Alexandrina Maria da Costa (1904-1955), known as Alexandrina of Balazar, is a Portuguese mystic and one of the great figures of the victim soul in the twentieth century. A seamstress from a village in northern Portugal, paralyzed and bedridden from the age of twenty-one after jumping out of a window to escape rape, she offered her whole life as reparation for sinners.[1][2]
Two extraordinary phenomena drew the Church's attention to her. First, from 1938 to 1942, she relived every Friday, for more than three hours, the Passion of Christ — about one hundred and eighty times. Then, from 27 March 1942 until her death, that is thirteen years and seven months, she took no food and no drink: she lived on nothing but the daily Eucharist.[3][4] In 1943, by order of the ecclesiastical authority, this absolute fast was monitored for forty days in a hospital in Porto; the doctors declared it scientifically inexplicable.[5]
Alexandrina was also a discreet protagonist of the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, accomplished by Pius XII on 31 October 1942, which she requested in Christ's name just as Fatima had asked for it. Her message can be summed up in a few words, engraved by her own hand on her tomb: "Sin no more!"[6]
Beatified by Saint John Paul II on 25 April 2004, she is celebrated on 13 October, the day of her death and the anniversary of the miracle of the sun at Fatima. Her life, the pope wrote, can be summed up entirely in one question of Christ to Peter: "Do you love me?"[7]
A Life Broken at Fourteen
The Childhood of a Seamstress from Balazar (1904-1918)
Alexandrina Maria da Costa was born on 30 March 1904 at Gresufes, in the parish of Balazar (Balasar), in the municipality of Póvoa de Varzim, in the heart of rural Minho.[8][9] Her father abandoned the home very early on; her mother raised the two daughters alone, Alexandrina and her elder sister Deolinda. The little girl's schooling amounted to eighteen months; at nine she was already placed as a servant on a farm, before becoming, like her sister, a seamstress at Balazar.[10]
Alexandrina's childhood was nothing ethereal. Mischievous and cheerful, she was, by her own admission, the life and soul of the household — her mother used to joke that, without being rich, she too had her own live-in jester.[11] But she was also deeply marked by her first communion, received at seven, in January 1911, in the chapel of Póvoa de Varzim.
She recounts that she gazed at the sacred Host with such intensity that it remained engraved on her mind, with the feeling of uniting herself to Jesus forever and of having her heart bound to his, in a joy she calls inexplicable.[12]
This eucharistic union of her childhood foreshadows, as we shall see, the most astounding sign of her adult life.
The Leap Through the Window, on a Holy Saturday in 1918
The turning point came on Holy Saturday 1918, the very day of her fourteenth birthday.[13] Alexandrina was sewing at home with Deolinda and an apprentice when three men — her former employer and two accomplices — forced the door of the house with an intention the young girl immediately understood. To defend her purity, she did not hesitate: she threw herself out of the window.
"Seeing the danger, I threw myself out of the window into the garden, a jump of about four meters; I tried to get up, but I could not because of a sharp pain in my stomach." — Alexandrina Maria da Costa, Diário – Autobiografia[14]
Her spine was seriously injured. She would still walk "fairly well" for a few more years, but the lesions worsened inexorably.[15] Dr João de Almeida of Porto warned her mother that he feared total paralysis.[16] By this act, she defended her purity at the cost of thirty-seven years of offered suffering.
From Progressive Paralysis to Total Immobility
From 1924-1925 onward, Alexandrina's body finally gave way. The sources differ slightly on the year — Portuguese hagiography retains 14 April 1925, the day she "took to her bed for good, for thirty years", while other accounts give 1924.[17][18] From then on, her limbs drew back, her joints stiffened; she would never leave her bed again. It was in this absolute immobility, and not in spite of it, that an interior life of rare intensity unfolded.
