SERIO, ROSA MARIA, venerable. — Carmelite, born in Ostuni (Lecce) on 6 August 1674, died in the Carmelite convent of Fasano (Bari) on 9 May 1726, where she had entered at the age of sixteen in 1690, subsequently serving as novice mistress and prioress.
Possessed of a profound spirit of prayer, she sought, through constant penance and mortification, to reflect within herself
the Passion of the Redeemer. She received many charismatic gifts, including the crown of thorns and the stigmata. She died smiling after seven years of physical martyrdom combined with great mystical sufferings, repeating « Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus ». The cause of her beatification was opened in 1741.
BIBL.: G. Gentili, Vita della ven. Madre R. M. S., Rome 1741; Gabriella V. H. Sacr., Lebender Ehru, R. M. S., Innsbruck 1903; P. T. Quagliarella, Suor R. M. S., Taranto 1927. Valentino di Maria