Friedrich Bernard Christian Maassen
United Sees of Macerata and Tolentino
Vicariate Apostolic of Mackenzie
Marie-Edmé-Patrice-Maurice de MacMahon
Joseph-Anna-Marie de Moyria de Mailla
François-Pierre-Gonthier Maine de Biran
Françoise, Marquise de Maintenon
Joseph-Marie, Comte de Maistre
Marcellinus of Civezza, O.F.M.
Margaret of the Blessed Sacrament
Prefecture Apostolic of Mariana Islands
Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill
Sts. Maris, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum
Lucius Perpetuus Aurelianus Marius Maximus
Vicariate Apostolic of Marquesas Islands
Moral and Canonical Aspect of Marriage
Diocese of Marseilles (Massilia)
Vicariate Apostolic of the Marshall Islands
Diocese of Marsico Nuovo and Potenza
Luigi Ferdinando, Count de Marsigli
Missionaries of the Company of Mary
Servants of Mary (Order of Servites)
Society of Mary (Marist Fathers)
St. Mary Frances of the Five Wounds of Jesus
Richard Angelus a S. Francisco Mason
Devises and Bequests for Masses (United States)
Feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus
Caius Julius Verus Maximinus Thrax
Prefecture Apostolic of Mayotte, Nossi-Bé, and Comoro
Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod
Abbey and Congregation of Melk
Vicariate Apostolic of Méndez and Gualaquiza
Francisco Sarmiento de Mendoza
Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy
Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo
Frédéric-François-Xavier Ghislain de Mérode
Delegation Apostolic of Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, and Armenia
Metal-Work in the Service of the Church
Prince Klemens Lothar Wenzel von Metternich
Francis, Joseph, and Paul Mezger
Military Orders of St. Michael
Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola
Congregation of the Sisters of Misericorde
Prefecture Apostolic of Misocco and Calanca
Congregation of Priests of the Mission
Congregation of Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo
Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales of Annecy
Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle
Mission Indians (of California)
Catholic Indian Missions of Canada
Catholic Indian Missions of the United States
François-Napoléon-Marie Moigno
Diocese of Molfetta, Terlizzi, and Giovinazzo
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière
Principality and Diocese of Monaco
Canonical Erection of a Monastery
Monophysites and Monophysitism
Monothelitism and Monothelites
Montagnais Indians (Chippewayans)
Charles-Forbes-René, Comte de Montalembert
Marquis de Louis-Joseph Montcalm-Gozon
Diocese of Monterey and Los Angeles
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu
Anne, First Duke of Montmorency
Alexis-François Artaud de Montor
Antoine-Jean-Baptiste-Robert Auget, Baron de Montyon
Dioceses of Mostar and Markana-Trebinje
Feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary
Toribio de Benavente Motolinia
Congregations of Mount Calvary
Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Karl Ernst, Freiherr von Moy de Sons
Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
St. Clair Augustine Mulholland
Baron Eligius Franz Joseph von Münch-Bellinghausen
Archdiocese of Munich-Freising
Of the Third Order of St. Francis, b. at Naples, 25 March, 1715; d. there, 6 October, 1791. Her family belonged to the middle class. Her father, Francesco Gallo, was a severe, avaricious man with a passionate temper, and from him the saint had much to suffer. He subjected her to much ill-treatment and hard, incessant labour which often brought her to the verge of the grave. Barbara Basinsin, her mother, however, was gentle, pious, and patient in bearing with the brutal conduct of her husband. Before her birth St. John Joseph of the Cross, O.F.M., and St. Francis de Geronimo, S.J., are said to have predicted Mary's future sanctity. At the age of seven she was admitted to Holy Communion, which she was subsequently in the habit of receiving daily. When Mary Frances was sixteen years old, her father sought to force her into a marriage with a rich young man, but the saint firmly refused, and instead asked leave to enter the Third Order of St. Francis. This request was at length granted her through the influence of Father Theophilus, a Friar Minor. At her reception among the Tertiaries of St. Peter of Alcantara, 8 September, 1731, she took the name of "Mary Frances of the Five Wounds of Jesus" out of devotion to the Blessed Virgin, St. Francis, and the Sacred Passion. Her body is said to have been signed with the stigmata, which, at her prayer, took no outward, visible appearance, and on Fridays, especially the Fridays of Lent, she felt in her body the very pains of the Passion. During her whole life the saint had much to suffer from bodily ills, and to her physical suffering was added mental pain from the persecution of her father, sisters, and other persons. Even her confessors, to test her sanctity, made her suffer by the severity of their direction. But over and above these mental and physical sufferings she imposed upon herself voluntary penances, strict fasts, hair-shirts, and disciplines. Her prayers and advice saved many souls from dangers. Priests, religious, and pious persons went to her for light and counsel. Her charity and compassion, especially toward the afflicted and miserable, knew no bounds. Like St. Francis, Mary Frances had a tender devotion to the Infant Jesus, the Holy Eucharist, and the Blessed Virgin. The last thirty-eight years of her life were spent in the house of a pious priest, Giovanni Pessiri. She was buried in the church of the Alcantarines, Sta. Lucia del Monte, at Naples, which contains the tomb of St. John Joseph of the Cross. She was declared Venerable by Pius VII, 18 May, 1803, beatified by Gregory XVI, 12 November, 1843, and canonized by Pius IX, 29 June, 1867. Her feast on 6 October is kept by the Friars Minor and Capuchins as a double of the second class, and by the Conventuals as a double major.
CLARY, Lives of the Saints and Blessed of the Three Orders of Saint Francis, III (Taunton, 1886), 278-86; STOCK, Legende der Heiligen und Seligen aus dem dritten Orden des hl. Vaters Franziskus (Ratisbon, 1886), 447-88; LAVIOSA-STROZZI, Vita della b. Maria Francesca, terziaria professa alcantarina (Rome, 1843); PALMIERI, Compendio della vita della b. Francesca (Rome, 1844); Nos Saints (Quebec, 1899), 241-2; RICHARD, Leben der hl. Maria Franziska (2 ed. Mainz, 1881); also Lives by MONTELLA, (Naples, 1867); ZAGARI (Milan, 1892).
Ferdinand Heckmann.