children of the Divine Will
Referent: Sister Assunta Marigliano
70033 Corato (BA) – Via Nazario Sauro, 27 – Tel. +39.080.8982221
www.luisalasanta.com – e-mail : pia.ass.luisalasanta@libero.it
Come Holy Spirit, Come Supreme Will,
down to reign in Your Kingdom on earth
and in our hearts!
Come Holy Spirit, Come Supreme Will,
down to reign in Your Kingdom on earth
and in our hearts!
Come Holy Spirit, Come Supreme Will,
down to reign in Your Kingdom on earth
and in our hearts!
