The eighteenth century was revolutionary years for most of Europe as revolutions brought tragedies to many countries and the move towards enlightenment questioned the old Order.
This would bring in much confusion to ordinary people as the 'great thinkers' of the day questioned all authority including the Catholic Church, and found most wanting as they favoured their own ego centric ideas.
During this time a man of great ambition decided he would try and rule the world and through his manic ego many lives would be lost as he warred with different countries. For Napoleon Bonaparte did not care about the man in the street but instead thought only of fulfilling his evil ambition to become Emperor of many nations, until he met his Waterloo!
And during these troubled times the Church too would not go untouched as Italy remained disunited into different Provinces which placed the Papal State into a vicarious position as differing Noble families fought amongst themselves for primacy! And invasions from other countries took place within Italy sometimes at the behest of the reigning Pope.
But there were Popes such as Pope Pius VI who tried to influence Emperor Joseph ll from his Anti Religious position, as the smell of revolution gained strength in France.
Into this volatile arena was born Anna Maria Masi in the year 1769 to her loving and devout parents, Gianetti and Maria Masi. And as the Masi family struggled financially they decided to move from Siena to Rome in search of work.
Anna Maria would spend her early years in several jobs to try and help support her parents and herself. This included jobs as a seamstress, a housemaid and working in a local factory. But it was as she worked as a housemaid that Anna Maria saw how the rich lived and joined in with the merriment and dancing.
So in 1709 Anna Maria met and married Dominico Taigi a man from a noble background, though he was not overly prosperous. They lived happily in the society circles of the day as they joined in the round of events, dances and gave little thought to their Faith.
But it was as she and her husband, went to confession that Anna Maria would be touched by the voice of God calling her to return to Him and give up the vanities in which she had surrounded herself.
It was this experience which totally turned Anna Maria from a flighty woman into a devout woman who lived her Faith and shared what she had with the poor. During this time Anna Maria joined the Third Order of Trinitarians as she made great steps in her spiritual development.
As Anna Maria embraced her Faith and turned her life around this brought questions from others as they queried her motives. But the gossip did not affect Anna Maria as she continued to observe daily Mass, availed herself of frequent Confession and also supervised her children with the support of her at times tired and irritable, husband Dominico.
During her spiritual growth God would grant many Graces to Anna Maria including that of being able to read souls, of experiencing visions and she also fell into ecstasies. But the driving force of Anna Maria's Faith was not the extraordinary occurrences but a life filled with humility, docility and meekness, as she spent many hours in prayer while waiting for her tired husband to return home.
Our Lord also gave messages to Anna Maria for herself and for the world, as Jesus said to her, "there are few, very few my daughter, even among the servants of God, who renounce spiritual delights in order to embrace suffering by love". And as God embraced Anna Maria the devil also assaulted her senses by trying to make her doubt God's Goodness as Anna Maria spent many years in spiritual aridity as she expiated for the souls of many. But through all this Anna Maria remained faithful to her one love, God and His Church!
Anna Maria was to see many events in the future through a ball of glowing light that would suspend itself near her as she prayed.
This great woman of Faith also foretold the election of Pope Pius lX and also the terrible sufferings that would touch many people in the years to come. And upon seeing a great Chastisement Anna Maria wept and begged to help avert this catastrophe where upon our Lord told her, "My Father and I will set all to rights, and after the chastisements those who survive must behave in the way I shall explain to you".
As Anna Maria saw in the glow of light that Rome would be threatened with wars and revolutions and that a great tribulation would come upon the entire world. As men of all religions tried to return to the Church which would also usher in confusion to those faithful to the Church in Rome.
And a more terrible sight did Anna Maria see when looking into the ball of light, 'Here shall come over the whole earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing will be visible, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion.- On this terrible occasion so many of these wicked men, enemies of His Church, and of God, shall be killed by this divine scourge, that their corpses round Rome will be as numerous as the fish, which a recent inundation of the Tiber had carries into the city. All the enemies of the Church, secret as well as known, will perish over the earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few, whom God will soon convert. The air shall be infected by demons, who will appear under all sorts of visible forms.' As her vision continued, "It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness, except blessed candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy."
As one can imagine Anna Maria's soul was full of horror as she saw these visions of future chastisements, but our Lord comforted her troubled soul with these words, "those to whom I shall grant the spirit of humility, those will be the victors."
And as Anna Maria's life became filled with illness, still she saw her globe of light which illuminated her soul as she foresaw, that many German people would embrace, "one religion, one German philosophy in one German fatherland"! That many would also embrace the reasoning of the mind rather than trust in God and His Providence. Also that freemasonry would become acceptable as many sought to destroy the Catholic Church!
Through all these visions and messages from our Lord Anna Maria never lost her hope nor did her Faith lessen, and though she would see the great Chastisements she also never lost her peace of heart.
As she saw the Church and its people suffering, so too did she see the humble of heart receive their Just reward from a Merciful God.
Anna Maria lived a life totally devoted to God and her family as she raised her children to be loving and good Catholics and helped her husband to understand the import of her many visions and messages for the world. She lived a life of suffering, spiritual aridity and withstood the calumny of those who were jealous of her piety and holiness. All this did not change Anna Maria as she clung to her beloved Lord with true docility of spirit.
Anna Maria Taigi died in 1837.
Blessed Anna Maria Taigi was beatified in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.
Peace of Christ to ALL
Copyright © 2005 Marie Smith. All rights reserved.