The first great grace she received was not the extraordinary, but abandonment. She summed it up in a formula John Paul II would take up again:
"Our Lady granted me an even greater grace: first abandonment; then complete conformity to the will of God; finally, the thirst to suffer." — Alexandrina Maria da Costa, quoted in the Holy See biography[19]
From 1933 onward, Mass was celebrated in her own bedroom — the first on 20 November 1933 — and her bed gradually became an altar.[20]
The Blood Spouse: the Friday Passions (1938-1942)
3 October 1938: the First Passion
On 3 October 1938, Alexandrina experienced for the first time what she would call "the Passion": coming out of her usual paralysis, she reenacted with her whole body the stages of Christ's way of the cross and crucifixion.[21] That same day, overwhelmed, she wrote by hand on the back of a holy picture: "Jesus led me from the Garden to Calvary."[22]
She reports that Christ asked her to help him in the redemption of the human race.[23]
This is the heart of her vocation: not to contemplate the Passion from afar, but to share in it in her flesh, as one associated with the redemptive work — in the sense in which Saint Paul writes that he "completes in his flesh what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ" (Col 1, 24). Christ calls her his "blood spouse", an expression the beatification homily would take up.[24]
Three Hours of Mystical Crucifixion, Every Friday
For three and a half years, every Friday, from about noon until three o'clock, the scene repeated itself. Before witnesses, Alexandrina — ordinarily incapable of the slightest movement — sat up, dragged herself along, mimed the carrying of the cross, collapsed, stretched out her arms as on the gibbet. Tradition reports that she thus lived the Passion about one hundred and eighty times; some sources count one hundred and eighty-two.[25][26]
Notably, Alexandrina begged Christ not to grant her visible stigmata: she wanted to suffer in secret. The only outward marks observed were the bruises caused by her falls during the ecstasies.[27] This discretion sets her apart from contemporary mystics such as the Bavarian stigmatist Thérèse Neumann, and shielded her from all spiritual exhibitionism.
The meaning of all this suffering, she did not seek in herself: it was the salvation of others.
Christ, she says, held out Calvary and the cross to her as the costliest coin with which to ransom souls, and asked her for souls.[28]
Fr. Mariano Pinho, Witness and First Director
These phenomena could have remained those of an overwrought visionary had the Church not subjected them, from the outset, to severe scrutiny. Fr. Mariano Pinho, a Jesuit, became Alexandrina's spiritual director from 1933-1934, at Deolinda's request during a retreat of the Daughters of Mary.[29][30] Distrustful and methodical, he meticulously recorded the ecstasies; to test the authenticity of the messages, he went so far as to deliberately falsify the notes he read back to her — Alexandrina, theologically illiterate, infallibly corrected every alteration.[31] Pinho would become Balazar's first biographer with No Calvário de Balasar.[32]
Living on the Eucharist Alone: the Inedia of Balazar (1942-1955)
“Your Food Shall Be My Flesh”
On Friday 27 March 1942, the Friday Passions cease[33] and an even more radical sign begins. According to her testimony, Christ announces to her that she will henceforth be nourished by Him alone.
She reports that Christ then promises to nourish her with nothing but Himself: His Flesh for food, His Blood for drink, His Life for life.[34]
From that day until her death on 13 October 1955 — that is, thirteen years and seven months — Alexandrina takes neither solid food nor drink. Her sole sustenance is daily Communion. Her weight falls to about thirty-three kilos.[35] This phenomenon, called inedia, is not unheard of in the history of sanctity — from Saint Catherine of Siena to other mystics placed under observation — but here it is of an exceptional duration and rigour. For the general background on the phenomenon, see Inedia and the most thoroughly documented medical case, The Inedia of Thérèse Neumann.
Forty Days Under Medical Observation (1943)
The ecclesiastical authority of Braga does not content itself with the testimony of those around her. At the archbishop's insistence, and after several prior consultations, Alexandrina accepts out of obedience to be hospitalised and kept under observation.[36] On 4 June 1943, Dr Azevedo and her confessor inform her of the doctors' decision: she will be placed in a room at the Refúgio da Paralisia Infantil, at the hospital of Foz do Douro (Porto), under observation. Planned for one month, the surveillance is extended to forty days, from 10 June to 20 July 1943, day and night, by nurses taking turns under the responsibility of Dr Gomes de Araújo.[37][38]
The table below summarises the findings recorded by the medical commission at the end of the observation.
