Pauline of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus
Austro-Hungarian immigrant to Brazil, foundress and saint
Pauline of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus, CIIC (born Amabile Lucia Visintainer; December 16, 1865 – July 9, 1942), was Brazilian religious sister from Austria-Hungary who founded of the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, who serve the poor.
She was the first Brazilian to be proclaimed a saint by the Catholic Church when she was canonized on 19 May 2002, by Pope John Paul II.
Life
Early life
Pauline of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus was born as Amabile Lucia Visintainer on December 16, 1865, the second daughter of Antonio Napoleone Visintainer and Anna Pianezzer in the town of Vigolo Vattaro, in the County of Tyrol. Her ancestors were Germanic, who had settled in the region of Vigolo Vattaro as early as 1491, their surname being originally spelled "Wiesenteiner".
Like many others in the area, the Visintainer family was very poor but practising Catholics. In September 1875, the family, along with a hundred other people of the town, about a fifth of its population, emigrated to the State of Santa Catarina in Brazil, where they founded the village of Vigolo, now part of Nova Trento. She was known even at a youthful age for her piety and charity. From an early age she spoke of giving her life to God. She had very little intellectual education, but great love for the Catholic faith and for the suffering and poor. After receiving her First Communion at about age 12, she began to participate in the life of the local parish, teaching catechism to children, visiting the sick and cleaning the local chapel.
Religious life
On 12 July 1890, Visintainer and her friend, Virginia Rosa Nicolodi, under the spiritual direction of a Jesuit, Luigi Rossi, committed their lives to religious service, under dedication to the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady.
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