April 7 Blessed Maria Assunta Pallotta: When She Died, a Sweet Scent Filled Her Room and the Funeral Procession.

April 7 Blessed Maria Assunta Pallotta: When She Died, a Sweet Scent Filled Her Room and the Funeral Procession.
1878-1905
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In the minutes for the process in the canonization of Blessed Maria Assunta, we come upon the testimony of a woman healed through her intercession. “For eight months I was bedridden with
paralysis… I prayed to many of the saints for help despite my particular devotion to the Servant of God, Maria Assunta Pallotta.
One evening, I can’t recall exactly when, but sometime in May or June of 1923 at around eight o’clock, I was upright in bed and I heard a knock at the door of my room. Thinking it was a member of the household, I said: “Come in, who is it?” I heard a voice reply, “It’s me, Leone.” And as the door swung open, I saw the figure of Sister Maria Assunta Pallotta in her white monastic habit, wearing a crown of white flowers. The Servant of God began to speak: “How are you feeling, Leone?” I replied: “Not well. I’ve been confined to this bed now for many months.” The Servant of God simply replied: “Try to get up!” and I said, “I can’t!” – She repeated: “Try, because God has granted you this grace. You do, however, have a bad habit – you curse too often!” And I began to make excuses by explaining that it was just a habit. She simply advised: “You must change!” (In fact, I’ve indeed tried to change.) When she had finished speaking to me, she closed the door and withdrew. And I immediately got up and left my bed and went to the window. I felt as if I were reborn!!
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The following day, I rose and, to the amazement of many, went out into the village. The next day I even managed to go to the country and visit my little cottage some two kilometers away. From that day, I walk with such ease and comfort that it caused even our Pastor to remark. The attending physician, Dr. Guerriero Consorti, had left Force to assume the administration of the hospital at Ancona.”
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Blessed Maria Assunta Pallotta was born in Force (near Ascoli Piceno) on August 20, 1878, the first of five children. Due to the family’s poverty, she was unable to pursue any regular studies,
she went to work. Her vocation to the religious life manifested itself at an early age. On May 4, 1898, she left to become a
postulant with the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. On July 9, 1900, seven Sisters of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary were
martyred in China, Shansi Province, during the Boxer Rebellion. Maria then requested to be sent as a missionary to China, willing to give her life for Christ and the Faith. Her request was granted and Maria Assunta arrived in China in the following year.
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The winter of 1905 was one of the severest and a violent epidemic of Typhus which broke out in Shansi Province claimed Maria Assunta. On the evening of April 7, she received Viaticum
and just twenty minutes before her death a mysterious perfumed scent filled the room. This perfume could also be sensed on every road of the funeral procession and in the very rooms in which she had occupied. On November 7, 1954, Maria Assunta, called “the Saint of the perfumes” by the Chinese was beatified
by Pope Pius XII.