Her Early Years
Maria Concetta Pantusa, later known with affection as “Sister Concetta,” was born in 1884 in the small town of Celico, Calabria. Her childhood unfolded under the shadow of a violent and domineering father who rejected the Catholic faith and forbade any religious practice within the home. Her mother, however, was a woman of deep devotion, who with courage, quietly taught her daughter the faith and, with the help of the parish priest Don Vincenzo Letieri, managed to have her little girl secretly baptized. This hidden act of grace became the seed of a lifelong fidelity to God that would define Maria Concetta’s entire existence.
Brazil ... Marriage ... Early Trials
From her earliest years she felt drawn to religious life, sensing within herself a call to belong entirely to God. When she expressed her desire to enter a convent, her father reacted with force. Rather than allow her vocation to flourish, he uprooted her from Italy and forced her to emigrate with him to Brazil. There she lived in isolation, subjected to mistreatment and deprived of freedom. Yet even in this harsh exile, her longing for God only deepened. At the age of twenty, when her father chose a husband for her, she turned to the Holy Spirit in prayer, asking to understand the will of the Heavenly Father. In response, she received a brief but luminous vision of her future.
On Christmas Day of 1914 she married Vito De Marco, an Italian emigrant. That same day, for the first time in her life, she was able to receive the Eucharist openly—a moment she cherished as a profound gift. The following year their daughter, Maria Carmela, was born. Soon after, the young family returned to Italy and settled near Bari. But tragedy struck quickly: Vito died in the First World War, leaving Maria Concetta a widow with a small child. She returned to her parents’ home, only to face a new trial. For an entire year she was struck by blindness and paralysis of her lower limbs. Her sudden and complete healing, attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, restored her strength—but not her security. Her father expelled her from the house, refusing to support her.
Maria Concetta with her daughter, Maria Carmela,
who shared her mother's piety.
The Beginnings of a Public Ministry
Alone with her daughter, she embraced a life of service. Despite being illiterate, she was chosen by the parish priest to lead the “Daughters of Mary,” a testament to her spiritual maturity and natural authority. She worked humbly as a cleaner for the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Redipiano, and in 1930 she traveled to Airola in Benevento to seek admission to the Poor Clares. She was accompanied by her daughter and by Speranza Pettinato, a close friend, who would later record Maria Concetta’s mystical experiences in a journal. The Poor Clares accepted only Maria Carmela, not her mother. Undeterred, Maria Concetta and Speranza opened a small nursery on Via Monteoliveto with the bishop’s blessing.
Her Mystical Gifts
Fortunately, Speranza's writings reveal the extraordinary spiritual gifts that marked Maria Concetta’s life. She experienced Prophecy, Levitations, private apparitions, and was surrounded by other miraculous signs. For example, those around her often perceived heavenly fragrances or saw flower petals appear mysteriously. She described visions of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin, her Guardian Angel, and Saints such as St. Joseph and St. Gemma Galgani. She also recounted encounters and struggles with demonic forces. In 1936 Maria Concetta received the Stigmata of Christ’s Passion during an ecstasy in which she saw Jesus in radiant light and felt piercing pain in her hands, feet, and heart. Wounds appeared and bled, remaining visible until 1939 on her hands and feet, and until 1952 on her side.
A photo of Maria Concetta showing the wounds
of the Stigmata on her hands.
Her Devotion to the Holy Face
One of the most astonishing events of her life occurred on February 17, 1947. In her humble room, an image of the Holy Face—a reproduction of the Shroud of Turin—began to shed blood from the head and eyes for three hours. The phenomenon repeated on February 28 and again on March 4. From that time forward, numerous images in her home bled, especially during the days of the Passion. Jesus spoke to her of a mission particularly involving His Holy Face:
+ “I want My image to be widely distributed. I want to enter every family and convert the hardest hearts.”
+ “Speak to everyone of My infinite mercy and love.”
+ “By My Holy Face the world will be saved.”
The bishop later recognized the shedding of blood from the Holy Face as an inexplicable miracle. The people of Airola, witnessing her charity, humility, and suffering, called her “Sister Concetta,” as she dressed as a Passionist nun although she had never taken vows. She lived in deep poverty on Via Monteoliveto for more than twenty‑three years, dedicating herself entirely to the care of the poor, the sick, and the abandoned. Her life was marked by intense suffering, yet she radiated peace and unconditional love.
Maria Concetta with the image of the Holy Face -
a copy of the Shroud of Turin - that bled in her home.
Her Death and Legacy
Maria Concetta died at 3 p.m. on Passion Friday - March 27, 1953 - the hour of Christ’s death—a date she had foretold three years earlier. She was first buried in the Passionist cemetery chapel, and in 1981 her remains were transferred to the Sanctuary of the Holy Face on Via Monteoliveto, the very place where she had lived and where so many miracles had occurred. Since then, the sanctuary has become a place of pilgrimage, especially on February 17, the anniversary of the first bleeding of the Holy Face.
On February 17, 2007, her Cause for Beatification was officially opened. In the front row sat her daughter Maria Carmela, then ninety‑one years old, moved to tears as the Church began formally recognizing the holiness of the mother who had endured so much and loved so deeply.
Please join this ministry in praying for this great mystic's speedy Canonization.
Maria Concetta Pantusa,
pray for us!
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