| Monitored parameter | Physicians' findings (10 June – 20 July 1943) |
|---|---|
| Solid and liquid food | Absolute abstinence throughout the forty days, without exception |
| Body weight | Maintained throughout the period, with no loss of weight |
| Temperature, pulse, respiration | Remained normal |
| Blood pressure and blood tests | Remained normal |
| Diuresis (urinary output) | Anuria — no output, consistent with the absence of intake |
| Conclusion | Phenomenon judged physiologically inexplicable |
A “Scientifically Inexplicable” Phenomenon
The certificate, dated “Porto, 26 July 1943” and signed notably by Dr C. A. de Lima, professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Porto, and Dr E. A. D. de Azevedo, leaves no room for ambiguity.
“It is absolutely certain that, during the forty days spent in bed in the hospital, the patient neither ate nor drank […]. The laws of physiology and biochemistry cannot account for the survival of this patient during forty days of absolute fasting in the hospital.” — Medical report of Drs Gomes de Araújo, C. A. de Lima and E. A. D. de Azevedo, Porto, 26 July 1943[39]
Dr Gomes de Araújo, who was also attached to the Royal Academy of Medicine of Madrid, described the case as “scientifically inexplicable”.[40] The investigation obviously does not, by itself, prove the supernatural origin of the phenomenon; but it establishes two facts that no one disputed: the fast was real and total, and it defies every known physiological explanation. That is exactly the conclusion reached, a few years earlier, by the medical surveillances at Konnersreuth over Thérèse Neumann — without ever catching the slightest fraud.[41]
Victim for Sinners and Apostle of the Immaculate Heart
The Victim Offering
The guiding thread of this entire life is neither suffering for its own sake nor the prodigy, but an offering of love. Alexandrina understands herself as a victim united to the sacrifice of Christ and of the Eucharist, for the salvation of sinners, of priests and of her own family.
She offers herself to Jesus as belonging to Him alone: His victim, victim of the Eucharist, little lamp of His tabernacles.[42]
This victim vocation, far from being a morbid dolorism, goes together with a paradoxical joy that she receives as an instruction from Christ Himself.
“You will very rarely receive consolations […]. I want that, while your heart is filled with suffering, there should be a smile on your lips.” — Words attributed to Jesus, quoted in the biography of the Holy See[43]
Alexandrina's smile, despite her permanent agony, so struck her contemporaries that the Roman exorcist Gabriele Amorth entitled his Italian biography Dietro un sorriso — “Behind a Smile”.[44] Her natural place is in the great line of the victim souls of the twentieth century.
The Consecration of the World to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (1942)
Alexandrina's role in the history of twentieth-century Marian devotion is widely overlooked. From about 1936, through Fr Pinho, she transmits to the popes — first Pius XI, then Pius XII — a message she attributes to Christ: just as He had asked Saint Margaret Mary for devotion to the Sacred Heart, He now asks for the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in direct line with the message of Fatima.[45][46] In June 1938, during a retreat preached by Pinho at Fatima itself, the Portuguese bishops address a request to this effect to Pius XI.
In May 1942, shortly before the event, Alexandrina records the promise received in her journal:
“The Pope's heart is resolved to consecrate the world to the Heart of Mary. What great fortune and what joy for the world to belong, as never before, to the Mother of God!” — Alexandrina Maria da Costa, Diário, 22 May 1942[47]
On 31 October 1942, on the occasion of the silver jubilee of the apparitions of Fatima, Pius XII does indeed consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by a radio message addressed to Portugal.[48] This close link with Fatima earned Alexandrina the occasional title of “the fourth apostle of Fatima”, after the three little seers.[49]
Fr Umberto Pasquale and the Salesian Family
In 1944, an Italian Salesian, Fr Umberto Maria Pasquale (1906-1985), becomes her second spiritual director. It is he who will gather and preserve her writings — her journal, her autobiography begun in 1940, and the Sentimentos da Alma dictated to Deolinda between 1944 and 1948 — and who will establish the reference edition of her texts.[50] That same year, he enrols her in the Union of Salesian Cooperators, the lay branch of the family of Don Bosco, to which she felt profoundly united.[51]
“I feel in great union with the Salesians and with the cooperators throughout the world.” — Alexandrina Maria da Costa, quoted in the biography of the Holy See[52]
“Sin No More!” — Alexandrina's Message
The Epitaph Written by Her Own Hand
Alexandrina's whole message comes down to a single cry: to snatch souls from sin. Long before her death, she composes herself the inscription she wishes to see engraved around her tomb — a direct appeal to sinners, of an entirely biblical vehemence.
