Saint Maria de Cervellon’s Story

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Mary de Cervellione (Catalan: Maria de Cervelló; Mary of Cervellon) (1230 at Barcelona – 19 September 1290) was a Catalan superior of a Third Order of Mercedarians. She is a Catholic saint; her following, which began immediately after her death, was approved by Pope Innocent XII in 1692. She is invoked especially against shipwreck and is generally represented with a ship in her hand. Her feast is celebrated on 19 September. On account of her charity towards the needy she began to be called Maria de Socos (Mary of Help).

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María de Cervellón was born in Barcelona, according to Mercedarian tradition, on December 1, 1230.  At that time, the Mercedarian friars had been redeeming captives from the power of the Saracens for several years, and in that seaport and commercial city, there was talk about the great work of charity, and of the growing needs of the Friars in financing redemptions and the upkeep of the Hospital of St. Eulalia where the ransomed were kept once they returned.  

 

As with every young woman in her time, her family had made other plans for her future.  They had tried several times to marry her off to various and prominent men so as to strategically strengthen their familial alliances and strengthen their position.  However, Maria's heart belonged to Another and she refused each offer her family made on her behalf.  She had become the bride of Christ the Redeemer and would spend her life in service to her spouse in the guise of the captive, the wounded, the sick, and the needy. With the assistance of Fr. Bernardo de Corbera, she consecrated herself to God in the Order of Mercy on May 25, 1265, together with other young women from Barcelona.

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Maria was not the first, for there is written evidence that the female branch of the Order of Mercy began earlier, but she is the first one whose self-offering we know about.  From then on her life would be spent between her house and the Hospital of Saint Eulalia, on the sea, on the shore of Villanova, where it was built thanks to a donation by Raimundo de Plagamans.  The Sisters were not originally formed as a contemplative family, but their life was centered on prayer. They were not founded as closeted nuns, but gathered in fellowship to be able to live out the Lord's command: There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.  St. Maria took this call to heart and was able to convince others to follow the path that she had set out on.  They formed a community of sisters who were ready to share in the work of redemption, even to the end.

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It is reported that St. Maria had the gift of bilocation. In Spanish, she was known by the surname de Socós or de Socorro (meaning helper), because she was seen coming to the aid of the ransom ships, walking in the midst of the waves of stormy and rough seas, in order to guide the sailors and their precious cargo to safety.  She died on September 19, 1290, and her remains are preserved in the Basilica of La Merced in Barcelona.

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On February 13, 1692, Pope Innocent XII gave a favorable judgment and confirmed her immemorial cult; and she was introduced into the Roman Martyrology in November 8, 1729.  Today, the nuns and sisters of the Order proclaim her as a strong woman who followed Jesus Christ, taking flesh in the realities of captivity, so as to be redeemers with Christ through prayer and various apostolates according to their respective constitutions.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_de_Cervellione

​https://www.orderofmercy.org/mary-of-cervellon