Today, October 13, is the memorial of Blessed Alexandrina da Costa.
Alexandrina was born in 1904 in Balasar, Portugal. When she reached 12, Alexandrina got an infection and became sickly. The infection never left her since then. She understood that God had a special mission for her: to suffer as a “victim soul.”
When she was 14, she worked as a seamstress, together with her sister. One day, three men entered their home and tried to rape them. Thinking of her purity, Alexandrina jumped out of a window and fell 13 feet down. Her injuries from the fall were irreversible.
That did not stop her from going to church, dragging herself to Mass with the parishioners amazed at her perseverance. Her paralysis became worse and rendered her bed-ridden for the rest of her life, dedicating her life to prayer for the salvation of souls and the sanctification of the youth.
From 1938 to 1942, every Friday, Alexandrina relived the Passion of Christ for three painful hours. In these hours, her paralysis was overcome, mystically strengthened and sustained.
She petitioned Pope Pius XII to consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which he did on in 1942.
In the last 13 years and seven months of her life, Alexandrina was nourished only through Holy Communion. She never ate anything else. Her sister, acting upon the orders of Alexandrina’s spiritual director, kept a diary of her sayings and mystical experiences.
She died in 1955; her last words were “I am happy because I am going to Heaven.” Pope St. John Paul II beatified her in 2004.