Elisabetta Canori Mora (21 November 1774 – 5 February 1825) was an Italian member of the Third Order of the Most Holy Trinity. Mora married an abrasive husband who remained unfaithful and abusive to her but at the time of her death secured his repentance, and he became a priest. Mora had a range of spiritual experiences in which she heard the voice of God and visions of the Madonna and other saints while also experiencing religious ecstasies during her life.
Her beatification cause opened in 1874 under Pope Pius IX and in 1928 was named Venerable under Pope Pius XI. The beatification for Mora was celebrated in Saint Peter's Square under Pope John Paul II in 1994.
Life
Elisabetta Canori Mora was born in Rome on 21 November 1774 to the aristocrats Tommaso Canori and Teresa Primoli as one of twelve children, six of who died as infants. One sister was Benedetta. She was baptized on 22 November in the names of "Maria Elisabetta Cecilia Gertrude".
Her parents first entrusted her to the religious at the convent of Santa Euphemia for her initial studies and the Superioress Gertrude Riggoli discovered her keen gifts and wanted her there as a full-time student. Canori received her Confirmation in Saint Peter's Basilica on 5 July 1782 and Sister Riggoli was her godmother. Her father withdrew her from the Santa Euphemia convent due to their poorness and soon after sought help from his Spoleto-based brother when their fortunes began to dwindle. Her uncle responded to this and assumed the care of her and her sister Benedetta and entrusted them to a convent for education. The Augustinian Sisters from Casica oversaw her education from 1785 until 1788. During her education she became noted for her intelligence and her interior spirit of penance.
Elisabetta married the successful solicitor Cristoforo Mora (d. 9 September 1845) on 10 January 1796 in the church of Santa Maria in Campo Corleo and the couple went on to have a total of four children. The first two children died within the week of their births, with two surviving daughters Marianne (b. 1799) and Luciana (b. 5 July 1801) left; Marianna later married and had a single child while Lucina became a nun in 1795. Her father-in-law was the doctor Francesco Mora. Her husband proved unfaithful and sometimes violent and reduced the Moras to a state of poorness due to his abrasive nature. Her husband was also jealous and controlling, becoming suspicious of his wife's ties to her parents - this led to him becoming cold and indifferent to her. Cristoforo, at the beginning of their marriage, liked to parade her around and guard her like a treasure and called her his "pearl of great price", though as the marriage deteriorated took up a mistress. Her confessor and spiritual director before 1807 was the Jesuit priest Giovanni Giacomo Pegna.
On 15 August 1801 she fell ill with severe colic despite the attempts of her father-in-law to treat her and almost died but miraculously was cured; there was no medical explanation for her recovery and she deemed it to be a miracle. Her illness caused her to sell her jewels and her wedding dress to make up for the medical bills. Mora - in 1807 - soon became a member of the Secular Trinitarians and her fame spread throughout Rome at a rapid pace. The Trinitarian priest Fernando de San Luis became her spiritual director in 1807 and exposed her to the order before she joined it. Mora predicted that her husband would soon repent to the faith and become devout.
Her husband had reduced them to much poorness to the point that he had stolen a considerable sum from his father, who found out and suffered an apoplectic stroke; he was cured due to Mora turning to God for His divine intercession. Her sisters-in-law grew concerned for Mora - as did her mother-in-law - and Cristoforo's sisters went to the Roman authorities for the Papal States to have them reprimand him for his vile mannerisms that ran counter to the faith they held dear. The Cardinal Vicar of Rome received him at the convent of Santi Giovanni e Paolo and this enraged Cristoforo when he learnt his sisters were behind it and his wife knew of it. Cristoforo became so enraged with his wife that he pulled out a knife and lunged at her, but did not strike her; he instead fell to his knees and begged for her pardon in a sudden and unexpected moment of fear for him. Her father-in-law later died on 25 August 1813 which caused her great pain.
