Part of a series on
Christian mysticism
Theology and philosophy Apophatic Ascetical Cataphatic Catholic spirituality Hellenistic Mystical theology Neoplatonic Henosis
Practices Monasticism Monasticism Asceticism Spiritual direction Meditation Meditation Lectio Divina Invoking of Mystic Saints Active asceticism Contemplation Hesychasm Jesus Prayer Quietism Stages of Christian perfection Hesychia Divinization Catharsis Theosis Kenosis Spiritual dryness Religious ecstasy Passive asceticism Abstinence Esoteric Charismatic Esoteric
People (by era or century) Antiquity Ancient African Origen Thomasines Gregory of Nyssa Pseudo-Dionysius Desert Fathers Paul of Thebes Anthony the Great Arsenius the Great Poemen Macarius of Egypt Moses the Black Syncletica Athanasius John Chrysostom Hilarion John Cassian 11th · 12th Bernard of Clairvaux Guigo II Hildegard of Bingen Symeon the New Theologian 13th · 14th Dominican Dominic de Guzmán Franciscan Francis of Assisi Anthony of Padua Bonaventure Jacopone da Todi Angela of Foligno English Richard Rolle Walter Hilton Julian of Norwich Margery Kempe Flemish Beatrice of Nazareth Lutgardis Hadewijch John van Ruysbroeck German Meister Eckhart Johannes Tauler Henry Suso Female Beatrice of Nazareth Bridget of Sweden Catherine of Siena Mechthild of Magdeburg Marguerite Porete 15th · 16th Spanish Ignatius of Loyola Francisco de Osuna John of Ávila Teresa of Ávila John of the Cross Others Catherine of Genoa 17th · 18th French Margaret Mary Alacoque Pierre de Bérulle Jean-Jacques Olier Louis de Montfort Charles de Condren John Eudes John of St. Samson Others Mary of Jesus of Ágreda Anne Catherine Emmerich Veronica Giuliani Francis de Sales 19th Dina Bélanger Catherine Labouré Mélanie Calvat Maximin Giraud Bernadette Soubirous Conchita de Armida Luisa Piccarreta Mary of the Divine Heart Thérèse of Lisieux Gemma Galgani 20th Padre Pio Therese Neumann Marthe Robin Alexandrina of Balazar Faustina Kowalska Sister Lúcia of Fátima Edgar Cayce Simone Weil Alfred Delp Thomas Merton Charles de Foucauld Edvige Carboni Elena Aiello Contemporary papal views Aspects of meditation (Orationis Formas, 1989) Reflection on the New Age (2003)
Literature and media Lingua ignota Ordo Virtutum Scivias Ascent of Mount Carmel Dark Night of the Soul Spiritual Canticle Way of Perfection Book of the First Monks The Interior Castle Abbey of the Holy Ghost A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart The Glories of Mary The Imitation of Christ The Ladder of Divine Ascent Philokalia Revelations of Divine Love The Story of a Soul Theologia Germanica Devotio Moderna Fatima in Lucia's Own Words Calls from the Message of Fatima The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima Sol de Fátima The Cloud of Unknowing On the Consolation of Philosophy The Mirror of Simple Souls Sister Catherine Treatise Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii The Vision of Adamnán Divine Comedy Inferno Purgatorio Paradiso Fatima
v t e

Luisa Piccarreta, TOSD, also known as the "Little Daughter of the Divine Will", (23 April 1865–4 March 1947), was a Catholic mystic and author whose spirituality centred on union with the will of God.

Piccarreta's beatification process was opened, but then suspended in January of 2024^[1] because of "theological, christological and anthropological^[2]" issues related to her writings.

Biography

Luisa Piccarreta was born in the comune of Corato in the former Province of Bari, southern Italy, on 23 April 1865 to Vito Nicola and Rosa Tarantino Piccarreta. She received only a first grade education, and as a teenager she joined the Third Order of Saint Dominic.^[3] As an adult, she took up lacemaking.

By 1889, she became bedridden. In February of that year, Annibale Maria di Francia, who had been appointed as the Ecclesiastical Censure for all her writings, asked her to begin a diary of her spiritual experiences. After Piccarreta finished writing the original manuscript she sent it to di Francia along with a letter. In this letter she speaks of the satisfaction that Jesus feels whenever we meditate on the hours of the passion.^[4] She says, "as if Jesus heard his own voice and his prayers being reproduced in those reparations, just as the ones he raised to his father during the 24 hours of his sorrowful passion". Also, Luisa included along with the manuscript and letter some additional notes in which she listed the effects and promises that Jesus makes to whoever meditates on these hours of his passion.^[5]

In 1926, di Francia was in Trani to open branches of his newly established institutes; he asked Piccareta to write her autobiography. She did this until 1938, with her writings running to thirty-six volumes. She stopped writing after her three first books (L'Orologio della Passione, Nel Regno dellà Divina Volontà et La Regina del Cielo nel regno della Divina Volontà) were added to the Index Librorum Prohibitorum by the Holy Office.^[6] Piccarreta died of pneumonia on 4 March 1947, at the age of 82.^[3]

Beatification process

In 1994, the Archbishop of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie opened her cause for beatification.^[3] By October 2005, the diocesan-level process of inquiry and documentation within the Diocese of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie-Nazareth was completed. Her case was then passed on to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the Holy See, and she was titled Servant of God. On two occasions, for the last time in November 2019, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has refused to give its nihil obstat to the pursuit of the beatification process,^[7] because of issues related to Piccarreta's writings.

Writings

"This creature, Luisa, who was visited by suffering – because indeed in her life of a confirmed Christian the Lord asked of her something exceptional, something special – said 'yes' to Christ; and Christ identified her completely with the one plan of the Father ..." ("Luisa la Santa" Archbishop Giovanni Battista Pichierri, May 2000)^[8]

In 2007, the investigation turned to examining Piccarreta's writings, "... to clarify difficulties of a theological nature".^[9] This review was somewhat complicated by the fact that she wrote her works in the Barese dialect of Neapolitan.^[10] In a letter dated 1 November 2012, Archbishop Giovan Battista Pichierri pointed out that until such time as the review was finished, it would have been premature to render any opinion as to whether or not Piccarreta's writings conformed to Catholic teaching. Archbishop Pichierri also stated that a "typical and critical edition" of her writings will then be issued. He further specified that the Archdiocese is not the legal owner of her writings. On 1 November 2012, Pichierri reiterated what he had earlier observed in 2006, "that the doctrine of the Divine Will has not always been presented in a respectful and correct manner, according to the Doctrine of the Church and the Magisterium, placing on the lips of Luisa claims that not even implicitly are found in her writings. This causes trauma in the consciousness and even confusion and rejection in people and among the priests and bishops." (Letter of 9 March 2006).^[9]

"... the initiatives that are taken in reference to the spirituality of Luisa, such as conferences, days of spirituality, prayer meetings, etc. To give peace of mind to those who participate, and do not need authorization by their Bishop." (Letter dated 24 November 2003).^[9]