Lapini, Anna Maria

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LAPINI, ANNA MARIA

Foundress of the Poor Daughters of the Holy Stigmata of St. Francis; b. Florence, Italy, May 27, 1809; d. there, April 15, 1860. At her father's urging, Anna Maria Fiorelli relinquished her desire to enter religious life and married Giovanni Lapini (1835). Her husband caused her much grief by his immoral conduct and unbelief, but she led him back to a Christian life before his death (1844). In 1848 she founded the Stigmatine Sisters, who followed the rule of the Third Order of St. Francis and labored to educate poor and abandoned girls. Anna and her companions received their habits in 1850. The Holy See's approval came in 1888. By 1961 the congregation numbered 1,255 members in 123 houses, mostly in Italy. Anna's religious life was one of great poverty and suffering caused by ill health, misunderstanding, and unfair hostility. The cause for Anna's beatification was formally introduced in Rome in 1918.

Bibliography: a. martini, Suor A. Lapini, fondatrice delle Suore Stimmatine (Florence 1937). m. ricci, Anna Lapini (4th ed. Florence 1937). Acta Apostolicae Sedis 10 (1918) 99102.

[f. g. sottocornola]

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