NOTE: This is a translation of a post on the website (www.ordinecostantinianoitalia.org) of the Royal Commission for Italy of the Constantinian Order. It concerns Queen Maria Cristina of the Two Sicilies (1812-1836), who was beatified by Pope Francis in 2014 as the Blessed Maria Cristina. She was the consort of Ferdinand of Bourbon, who from 1830 to 1859 was King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies and Grand Master of the Constantinian Order. She died giving birth to the last reigning monarch of the Two Sicilies, King Francis II, who reigned as King from 1859 to 1861 but was Grand Master of the Constantinian Order for 35 years, from 1859 to 1894. She is called the Blessed Maria Cristina of Savoy, because, by birth, she was a princess of the House of Savoy.
The relics of Blessed Maria Cristina of Savoy, Queen of the Two Sicilies, will arrive in Calabria for the first time on Tuesday, 19 December 2023. They will be delivered at 5.00 pm to the inter-parish complex of San Benedetto in Lamezia Terme by Fra’ Giovanni Califano, O.F.M., Postulator of the Cause of the Beatification of Maria Cristina of Savoy, who will give a report at the Maria Cristina di Savoia Cultural Conference in Lamezia, sixty years after its institution. The Eucharistic celebration of welcome and thanksgiving will be presided over at 7.00 pm by His Excellency Monsignor Serafino Parisi, Bishop of Lamezia Terme.
“It is a moment full of meaning, of undescribable emotion, of special trepidation that we, Cristine from Lamezia, wish to share with all of you. The immense joy of this event marks each of us internally and enriches with deep spirituality the activity carried out in the Diocese and in the Lamezzo territory in the name of and on the example of sanctity of the shining figure of the Blessed Queen”, declared Filomena Cervadoro, President of the Cultural Conference Maria Cristina di Savoia di Lamezia, expressing the desire that her statement be disseminated in the widest possible manner.
Representatives of the Coordination for Calabria of the Delegation of Tuscia and Sabina of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George have accepted an invitation to attend and will officially participate.
Blessed Maria Cristina of Savoy, Queen of the Two Sicilies, was the youngest daughter of the King of Sardinia, Vittorio Emanuele I, and of Archduchess Maria Teresa of Habsburg-Este. Born on 14 November 1812 in Cagliari, she was the first wife of Ferdinand II of Bourbon, King of the Two Sicilies. Having passed away at the age of twenty-four on 31 January 1836 in the odor of sanctity, she was called “the holy queen” by Neapolitans. The faith of the “queen in love with Jesus” was so strong that at the point of death she heartened those who were in tears at her bedside and stated with the little breath she had left: “I believe in God, I love God, I hope in God”.
She was one of the first to launch a new concept of charity, working to offer the needy the opportunity for a better life. In the most abandoned neighbourhoods of Naples she opened furniture and knitwear factories, and she introduced the production of clothes and fabrics into the silk mills of Caserta, giving work and redemption to many people.
Beautiful, gentle and cultured – “charmante et parfaite”, the Count of Cavour defined her – at ease with ambassadors, sovereigns and lazzaroni, bearer of a political vision of a reformist and, sometimes, an openly liberal orientation: these are the characteristics of Maria Cristina, who in the short span of her life was able to carve out a profile of great depth, despite her extreme reserve.
Queen Maria Cristina managed to establish a relationship of profound mutual respect with her husband and to be at his side not only in marital life, but also in political and social life, albeit in a discreet way.
Alongside this “indirect role”, the queen’s real efforts stand out in the management of public assistance and charity, in the promotion of state patronage, and in the creation of projects relating to the custody and preservation of the architectural and cultural heritage of the Kingdom . Even from the point of view of diplomatic relations, Queen Maria Cristina was able to have a profound impact, giving life to a complex business network and capable of strengthening the international thrust of the Crown of the Two Sicilies.
A study of the historical record allows us to outline the face of a “modern” and cosmopolitan queen, hostile to political persecution (her intercessions for the suspension of the death penalty were famous, which led to a moratorium for political prisoners), attentive to themes of emancipation (especially female), protection of arts and antiquities, communication with the masses, assistance to the poor and state social assistance, which establish in all respects that she was a “surrogate” for true political advocacy.
