CARAFA, Maria Maddalena. — Duchess of Andria, b. at S. Arcangelo in 1566 to Prince Lodovico, Count of Stimigliano, d. at Naples on 29 Dec. 1615. At the age of 14 she married Fabrizio C., Duke of Andria, and bore him five children. After becoming a widow she entered the monastery of La Sapienza in Naples (1608). She received notable mystical graces, among which were the pains of the crown of thorns.
BIBL.: G. B. Castaldi, Vita di d. M. M. monaca della Sapienza a Napoli, Naples 1618; D. Bartoli, Della vita del p. Vincenzo Carafa, Rome 1651, pp. 4-12; S. Sambati, Vita della serva di Dio suor M. M. C., duchessa d'Andria, Rome 1653, Bologna 1654.