Photo Credit: Flickr/Terry Morgan-Blessed Anna Maria Taigi (1769-1837)

This is about an ordinary housewife and mother to seven children. She is proof that an intimate life of the soul with God is just not for the consecrated and those who have taken vows, but is truly for all people who reach out to Him and do their best to follow Him. Her name is Anna Maria Taigi.

She was born on May 29, 1769, in Siena, Italy. Her father was a pharmacist but had lost his position and his money and was forced to take a job elsewhere. He decided to move the family to Rome, where he found a job as a household servant. Anna began attending a school run by the Filippini Sisters and was there from 1774 through 1776.

When Anna completed her education, she found whatever work she could to help her parents. Her primary job became that of a housemaid. She received her Confirmation in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in 1780 and her First Holy Communion in her parish church in 1782.

Anna met a butler from Milan by the name of Domenico Taigi. They were married on January 7, 1789. The couple went on to have seven children. Three of the children died when they were quite young. Little Pietro lived to be two years and one month old, while Luigi died at a year and a half old. Margherita died at birth, and of the four surviving children Camillo lived to be 42 and Alessandro lived to be 35. Maria remained unmarried and Sofia, who had been widowed, was left to raise six children.

Anna quickly discovered that her husband, although a man of high moral standards, had an explosive temper. He was never physically abusive to Anna, but he could be a screaming tyrant at times, and that brought intense pressure to the family and even scared them.

Anna suffered internally from her husband’s temper tantrums, but those anger outbursts also helped her to develop the virtues of patience, humility, and forgiveness. She learned that a smile and silence calmed him down much quicker than confrontation. The fact of the matter was, Domenico Taigi did love his wife deeply, and her constant patience with his behavior eventually saw him become much more tolerant of things that had previously caused him to get hostile.

Anna was somewhat vain and loved jewelry and nice clothing. One day while she and her family were at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Anna was overcome with the need to begin a new life of austerity. She was able to see the state of her soul and what effects her sins had on it. She immediately began a new life of obedience, submission, patience, humility, and self-renunciation.

Anna believed that marriage was one of the greatest missions from Heaven. For the remainder of her married life of 47 years, she calmly interacted with her husband, soothing his temper and providing all things for her family. She was the ideal housewife and always fulfilled her duties as a wife and mother, managing the daily routines of the household. She welcomed the life of humility in giving of herself to all those around her. This was Anna Maria’s vocation of extraordinary holiness in the ordinary world of marriage, family, and motherhood.

Shortly after her experience in St. Peter’s, Anna entered the Secular Trinitarians. She frequently visited hospitals and worked with and helped the incurably ill. It was during this time she began to experience frequent visions of the future. There began to appear to her a golden globe which became as a sun of matchless light, and in this globe all things were revealed to her.

The globe stayed with her the rest of her life. In it, she saw into people’s souls and could predict the future. She became a teacher, prophet, and theologian. She could see the whole world as one piece, as if it were flat like the façade of a building. She became acquainted with Cardinals and even knew Monsignor Giovanni Mastai who would become Pope Pius IX. Pope Leo XII held her in high regard. The Blessed Mother gave a prayer to Anna that she wanted recited. Pope Pius VII granted an indulgence of 100 days to anyone who recited it once a month, under the usual conditions of a plenary indulgence.

Blessed Anna Maria Taigi is the patroness of housewives, mothers and families. She is also the patroness of victims of verbal and spousal abuse. She was beatified by Pope Benedict XV on May 30, 1920.

Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, please pray for us.

Copyright Larry Peterson 2018