“Sinners, if the ashes of my body can serve for your salvation, draw near: pass over them all, trample them until they disappear, but sin no more! Offend our Jesus no more! […] Be converted! Do not resign yourselves to losing Jesus for eternity! He is so good!… Love Him! Love Him! Enough of sins!” — Alexandrina Maria da Costa, epitaph composed by her own hand[53]
Her last words, on 13 October 1955, extend this testament exactly: “Sin no more. The pleasures of this life are worth nothing”, then: “I am happy, because I am going to Heaven.”[54][55]
Love of the Tabernacles
The second facet of her message, inseparable from the first, is love of the forsaken Eucharist. She who lived literally on the Host felt the abandonment of the tabernacles by the faithful as a wound.
She asks Jesus that each of her sufferings and each beat of her heart become so many acts of love for His forsaken tabernacles.[56]
This twofold call — to flee sin, to console the Eucharistic Christ — explains the considerable echo her figure met with, from just after her death, in movements of reparation and adoration. Her spirituality continues that of the great reparatory victim souls and joins, by other paths, the contemporary attention given to the Real Presence.
Glory: from Servant of God to Blessed
The Braga process (1967-1996)
Alexandrina's reputation for holiness, already strong during her lifetime, was confirmed after her death. The diocesan process was opened by the Archiepiscopal Curia of Braga in 1967 and concluded in 1973, after the hearing of forty-eight witnesses.[57] The cause then passed through the Roman stages.
- 13 October 1955Death in the odour of sanctity
Alexandrina dies in Balazar at the age of 51, after thirteen years and seven months of eucharistic inedia.
- 1967Opening of the diocesan process
The Archiepiscopal Curia of Braga officially opens the inquiry into her life and virtues.
- 1973Closure of the diocesan inquiry
The process concludes after the hearing of forty-eight witnesses.
- 3 March 1995The healing miracle
Sudden and unexplained healing of Parkinson's disease, retained for the beatification.
- 12 January 1996Declared Venerable
The decree recognising the heroicity of her virtues is promulgated; she becomes Venerable.
- 20 December 2003Decree on the miracle
The healing is approved as a miracle attributed to her intercession.
- 25 April 2004Beatification
Saint John Paul II proclaims her blessed in Saint Peter's Square.
She was declared Venerable on 12 January 1996 by the decree on the heroicity of her virtues — some Salesian sources give 21 December 1995, the probable date of the decree's approval.[58][59]
The beatification miracle
The miracle retained for the beatification is the healing of Maria Madalena Azevedo Gomes Fonseca, a Portuguese emigrant living in Strasbourg, suffering for several years from a disabling Parkinson's disease. Her healing, sudden and lasting, occurred on 3 March 1995; judged clinically inexplicable, it was approved by decree on 20 December 2003.[60]
25 April 2004: John Paul II
On 25 April 2004, in Saint Peter's Square, Saint John Paul II beatified Alexandrina Maria da Costa. In his homily, the pope brought this extraordinary life back to its essence — love — and made it a burning message for our time.
"'Do you love me?' Jesus asks Simon Peter […]. The life of Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa can be summarized in this dialogue of love. […] To love Christ: that is the secret of holiness!" — Saint John Paul II, beatification homily, 25 April 2004[61]
The pope stressed that this "spouse of blood", who mystically relived the Passion and offered herself as a victim for sinners, "received her strength from the Eucharist, which became her sole nourishment during the last thirteen years of her life", and summed up her motto in three words: "suffer, love, make reparation".[62] A blessed celebrated on 13 October, the day of her death and of the Fatima sun miracle, Alexandrina remains one of the most striking figures of reparatory love of the twentieth century.
