Maria Cristina of Savoy, Queen of the Two Sicilies, Venerable

MARIA CRISTINA OF SAVOY, Queen of the Two Sicilies, Venerable. - Youngest daughter of Victor Emmanuel I, king of Sardinia, and of Maria Theresa of Habsburg-Este, b. at Cagliari on 14 Nov. 1812, d. at Naples on 31 Jan. 1836. As a young girl she was distinguished within her family for her gifts of piety and virtue. After her father's abdication, in March 1821 she left Turin and lived with her family at Modena, at Moncalieri where she lost her father (1824), at Genoa where her mother died (1832).

She would have wished to consecrate herself to the religious life, but between the court of Turin and that of Naples negotiations had been under way since 1817 for the marriage of M. C. with Ferdinand of Bourbon. This in fact took place on 21 Nov. 1832 at Voltri (Nostra Signora dell'Acquasanta), and by sea the new Queen went with Ferdinand II to Naples. On 14 Jan. 1836 M. C. gave birth to the long-awaited heir to the throne of Sicily, later Francis II (v.), but in the same month she died. She was buried in S. Chiara. The four years of marriage and of life at the court of Naples brought into prominence in southern Italy the gifts of holiness of M. C. Many rumors circulated concerning ill-treatment inflicted on the bride by Ferdinand II, but these are inventions that form part of the anti-Bourbon liberal legend. For her virtues M. C. was declared venerable in 1853, and the cause of her beatification is in progress.