BAIJ, MARIA CECILIA. - Author of mystical writings, born at Montefiascone on 4 January 1694, she received the names Cecilia Felicita. Introduced to the Christian life by the Venerable Rosa Venerini, she went through a brief period of laxity. Having recovered, she first entered at Viterbo (1711) the Cistercian monastery known as that of the Duchess, from which she left disillusioned because of the lax observance, then at Montefiascone (1713) the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter, where she professed in 1714 under the name of Sister Maria Cecilia. There she died on 6 February 1766, being for the sixth time abbess of the monastery. She was venerated in life and after death for her austere life and her wealth of mystical gifts. The fame of her holiness endures to this day.
She left a great number of spiritual letters and many other writings, predominantly mystical. But only recently, through the work of Monsignor Pietro Bergamaschi, professor at the seminary of Montefiascone, were they in part made public. The published writings are: 1) Vita interna di Gesù Cristo, manifestata da Gesù alla sua serva Donna M.C.B., 2nd ed., Viterbo 1926-33; 2) Vita del glorioso patriarca s. Giuseppe, ibid. 1921; 3) Vita di s. Giovanni Battista, ibid. 1922. A large part, moreover, of her two Autobiografie and of her Colloqui con Gesù have been reproduced in the biography of the B., likewise written by Bergamaschi in 2 vols.: Vita della Serva di Dio Donna C. M. B., Viterbo 1923-25. Very many other letters and various writings on devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to the Holy Spirit, to the Song of Songs, etc., remain unpublished.
Bibliography
Giuseppe Löw