Further Reading
- Victim souls — the great tradition of souls offered in reparation, in which Alexandrina holds a leading place alongside Padre Pio, Therese Neumann and Marthe Robin.
- Inedia cases — the overall dossier of total mystical fasting, from Saint Catherine of Siena to Balazar.
- The inedia of Therese Neumann — the closest contemporary case, likewise medically monitored.
- Our Lady of Fatima and the miracle of the sun (1917) — the Marian message of which Alexandrina was the echo, and the consecration to the Immaculate Heart which she called for.
- Saint John Bosco (1815-1888) — the founder of the Salesian family, whose cooperator Alexandrina became in 1944.
Notes and References
Official biography of the Holy See, "Alexandrina Maria da Costa (1904-1955)", published on the occasion of the beatification of 25 April 2004: vatican.va. Reference notice: born 30 March 1904 in Balasar (Póvoa de Varzim, Archdiocese of Braga); jump from the window on Holy Saturday 1918 to escape rape; paralysis and permanent confinement to bed from 1925; Friday Passions from 3 October 1938 to 24 March 1942 (about 180 times); eucharistic inedia from 27 March 1942 until her death, "thirteen years and seven months"; weight fallen to ~33 kg; Salesian cooperator in 1944; died 13 October 1955; declared Venerable in 1996; beatified 25 April 2004. Quotations from Alexandrina ("first abandonment; then complete conformity to the will of God; finally the thirst to suffer"; "I feel in great union with the Salesians"; last words).
1 3 9 13 19 25 30 35 43 45 51 52 54 59Wikipedia (PT), "Alexandrina Maria da Costa": pt.wikipedia.org. Gives the date of total immobility ("A 14 de Abril de 1925 ficou, definitivamente, de cama, durante trinta anos"), the nickname of "fourth apostle of Fatima", the mention of the consecration by Pius XII on 31 October 1942, and the last words ("Não pequem mais. Os prazeres desta vida nada valem").
2 8 15 17 46 49 55Saint John Paul II, beatification homily (Alexandrina Maria da Costa and five other blesseds), Saint Peter's Square, 25 April 2004, §§ 7-8: vatican.va. Original text (English): « "Do you love me?" Jesus asks Simon Peter […]. The life of Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa can be summarized in this dialogue of love. […] A "spouse of blood", she relived mystically Christ's passion and offered herself as a victim for sinners, receiving strength from the Eucharist: this became her only source of nourishment for the final 13 years of her life. […] Love for Christ is the secret of holiness! » The "suffer, love and make reparation" trilogy.
4 7 24 61 62Medical report of the Foz do Douro observation, Porto hospital, continuous forty-day observation from 10 June to 20 July 1943, certificate dated "Porto, 26 July 1943", signed by Dr Henrique Gomes de Araújo (in charge, Royal Academy of Medicine of Madrid), Dr C. A. de Lima (professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Porto) and Dr E. A. D. de Azevedo. Original text (circulated in English): « It is absolutely certain that during forty days of being bedridden in hospital, the sick woman did not eat or drink… we testify also that she retained her weight, and her temperature, breathing, blood pressure, pulse and blood were normal… The laws of physiology and biochemistry cannot account for the survival of this sick woman for forty days of absolute fast in the hospital. » Dr Araújo described the phenomenon as "scientifically inexplicable". Testimony reproduced in full in Joachim Bouflet, Encyclopédie des phénomènes extraordinaires dans la vie mystique, vol. 2, Le Jardin des Livres, Paris, 2015, pp. 50-51.
5 38 39 40Alexandrina Maria da Costa, epitaph composed by herself and engraved on her tomb at the Balasar shrine — primary source: the funerary inscription itself. Text recorded in Portuguese: « Pecadores, se as cinzas do meu corpo puderem ser úteis para a vossa salvação, aproximai-vos: passai todos por cima delas, pisai-as até desaparecerem, mas não pequeis mais! Não ofendais mais o nosso Jesus! […] Convertei-vos! Não queirais perder a Jesus por toda a eternidade! Ele é tão bom!… Amai-O! Amai-O! Basta de pecar! » This is confirmed by the biography of the Holy See, which quotes Alexandrina's wish to see these words inscribed on her tomb ("Sinners, if the dust of my body can be of help to save you… But never sin again: do not offend Jesus anymore! … Enough with sin. Love Jesus, love him!"). The Diário (Pasquale ed.) reports the same wish; the exact passage could not be located in the edition, so it is rendered here without verbatim quotation.
