My wife's baptism name is Sancta Crescentia. So far I can't find any photo, picture, symbol, or life story of Sancta Crescentia. Do you know any reference in any form of that stuff?

-- Kunolsar (kunolsar@netscape.net), February 25, 2002

Answers

Jmj

Well, Kunolsar, I have good news for you and your wife.
On November 25, 2001, Pope John Paul II canonized four people, one of whom is St. Crescentia Höss, who had been beatified in 1900!

Also known as Mary Crescentia or Maria Crescenzia, your wife's patron saint was born in Kaufbeuren, Bavaria (southeastern Germany), in the Diocese of Augsburg, on October 20, 1682. She died of natural causes in her hometown on Easter Sunday, April 5, 1744, at the age of 61. Her father was a poor weaver named Matthias, and her mother's name was Lucia (nee Hoermann); Crescentia was the seventh of their eight children.

At about the age of 20, the virgin Crescentia was admitted to a convent of Franciscan Tertiaries (sisters) of Mayerhoff. She was neglected and even persecuted by the other sisters because her family was too poor to provide a dowry upon her entry, the custom of the time. One Internet site says, "Her holiness, however, overcame their hostility, when they realized that it was her dowry." Crescentia was a porter (door-keeper), later novice mistress for fifteen years, and finally (and reluctantly) the superior of the convent for the final three years of her life. She was considered a prudent and wise advisor, counselling her sisters and others outside the monastery through letters, many of which still exist. She also received mystical visions.

Here, you can see a drawing of the saint. Her body is interred in her monastery's chapel.

According to a short Vatican biography, St. Crescentia is quoted as having said, "God wants the convent rich in virtue, not in temporal goods." She "recommended silence, recollection, and spiritual reading, especially the Gospels. The teacher of their religious life had to be Jesus on the Cross. ... The principal points of her program for the renewal of the house were: unlimited trust in divine providence, readiness in the acts of the common life, love of silence, devotion to Jesus crucified, and devotion to the Eucharist and the Blessed Mother."

Here are some words from the homily that the pope gave at the canonization ceremony:

"Give glory to Christ the King: this wish inspired St Maria Crescenzia Höss from her childhood. It was for his service that she used her talents. God gave her a beautiful voice. Already as a young lady she could sing a solo part, not to display herself but to sing and to play for Christ the King.

"Her knowledge of her fellow men she placed at the service of the Lord. This Franciscan was an esteemed advisor. To her convent came many visitors: both simple men and women, princes and empresses, priests and religious, abbots and bishops. In a certain way she became a kind of 'midwife' and helped those seeking counsel to bring forth the truth in their hearts.

"Sorrow did not spare the saint. 'Mobbing' took place in her time. She endured the intrigues of her own community, without ever doubting her own vocation. The long period of suffering allowed her to grow in the virtue of patience. That was helpful for her when she became superior: for her to direct meant spiritually to serve. She was generous with the poor, motherly with her sisters, and kind to all who needed a kind word. St Crescenzia lived what the Kingdom of Christ means: 'Whatever you do to the least of your brothers, that you do to me' (Matthew 25:40)."

God bless you and your wife.
John

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), February 25, 2002.

John, thank you for the summary!

Regarding the dowry issue: given the order's rules of these times, she wouldn't have been allowed at all to enter without a dowry. But Kaufbeuren's mayor had heard her sing in Mass (in the parish church--she was one of the soloists) and, knowing about her wish, concluded that a person with such an "angelic voice" shouldn't be left to the world. Now the convent owed him a favour, as he had ordered an inn just across the road from the convent and brimming with noise all the night, to close. The superior was so thankful for the ending of that nuisance that she had promised, "If you need a favour--whatever it is--, we'll do it for you". And so he demanded that Anna Höß be acccepted.

There are a few other stories I've heard over the years. (If you go back five generations in my family you'll find the name Höß.) E.g., the mobbing included demands such as to roast snowballs and to fetch water with a sieve. As she returned to the superior with the sieve full of water, the latter concluded that Crescentia's vocation might be a real one. (The sieve is still shown in the visitors' centre of her convent, which was renamed Crescentiakloster in 1922.)

Pax et bonum,

-- Oliver Schrinner (piraya@hispavista.com), February 26, 2002.

Thank you, Oliver, for your valuable local insights! JFG

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), February 27, 2002.