Made for her Birthday Anniversary February 4, 1805

1. "Before I formed you in your
mother's womb,
I knew you...
....before you were born,
I set you apart...

3. In the midst of a world marked
by tragedy…a life, after its
preparation
For a NEW LIFE inside its
mother’s womb, found its way
out into the word on February
4,1805, in the mountainous and
barren soil of Vallecorsa, Italy.

4. A daughter to
Ottavia De Angeles and Giovanni De
Mattias
and on that same day,
a daughter to the Church
as she was immediately baptized and
named
Maria Matilde De Mattias.

5. “How fortunate
are we to have
been Born in the
bosom of the
Church.”
Maria De
Mattias

6. “All whom the Father calls and are
baptized becomes
disciples of Jesus.”

7. Through the loving
presence of her
Father, at the age of
8, Maria’s heart was
drawn to an ardent
love of Jesus…

8. …in the image of a Paschal Lamb who
was led to death and given His Blood
for the Salvation of the World.

9. Maria’s openness and docility to the Spirit who is
Jesus’ paschal gift, made her understand the Son’s
invitation to be His disciple. She gave her positive
response and lets herself be formed by Mary Most
Holy, in the image of Our Lady Pregnant with the
Incarnate Word which is soon to be Maria’s image.

10. Mary was with her
when Jesus showed
Himself to Maria as the
crucified one…that is
at the height of His
saving Mission for
humankind.

11. With her contemplation
of the Mystery of the
Blood, Maria was
impregnated…
feeling the life within
her womb, it paved the
way for her vocation of
Motherhood.

12. As great men and women breaks in upon history like a flash
of lightning, Maria appeared to her townsmen in Vallecorsa
in such a flash of lightning in the Months of late-1821 and
early 1822, she was 17 years of age.

13. Through the inspiration of
St. Gaspar Del Bufalo
( Founder of the
Missionaries of the Most
Precious Blood) in the
Popular Mission on 1822;
the affirmation of Don
Turibio Lenta,

14. and the Spiritual Guidance
of Don Giovanni Merlini;
the people of Vallecorsa
began to realize that the
younger daughter of the De
Mattias’ family was likely to
become a Spiritual Eminent.

15. She began to act in a way that
they did not understand, ordering
her life according to standards
that could have meaning only to
the totally committed Christians;
she removed her vanities, and
lived contradicting the ideals of
her time.

16. Maria De Mattias, like
Mary after the
Annunciations and upon
knowing the condition of her
cousin Elizabeth, SET OUT
IN A HURRY on a lifetime
of unconditional response to
God’s Love.

17. Prayer, silence,
detachment, hope and
love to Jesus
Crucified
accompanied her in
her pregnancy of the
Will of the Father.

18. Carrying Jesus’ Paschal
Mystery in her womb made her
one with Him. Seeing the
misery, injustice and horror of
her society, the passion of
“Bringing back the beautiful
order of things” was conceived
in her being.

19. On March 1,1834, just
after her 29th birthday,
Maria began her labor
pains of setting herself our
of Vallecorsa from her
Father who tearfully
offered her daughter to
God.

20. Her pains during the travel were
foretaste of the cost of
discipleship. Yet the power to
give Birth is coming from within
that made even the Bishop
blessed her in awe, seeing in her a
prophetic woman far beyond her
time.

21. Finally, reaching Acuto on
March 4,1834, Maria
Gave Birth to the
Congregation of the
Adorers of the Blood of
Christ

22. …a Congregation that will collaborate with Christ in His work of Redemption.
The name Maria given had it all. From then, she began her
Spiritual Maternity

23. …a witness to God’s Love in her own life and
led others to the knowledge and Love
of Jesus Crucified.

24. Her motivation, her
charism and that of the
Institute would forever
reflects the Paschal
Mystery, the life, death
and resurrection of
Jesus and find
expression in the life of
the Adorer-Apostle.

25. The Adorers did not have as its goal a particular ministry. Rather it took its
inspiration from the Mystery of the Blood of Christ and sought to bring its
power to God’s people, especially women and girls. This example saw and
experienced by her daughters, the formation they received and the proposal
of life ideal which they accepted and shared made of them “women who like
Maria are born to give birth themselves.” They themselves conceived in their
being the charism which God gave first to Maria herself. Eventually, the
seeds sown in Acuto was scattered all over the world.

26. “We are asked to bring that beautiful order
of things that
the great Son of God came to
establish with His own Blood.”

27. To give an idea of the amazing, rapid development of the Adorer’s action, we need only
to recall that in 1866, the year of Maria’s death, there were 66 places of ministry
scattered all over Italy but also in Germany, US and England. Now there are almost
2000 Adorers present in 27 countries all over the world.

28. Love and Charity.
The core, the spirit of the
Congregation.
"Charity towards God
and our dear neighbor…

29. ASC Philippines Foundation
March 4, 1991

31. MINISTRIES

34. ADORERS OF THE
BLOOD OF CHRIST
10 Legarda St. Tierra Verde
Homes,
Tandang Sora, Quezon City,
Philippines
Tel.: 00632-9512510

35. St. Maria De Mattias was canonized a Saint in 2003,
a model of Holiness in the Church.
She is not just a Mother to the Adorers but to all of us.