St.Maria Crescentia Hoss

Ø  Virgin, Nun of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis
Born	20 October 1682 at Kaufbeuren, Bavaria, Germany
Died	5 April, an Easter Sunday, 1744 at Kaufbeuren, Bavaria, Germany of natural causes
Venerated	2 August 1801 by Pope Pius VII (decree of heroic virtues)
Beatified	7 October 1900 by Pope Leo XIII
Canonized	25 November 2001 by Pope John Paul II
Feast	April 5

Maria Crescentia Hoss , T.O.R., (1682–1744) is a Roman Catholic saint. She was a contemplative nun of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.   She was born Anna Höss on 20 October 1682 in Kaufbeuren, in Bavaria, Germany,to Matthias Hoss and his wife, Lucia Hoermann, the sixth of their eight children. Only three of the children would survive into adulthood.   Anna was raised devoutly, and knew at an early age that she wanted to become a nun at the local monastery of the Franciscan Tertiary nuns, which occupied the old Meierhof of the town, in whose chapel she often prayed. As a poor weaver, however, her father did not have enough money to pay the customary dowry expected of a candidate, so she was not admitted. In 1703, the Mayor of Kaufbeuren (a Protestant) ,  insist to admit  Anna, the mother of the monastery felt obligated to receive her, and Anna was admitted in June of that year.  The superior, however, resented this and referred to Anna as a "parasite", since she was felt not to be contributing to the community. Nevertheless, Anna received the religious habit and took the name Maria Crescentia.   Though by then she had begun to suffer from poor health--even paralysis, in 1741 she was elected as the monastery's mother superior, serving in that office until her death on 5 April, Easter Sunday, 1744.   In  1900, Mother Crescentia was beatified by Pope Leo XIII. She was canonized on 25 November 2001 by Pope John Paul II . Her monastery was then renamed St. Crescentia Monastery  in her honor. Her feast is April 5.