BAOUARDY, MARIA

BAOUARDY, MARIA. – In religion Maria di Gesù Crocifisso, Discalced Carmelite, born at Abellin (Greek-Melkite diocese of S. Giovanni d'Acri) on 5 January 1846, died at Bethlehem on 26 August 1878. At the age of thirteen she refused the marriage that had been arranged and suffered martyrdom for the faith; miraculously cured, she worked as a domestic servant; not admitted to take her vows among the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition, she became a Carmelite at Pau, making her profession four years later as a lay sister. She was the inspiration behind the foundation of the Carmel of Bethlehem. The mystical life of this daughter of the Eastern Church was extraordinary, and entirely marked by simplicity. The cause was introduced in Rome on 18 May 1927.