1. The canonical norms concerning the procedure to be followed in the Causes of Saints are stated in the Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister promulgated by John Paul II on 25 January 1983 (AAS LXXV, 1983, 349-355).

2. To initiate a Cause it is necessary that at least five years pass after the death of the candidate. This is to allow for greater balance and objectivity in the evaluation of the case and to allow the emotions of the moment to decant. There must be a clear conviction among people about his/her sanctity (fama sanctitas) and about the efficacy of his/her intercession with the Lord (fama signorum).

Magdalene of St Joseph was born in Paris, to a Turonese family, on May 17, 1578, the sixth of fifteen children. She grew up in Paris and Tours, where, in 1603, she met Pierre de Bérulle who wanted and was about to introduce the Teresian Carmel into France.

Overcome by the ideal proposed by the future cardinal, she decided to enter the Discalced Carmelites. In Paris, in July 1604, she joined the group that, under the leadership of Barbe Acarie (the future Bl. Mary of the Incarnation), was preparing to enter the Teresian Carmel.

On October 17, 1604, when the first Discalced Carmelites arrived from Spain, Magdalene with her companions entered the specially erected monastery of the Incarnation of Paris, where on November 12, 1605, she was the first professed. The following day, Bl Anna di St Bartholomew, companion and confidant of St. Teresa, appointed the young religious as teacher of the novices, a position that she held for two and a half years, shaping the first generation of French Discalced Carmelite nuns, who then had to spread the Teresian flame throughout the nation, always supported by the prayer, advice, and prudence of Magdalene.

On 20 April 1608, she was elected Prioress, immediately proving to be spiritually and apostolically mature in the government of her religious and in the irradiation of the Teresian ideal. Re-elected in 1611, she remained in the monastery until March 1615. In July of that year she was sent to Tours to help the prioress of that monastery (founded by Magdalene's father), who was poorly prepared for directing a monastery. After a brief stop in Paris (March-July 1616), on 8^th of July 1616 she founded the monastery of Lyon and on 7^th of September 1617 another monastery, "Mother of God", in Paris, bringing with her Catherine of Jesus (d. 1623), a distinguished mystic of whom she was the confidant, the guide and, after her death, the biographer, at the request of Queen Maria de' Medici.

In 1624 she was recalled to the monastery of the Incarnation in Paris and was re-elected prioress, remaining in this office until 1635.

She died in Paris, in the first monastery of the Incarnation, on April 30, 1637.

On July 16, 1789, the decree on her heroic virtue was promulgated.

PLEASE NOTE

1) In order to be able to consult the Positio please fill in the request form on this page.

2) If your request is accepted, we will then send you the conditions and directions for consulting the document.

1. The canonical norms concerning the procedure to be followed in the Causes of Saints are stated in the Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister promulgated by John Paul II on 25 January 1983 (AAS LXXV, 1983, 349-355).

2. To initiate a Cause it is necessary that at least five years pass after the death of the candidate. This is to allow for greater balance and objectivity in the evaluation of the case and to allow the emotions of the moment to decant. There must be a clear conviction among people about his/her sanctity (fama sanctitas) and about the efficacy of his/her intercession with the Lord (fama signorum).

John of Jesus Mary was born in the town of Calahorra in Spain on January 27, 1564 to Diego de San Pedro and Anna De Ustarroz.

At the university of Alcalà de Henares, together with studies in philosophy and theology he specialized in Latin and Greek, becoming an elegant Latinist, an excellent dialectician in school controversies as well as an expert in the Hebrew language.

In 1582, he entered the Discalced Carmelite novitiate in Pastrana, taking the name of John of Jesus Mary and on January 23, 1583 he made his profession. In 1584 he was sent to Italy in the newly established community of Genoa; here he was ordained a priest in 1590. First in Genoa, then in Rome, he was master of novices, a position that marked the ministry of his whole life. In 1584 he was sent to Rome as Master of novices and in 1597 he was commissioned to revise the constitutions and laws of the Order, after Clement VIII had made the Italian branch independent of the Spanish one.

In the General Chapter of 1605, John of Jesus Mary was elected General Counsellor and Master of novices. In that of 1608, he was elected Procurator General of the Order. In this office he carried out the cause of canonization of Mother Teresa of Jesus, of whom he was one of the first biographers.

In the General Chapter of 1611, celebrated in Montecompatri, John of Jesus Mary was elected Superior General. During his generalate the "Mission Seminary" was established, first at the small Church of Saint Paul in the Sallustian gardens of Rome (today Santa Maria della Vittoria), later transferred to the Basilica of St Pancrazio outside the walls. Thanks to the fruits of this Seminary, the Discalced Carmelites were able to open houses in Ormutz, in the Persian Gulf, in Tatta, at the mouth of the Indus, in Goa, England (1614), Paris, Louvain, Lviv (in 1613, with the aim of helping reconciliation of the Ruthenians with Rome), Cologne, Milan (1622), Bologna.

At the end of his mandate as Superior General and foreseeing that his end was nigh, he chose to retire to the splendid solitude of Montecompatri. There he died on 28^th of May, 1615.

On 7^th of May 1999, the decree of validity of the Diocesan Inquiry into the "life, virtue and fame for holiness" was granted.

On November 25, 2021, the decree of his heroic virtue was promulgated.

PLEASE NOTE

1) In order to be able to consult the Positio please fill in the request form on this page.

2) If your request is accepted, we will then send you the conditions and directions for consulting the document.

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1. The canonical norms concerning the procedure to be followed in the Causes of Saints are stated in the Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister promulgated by John Paul II on 25 January 1983 (AAS LXXV, 1983, 349-355).

2. To initiate a Cause it is necessary that at least five years pass after the death of the candidate. This is to allow for greater balance and objectivity in the evaluation of the case and to allow the emotions of the moment to decant. There must be a clear conviction among people about his/her sanctity (fama sanctitas) and about the efficacy of his/her intercession with the Lord (fama signorum).