St. Crescentia Höss

St. Crescentia Höss was born in 1682 at Kaufbeuren in Bavaria, the daughter of a poor weaver, and died there on 5 April 1744. From childhood she was drawn to prayer and marked by an eagerness to give herself to God, but her poverty long stood in the way of her desire to enter religious life, until at last she was received, without a dowry, into the local convent of Franciscan Tertiaries, where at first she met with harsh treatment and humiliation.

Bearing these trials with humility and patience, she gradually won the esteem of all, and rising to positions of responsibility in the community she became its mistress of novices and superior, guiding her sisters with gentleness and wisdom. Blessed with mystical graces and a reputation for holiness that spread far beyond the convent walls, she was sought out for counsel by people of every rank, from the poor to princes and bishops, who valued her prayers and advice. Canonized in 2001, she is commemorated on 6 April.