Maria Bolognesi was born as Maria Semiolo on 21 October 1924 in Rovigo to Giuseppe Samiolo. Her natural father - himself illegitimate - did not want to wed her mother and split from her which left Bolognesi to live until 1929 in her mother's home with her mother's name. Her maternal grandmother Cornetto Cesira was perhaps the most influential individual in her childhood in terms of instilling in the girl a religious education and love for
God. Bolognesi received the name of her stepfather after her mother married Giuseppe Bolognesi in 1930; the pair went to live with him at
San Cassiano. Her step-grandfather was Luigi Bolognesi. In 1932 she ran a high fever and her mother at the same time had contracted
meningitis and was on her deathbed. Bolognesi had begun to prepare for her
First Communion at this time and the
nun that was instructing her at the time told her that
Jesus Christ would grant her a wish. She wished that her mother would recover and she did; Bolognesi went on to make her
First Communion on 22 May 1932 with much emotion. Her stepfather often beat her mother due to his somewhat abrasive nature. Their son Luigi was born on 21 June 1940. In summer 1940 Maria began to experience what were considered
diabolical attacks. She could not enter a church, the blessings of
priests failing to have an effect on her. Bolognesi was taken to a mental hospital for evaluation but the
Bishop of Rovigo Guido Maria Mazzocco blessed her from the window of his residence before she was taken there. The doctors did not note any psychological disorder. She grew up in a poor household and was able to attend only the first and second grade of
school. Her peers often marginalized her. She dropped out of school as a child and worked as an
agricultural laborer in order to help support her family. Bolognesi received her first vision of Jesus Christ on the evening of
Holy Thursday, April 1, 1942. In the vision the Lord assured her that she would learn how to read and bestowed on her a ruby ring, a symbol of the stigmata. Her
spiritual director at this time was the priest Bassiano Paiato, who advised her to keep a spiritual diary. In April 1942 she began to wear a black habit with the express permission of Paiato. She was ridiculed for her piety. By January 1944, she had moved to the house of a Mrs. Piva. She had another vision during which Christ gave her the gift of sweating blood, which happened every Friday at 3:00 p.m. In March 1948 three male criminals attacked her, knocking her unconscious. She was left injured in the snow.Because people were skeptical of this the police sergeant took her to the magistrate and accused her of having faked the account though she was later absolved of these charges in October. During the 1940s she began to suffer from
arthritis as well as
colitis and
appendicitis while almost becoming blind in 1950. In July, she moved to Rovigo. For treatment she would often have to go to
Padua. Her new spiritual director from June 1951 was Rodolfo Barbieri. She returned to Rovigo and began her mission of looking after
orphans and making frequent visits to the sick in hospitals. In July 1951 she suffered the pain of the Lord's flagellation. In August 1954 she resided with some
Augustinian nuns in
Ferrara. She was hospitalized in February 1955 and had a vision telling her to leave Rovigo. She went to a spiritual retreat in
Sperlinga in April 1955. En route back home from Sperlinga she stopped at
San Giovanni Rotondo where she had a fever and her shoes full of blood. She found an inn and remained there and had a vision of Christ on
Good Friday 8 April 1955. Mgr. Adelino Marenga became her spiritual director in September 1956. In spring 1958 Bolognesi was bedridden until 1959. Upon Marenga's death in 1964 and her spiritual director became Aldo Balduin. Bolognesi suffered a
heart attack in 1971 and her health continued to decline. She died of a heart attack on 30 January 1980 at 2:00am and her remains were later transferred to the parish of Bosaro. ==Beatification==