Stigmata of Blessed Alexandrina María da Costa: Christ himself explained the gift to her

An expert on the life of Blessed Alejandrina María Da Costa, whose feast day is celebrated on October 13, tells how this mystic received the stigmata of Christ 70 years ago and that it was the Lord himself who explained to her the reason for that gift. .

Salesian cooperator María Rita Scrimieri told ACI Prensa that “Blessed Alejandrina María da Costa received the stigmata during the ecstasy of October 1, 1954 and, at her request, they remained invisible to the human eye.”

Scrimieri highlighted that this occurred a year before the death of the Portuguese blessed, also a Salesian cooperator, which constitutes “a sign of her perfect configuration to Jesus crucified, a victim for love.”

The expert relates that Blessed Alexandrina wrote the following in her diary: “Jesus came and, in an impulse of love, gave me more strength and spoke to me like this: ‘Come, my daughter! I am with you. Heaven is with you in all its strength.’ At that moment, from the Wound of his divine Heart came a flash so great with rays so luminous that it made everything shine. Shortly after, from all his divine wounds rays came out that pierced my feet and my hands; From his sacrosanct head a ‘sun’ emerged towards mine that pierced my brain.”

Alejandrina also relates that “about the first flash and the rays that came out of his divine Heart, Jesus told me very clearly: ‘My daughter, like Saint Margaret Mary (Alacoque), I want you to ignite in the world this love of my divine Heart so off today, in the hearts of men. Turn it on, turn it on.’”

When the blessed woman asked Jesus why she received the stigmata and how she could do that when men did not accept it from Him, Christ responded: “With your pain, my daughter! Only with pain do souls remain united to the fibers of your soul and then and then your hearts will let themselves be set on fire in my Love. Let these rays of my divine wounds penetrate your hidden wounds, your mystical wounds.. Let my balm soften them, as well as the thorns on your head. Do not live the life of the world, even if you are in the world. Live my divine life.”

Who was Blessed Alejandrina María da Costa?

The biography of Vatican points out that Alejandrina was born in Balasar, province of Oporto (Portugal) on March 30, 1904, and was baptized on the following April 2, Holy Saturday. She was sent to Póvoa do Varzim to attend the primary school that did not exist in Balasar. He made his First Communion in 1911 and in 1912 he received Confirmation.

He returned to Balasar and went to live with his mother and sister in the town of Calvario, where he would remain until his death in 1955. At the age of 12 he became ill, perhaps from typhoid, and almost died. He recovered but was not well.

At 14 years old, three men tried to abuse her, her sister and a friend. To protect herself, she did not hesitate to throw herself out of the window of the sewing workshop where they were, from a height of four meters, which caused her to finally become paralyzed.

He prayed to be healed, but he understood that he had to offer his suffering.

At this time, around 1925, his first mystical experiences go back to him and he decides to be like the lamp of the Tabernacle, to accompany Jesus.

From October 3, 1938 to March 24, 1942, that is, on 182 occasions, he experienced the sufferings of the Passion every Friday.

“Love, suffer, repair” was the program that Christ indicated to him. Since 1934, by order of the Jesuit priest Mariano Pinho, who was her spiritual director until 1941, Alejandrina wrote what Jesus told her in her mystical experiences.

In 1936, by order of Jesus, she asked the Pope, through Father Pinho, to consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which occurred on October 31, 1942.

Since March 27, 1942, Alejandrina stopped eating and lived only on the Eucharist, something corroborated by doctors for 40 days in 1943. In 1944 her new spiritual director, the Salesian Humberto Pasquale, encouraged her to continue with her diary.

Despite her sufferings, she continued to help the poor and cared about the spiritual well-being of the faithful and many who turned to her.

On January 7, 1955, it was announced to him that it would be the year of his death. On October 13, the anniversary of the miracle of the sun of the Virgin of Fátima, she was heard exclaiming: “I am happy because I am going to heaven.” He died at 7:30 p.m.

She was beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II on April 25, 2004.