6 53Wikipedia (EN), "Alexandrina Maria da Costa": en.wikipedia.org. Cross-check of the facts: absent father, eighteen months of schooling, farm work from childhood then sewing with her sister Deolinda; jump of about 4 metres (13 feet); inedia of "about 13 years"; parallel with the medical monitoring of Therese Neumann.
10 41Words of Alexandrina's mother as reported by Alexandrina herself in the account of her childhood, Diário – Autobiografia (Italian anthology established and translated from Portuguese by Fr Umberto Maria Pasquale, sdb). The page numbering of the edition could not be verified, so the remark is rendered here in paraphrase.
11Alexandrina Maria da Costa, Diário – Autobiografia (Pasquale ed.), account of the first communion (January 1911, at seven years old). The page numbering of the edition could not be verified, so the account is rendered here in paraphrase.
12Alexandrina Maria da Costa, Diário – Autobiografia, chapter "Il salto dalla finestra". Original Italian text: « Io, nel vedere il pericolo, mi buttai dalla finestra in giardino, con un salto di circa quattro metri; tentai di rialzarmi, ma non ci riuscii per un forte dolore al ventre. » The account names the three aggressors (the former employer and two men) and Deolinda's flight.
14Prognosis of Dr João de Almeida of Porto, as reported by Alexandrina in the Diário – Autobiografia (Pasquale ed.). The exact location of the passage in the edition could not be verified, so the fact is given here without verbatim quotation; it is corroborated by the biography of the Holy See, which reports the diagnosis of irreversibility given by the doctors.
16EWTN, notice "Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa": ewtn.com. Dating discrepancy: EWTN places the permanent confinement to bed in 1924, where Portuguese hagiography retains 14 April 1925. Both dates frame the same reality: a paralysis that became total and irreversible in the mid-1920s.
18EWTN, notice "Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa". First Mass celebrated in Alexandrina's room on 20 November 1933.
20Alexandrina Maria da Costa / Fr Umberto Maria Pasquale (ed.), Diário – Autobiografia. Original Italian text: « E di Cristo ricevette il sigillo vivo, il 3 ottobre 1938, quando sofferse la prima volta la Passione del suo Sposo e Signore », and the inscription written in her own hand the same day: « Gesù mi ha condotta dall'Orto al Calvario. »
21 22Words attributed to Jesus during the Passion, as reported by Alexandrina in the Diário – Autobiografia (Pasquale ed.). The exact location of the passage in the edition could not be verified, so the request is rendered here in paraphrase. Her motto, "suffer, love, make reparation", is taken up in the beatification homily of 25 April 2004.
23On the number of Passions: the biography of the Holy See indicates "about 180 times" between 3 October 1938 and 24 March 1942; several hagiographical sources (Marysdowry, Home of the Mother) count "182 occasions". Both figures are reported; the gap comes from the way the Fridays over three and a half years are counted.
26EWTN, notice "Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa": Alexandrina asked Christ not to receive visible stigmata; the only marks observed were the bruises caused by falls during the ecstasies.
27Words attributed to Jesus, as reported by Alexandrina in the Diário – Autobiografia (Pasquale ed.). The exact location of the passage in the edition could not be verified, so they are rendered here in paraphrase.
28Deolinda requested the spiritual direction of the preacher Fr Mariano Pinho during a retreat of the Daughters of Mary in 1931, according to the Diário – Autobiografia (Pasquale ed.); the exact location of the passage in the edition could not be verified, so the fact is given here without verbatim quotation. Pinho's effective direction of Alexandrina was established in the following years (1933-1934). The biography of the Holy See retains 1934-1941 for this direction.
