Maria Crocifissa Di Rosa (1813-55) was the founder of the Handmaids of Charity in Brescia, Italy, in 1839. She was both beatified and canonized by Pope Pius XII. She was born as Paolina Francesca di Rosa on November 6, 1813, in the city of Brescia, Italy. First educated in a convent by the Visitation Sisters, she left school after the death of her mother when she was seventeen years old to take care of her father, who ran a saw mill with numerous employees. She helped the women and girls working there. During the cholera epidemic in 1836 she worked in the hospital in Brescia. She founded a school for the hearing impaired and created programs to assist women in poverty. - Her dedication led to her nomination as mother superior. Her spirituality was grounded in the imitation of Christ’s suf