Paulina of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus

Amabile Lúcia Visintainer was born on December 16, 1865, in Vigolo Vattaro, Italian Tyrol. At the age of nine, she emigrated with her family to Brazil, settling in Nova Trento, Santa Catarina. Known from a young age for her charity, she dedicated herself to helping the poorest and the sick. After a Marian apparition where the Virgin Mary called her to a work of salvation, in 1895, together with Virginia Nicolodi, she founded the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. She took the name Sister Paulina of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus. The congregation was dedicated to orphans, the sick, and former slaves. In 1903, she moved to São Paulo to continue her apostolate. Despite serious health problems due to diabetes in her later years, she continued to dedicate herself to prayer until her death on July 9, 1942. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1991 and canonized by the same Pope in 2002, becoming Brazil's first saint.