29EWTN, notice "Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa": Fr Mariano Pinho recorded the ecstasies and tested the authenticity of the messages by deliberately altering his reread notes, which Alexandrina corrected each time.
31Fr Mariano Pinho, s.j., No Calvário de Balasar, Edições Paulinas, 1963 (2nd ed. Editorial Apostolado da Oração, Braga, 2005). First reference biography of Alexandrina, by her first spiritual director.
32Dating of the end of the Passions: the biography of the Holy See and Portuguese hagiography place the last Passion on 24 March 1942, the inedia beginning on Friday 27 March 1942. A few notices (EWTN) bring the two dates together. The primary source (Diário) has the new fasting phase begin on 27 March 1942 — which it calls "Good Friday" (« Dal venerdì santo [27 marzo 1942] incominciai a sentirmi morta sul calvario… »); by the calendar, Good Friday 1942 fell on 3 April.
33Words attributed to Jesus instituting the fast, as reported by Alexandrina in the Diário – Autobiografia (Pasquale ed.), at the opening of the inedia phase (27 March 1942). The exact location of the passage in the edition could not be verified, so they are rendered here in paraphrase.
34Alexandrina accepted medical observation out of obedience to the archbishop, seeing in everything the will of God, according to the Diário – Autobiografia (Pasquale ed.). The exact location of the passage in the edition could not be verified, so the fact is given here without verbatim quotation.
36Alexandrina Maria da Costa, Diário – Autobiografia, chapter "Non più trenta ma quaranta giorni": announcement on 4 June 1943 by Dr Azevedo and the confessor (Fr Alberto) of the transfer to the Refúgio da Paralisia Infantil in Foz do Douro, first planned for one month, then extended to forty days, under the responsibility of Dr Araújo.
37Victim offering as reported in the Diário – Autobiografia (Pasquale ed.). The exact location of the passage in the edition could not be verified, so it is rendered here in paraphrase.
42Gabriele Amorth, Dietro un sorriso. Beata Alexandrina Maria da Costa, Elledici (Leumann, Turin). Italian biography by the exorcist of the diocese of Rome; the title ("Behind a smile") refers to Alexandrina's constant smile despite her sufferings, attested by the biography of the Holy See.
44Alexandrina Maria da Costa, Diário, 22 May 1942. Original Italian text: « Il cuore del Papa è deciso a consacrare il mondo al Cuore di Maria. Che grande fortuna e gioia per il mondo appartenere come mai alla Madre di Dio! » Following entry (24 May 1942): « Il mondo è consacrato a Maria. Continua il digiuno. »
47Pius XII, radio message to Portugal for the silver jubilee of the Fatima apparitions, 31 October 1942, consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Cf. Wikipedia (PT), "Alexandrina Maria da Costa": « A 31 de Outubro de 1942, o Papa Pio XII satisfez esse desejo… » The consecration was renewed on 8 December 1942.
48Fr Umberto Maria Pasquale, s.d.b. (1906-1985), Alexandrina's second spiritual director from 1944, editor of her writings; author of Alexandrina (LDC, Turin, 1960) and, in Portuguese, of Sob o Céu de Balasar (Edições Salesianas, Porto, 1983) and Venerável Alexandrina (6th ed., Edições Salesianas, Porto, 1998). He collected the journal, the autobiography (begun 20 October 1940) and the Sentimentos da Alma dictated to Deolinda (1944-1948).
50Prayer of the tabernacles as reported in the Diário – Autobiografia (Pasquale ed.). The exact location of the passage in the edition could not be verified, so it is rendered here in paraphrase.
56Archdiocese of Braga, dossier of the cause of Alexandrina Maria da Costa: diocesan process opened by the Archiepiscopal Curia of Braga in 1967, concluded in 1973 after the hearing of forty-eight witnesses; decree on the heroicity of the virtues (Venerable) of 12 January 1996; miracle retained: healing of Maria Madalena Azevedo Gomes Fonseca (Parkinson's disease) occurring on 3 March 1995, approved by decree on 20 December 2003. Some Salesian sources date the declaration of Venerable to 21 December 1995 (approval of the decree).
57 58 60