Blessed Maria Teresa Fasce is a modern, strong, and courageous woman who, having fallen in love with Jesus and come to know Saint Rita, decides to devote her entire life to the Augustinian monastery of Cascia. Let’s discover her together!
A vocation met with opposition
Marietta, as her family calls her, is born in Torriglia, Liguria, on December 27, 1881. She meets the “Saint of Impossible Causes” at the age of 19 through the Augustinian priests who serve a parish in Genoa. It is love at first sight. Saint Rita illuminates the deepest desire of her heart, and she decides that Cascia is precisely the place where she will fulfill her desire for consecration. Her family does not approve of her choice: why go so far away? But the young woman is determined and, in 1906, finally enters the Augustinian monastery of Cascia.
A prophetic and far-sighted presence
Maria Teresa is a young woman full of enthusiasm and initiative. She wants her community to live out the original charism, Christian virtues, and Gospel values. Her fellow sisters esteem her and recognize her charisma to such an extent that they elect her abbess in 1920. She holds this position until her death in 1947.
Mother Maria Teresa, who is in love with Saint Rita, wants her to be known throughout the world and, with the initiative that characterizes her, begins to promote her devotion through countless initiatives.
A strong and gentle leader
The Blessed puts her entire self at the service of the Kingdom of God and, under her charismatic guidance, the monastery of Cascia becomes the center of spirituality known throughout the world today.
Her love for children led her to open the convent's doors and, in 1938, establish the “Santa Rita Beehive,” an orphanage that welcomed girls without families. Even today, the Beehive is a home, a family, a school, and a source of genuine affection for many children facing economic and social hardship.
A woman who never stops
Mother Maria Teresa burns with the fire of God's love and wishes to bring the message of forgiveness, reconciliation, faith, and peace of Saint Rita to as many people as possible.
To welcome the many pilgrims who began arriving in Cascia, she launched major projects that revolutionized the appearance of the Umbrian town and still shine in all their beauty today: the Basilica of Saint Rita, which the Blessed did not have the joy of seeing completed; the Pilgrim House, now transformed into the modern and welcoming Hotel delle Rose; the Seminary of Saint Augustine, now the hospital; the House for Confessors; and the widening of the avenue leading to the Sanctuary.
At the beginning of the last century, Blessed Maria Teresa Fasce was able to live out her vocation as a consecrated woman, make the most of the countless talents the Lord had given her, and make her voice heard in a world still accustomed to being shaped by male intervention. Her strong, maternal femininity, her passion for the Gospel, and her love for her Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, bring her close to all women who want to make their lives a gift of love, inspired by the original calling of their hearts. Could her experience inspire you too?