She was responsible for the establishment of a factory producing beds, clothing and blankets at the convent of San Domenico Soriano, to distribute the products to less wealthy families; she was responsible for the relaunch of coral processing in Torre del Greco and that of the silk industry in San Leucio, two extraordinary economic policy measures that are still waiting to be studied in an in-depth and analytical way: it was she who took steps in the direction of the principles of work that are part of the Social Doctrine of the Church. In fact, she was responsible for the extension of social protection measures and the relaunch of manufacturing and trade in all the provinces of the Kingdom, and in particular in “rebel” Sicily, in the belief that only a renewed presence of the State and a more lenient face of the monarchy could bridge the distance between the island of Sicily and the mainland capital in Naples.
Maria Cristina died not yet twenty-four years of age due to the after-effects of childbirth, while giving birth to her only son Francis, who upon his father’s death would ascend to the throne as King Francis II, thus becoming the last reigning King of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Francis II himself would have been educated in the cult of his mother, called the Holy Queen. The only daughter of the Servant of God Francis II and his wife Maria Sophia (born a Princess of Bavaria), a child who was born when her parents were already in exile, was given her grandmother’s name. However, little Maria Cristina Pia only lived for a few months.
The memory of Blessed Maria Cristina of Savoy is preserved and disseminated with extraordinary commitment by the cultural conferences that are dedicated to her and spread across the entire national territory. They continue – through conferences, projects involving different local efforts, and publication of the quarterly magazine Rassegna – all inspired by her life and works.
The Maria Cristina di Savoia Cultural Conferences – which hold active membership of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations (UMOFC) – were begun in Rome in 1937. Already in 1940, there were around thirty “Works” which, in the second half of the century, gradually extended to all the main Italian cities. In 1971 – when the “Works” had ceased to exist as such – the Conferences were organized as an autonomous association, with their own statutes and their own organizational structure, which maintained the previous Christian inspiration and was recognized by the competent Ecclesiastical Authorities in 1973. Representatives of the Maria Cristina movement had the honour of being received repeatedly in private audiences by the many pontiffs, including Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II.
The Maria Cristina di Savoia Cultural Conferences are meetings and gatherings that are identified above all in centers of apostolate and Christian penetration into the socio-cultural world at a local level. To the lessons, conferences, small libraries and spiritual retreats of the first period were added other activities after the Second World War, such as courses on religious, moral and social culture, and finally seminars, round tables and debates open to the public.
The association wants to be at the service of the Catholic Church in its mission of evangelization, and has the following objectives: Christian, religious, moral, cultural and social training of its members; and Christian testimony and active presence in social life. It currently has around 3,500 members and more than 80 conferences throughout Italy, which organize lectures, meetings and round tables on religious, social and cultural topics, with speakers who guarantee a correct Christian approach.
King Ferdinand II began the process of beatification of Queen Consort Maria Cristina and on 10 July 1859 the Holy See proclaimed her Venerable. Then, the cause of beatification and canonization was restarted by the Maria Cristina di Savoia Cultural Conferences. With a letter dated 17 November 2004 signed by Prof. Margherita Elia Leozappa, President of the Conferences, Fra’ Luca De Rosa, O.F.M., was appointed postulator of the cause of beatification and canonization, accepted on 3 December 2004 by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. In the audience of 2 May 2013 with Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree regarding the miracle attributed to the intercession of Maria Cristina.
On Saturday 25 January 2014, at 11.00 am, at the Royal Basilica of Santa Chiara of Naples, where she is buried in the Royal Chapel of the Bourbons, the beatification rite was held in a solemn Eucharistic Celebration presided over by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Metropolitan Archbishop of Naples. Among the concelebrants were the legate Cardinal Angelo Amato, Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino and the Archbishops Tommaso Caputo, Armando Dini, Fabio Bernardo D’Onorio, Arrigo Miglio and Mario Milano.
