Born on August 6, 1885, the Feast of the Transfiguration, Maria Consolata grew up in Turin, Italy. Known as a child for her intelligence and kind nature, Maria would experience apparitions of Jesus at age seventeen, who instructed her to write down his words. As the “Little Secretary of Jesus,” Maria Consolata was to communicate Christ’s love through her actions and writings, and be formed into a victim soul for others through suffering. Upon losing her brother John to illness, Maria would receive Canon Boccardo as a spiritual director and eventually enter the Visitation Monastery in Como, Italy, taking the name Sister Benigna Consolata. Though her religious life after was short, it was characterized by continued visions of Christ, which she described in her notebooks. Sister Benigna would ultimately pass away in 1916 after a period of suffering, one that she embraced wholeheartedly.
Source:
"The Little Secretary of Jesus." Sisters of the Visitation of Holy Mary. Accessed 14 August, 2025. https://vistyr.org/sr-benigna-consolata
