Maria Corsini

Maria Corsini, or Maria Corsini-Beltrame Quattrocchi (24 June 1884 – 26 August 1965) was an Italian writer and Roman Catholic lay person. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II, on 31 October 2001, at St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City along with her husband Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi. They were the first married couple, who were lay people to be beatified together. Their three surviving children were present at the ceremony. The day of the beatification was special as it marked the 20th anniversary since the publication of the Familiari Consortia an Apostolic Exhortation. As a writer, Corsini authored many essays and books on education, was a professor, and also served as a Voluntary Nurse in the Italian Red Cross during World War II.

Maria Corsini was born in Florence on 24 June 1881. Her father, Angeiolo Corsini, was a Royal Army captain of grenadiers. Her mother was Julia Salvi. Because of her father's frequent transfers, the family lived in Pistoia, Arezzo and Rome. Corsini had an excellent education from a young age. Parish priests taught her literature classes, which gave her the background to write essays and books on education, religion, the family, and the spiritual upbringing of children. Though she had been enrolled at a parish school in Rome run by nuns, when one of the nuns talked ill of the king, Corsini transferred to a state run school. During this time, she met her future husband, Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi, who was the son of a family friend, in Florence.

Corsini married Quattrocchi in the basilica of St. Mary Major on 25 November 1905. In the early years after marriage, they lived together with parents and grandparents. She was a highly devout person while her husband, in the initial years, was not. In the first three years of her marriage, Corsini gave birth to three children: Filippo (born 1906), Stephania (born 1908), and Cesare (born 1909). Corsini attributed her faith in God to her survival after the birth of Enrichetta (born 1914) even thought she had complications during the pregnancy and was advised by the gynecologist to have an abortion. All four children were notable in their own right. The sons became priests, while Stephania became a Benedictine nun. Enrichetta devoted herself to looking after her parents, and later, her brother, who was a diocesan priest of Rome. Three of the surviving children attended Corsini's beatification in 2001.

Corsini became a professor of education. Her teaching career involved working as a lecturer. She worked for the Red Cross during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and tended to the sick during World War II. Her home was open for those in need during the war. She was active with women's causes in the St. Vitale parish, and the women's division of "Catholic Action". With her husband and children, she established a Scouting group in Rome.

Corsini followed a strict, religious life which included religious counseling, attending mass, receiving daily Communion, and reciting prayers. Corsini and her husband were associated with many religious institutions. Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martin noted that "they made their family an authentic domestic church, open to life, prayer, witness of the Gospel, the social apostolate, solidarity with the poor, and friendship... Intimately united in love and Christian ideals, they walked together on the path of holiness." Widowed in 1951, she died on 26 August 1965 at her La Madonnina home in Serravalle di Bibbiena, which was built by her husband. The Foundation Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrochi, established in their honour, has the objective of helping couples to marry and to advise them on cementing their marital life.

The initial act of beatifying Maria and Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi was started on 25 November 1994, and they were formally beatified together on 21 October 2001 by John Paul II. The Pope stated: "Among the joys and anxieties of a normal family, they knew how to live an extraordinarily rich spiritual life. At the centre of their life was the daily Eucharist as well as devotion to the Virgin Mary, to whom they prayed every evening with the Rosary, and consultation with wise spiritual directors. In this way they could accompany their children in vocational discernment, training them to appreciate everything 'from the roof up', as they often, charmingly, liked to say." Their relics are contained in a crypt at the Santuario della Madonna del Divino Amore in Rome.

• (1912) La madre : nel problema educativo moderno
• (1924) Voce di madre : lettere ai giovani
• (1924?) Incontro al Re d'amore : raccolta di prediche
• (1940) Il fucco à da ardere
• (1950) Il libro della giovane
• (1955) Mamma vera
• (1968) Una testimonianza: M. Amabile Damiazzi