Blessed Anna Maria Taigi - When You Are Praying for Your Marriage, Family & the Grace to Become Holy at Home
Feast Day: June 9
Do you sometimes think holiness would be easier if your circumstances were different?
If your home were more peaceful?
If your spouse understood you better?
If there were fewer financial worries?
If you had more time to pray?
Meet Blessed Anna Maria Taigi—wife, mother, mystic, and one of the most remarkable Catholic women of nineteenth-century Rome.
She did not become holy by escaping ordinary family life.
She became holy in the middle of it.
Anna Maria knew marriage, children, household responsibilities, financial difficulties, difficult personalities, interruptions, exhaustion, and sacrifice.
Yet in the middle of all of this, she developed an extraordinary union with God.
Her life gives tremendous hope to wives and mothers:
Your home can become your path to Heaven.
Her Story
Anna Maria was born in Siena, Italy, in 1769, but her family later moved to Rome after experiencing financial difficulties.
As a young woman, she married Domenico Taigi, who worked in the household of the Chigi family.
Their marriage was very real.
Domenico could be strong-tempered and demanding. Anna Maria herself had faults to overcome.
But rather than believing she needed a perfect husband or perfect circumstances before she could become holy, she began allowing God to transform her own heart.
She became increasingly devoted to prayer, penance, the Sacraments, charity, and the duties of her state in life.
Anna Maria and Domenico had several children, and she faithfully cared for her family while also helping the poor and those who sought her counsel.
She eventually became a Trinitarian tertiary.
Her home became her convent.
Her family became part of her vocation.
Her ordinary duties became her sacrifices.
And little by little, God made a saintly woman out of an ordinary Roman wife and mother.
A Saintly Wife With an Imperfect Marriage
One of the most encouraging things about Blessed Anna Maria is that her marriage was not a picture-perfect story.
She and her husband had different temperaments.
There were tensions.
There were difficulties.
There were moments requiring tremendous patience.
Anna Maria learned that she could not control another person's temperament.
But she could ask God to transform her response to it.
She prayed.
She practiced patience.
She guarded the peace of her home.
She fulfilled her duties faithfully.
And she continued loving.
This makes her a beautiful intercessor for wives praying for their husbands and for couples experiencing difficult seasons in marriage.
Pray for Your Husband — But Pray for Yourself Too
It is easy to pray:
“God, change him.”
Blessed Anna Maria teaches us to add:
“Lord, change me too.”
Give me patience.
Make my words gentler.
Help me know when to speak and when to remain silent.
Remove my pride.
Help me forgive quickly.
Teach me to encourage rather than criticize.
Help me pray for my husband instead of constantly worrying about him.
Make our home peaceful.
And above everything:
Make both of us saints.
That is a powerful prayer for a marriage.
The Mysterious Sun
One of the extraordinary aspects of Blessed Anna Maria's mystical life was a phenomenon often described in accounts of her life as a mystical sun.
She reported seeing a luminous globe or sun through which God permitted her to perceive things she could not have known naturally.
Accounts of her life describe her receiving remarkable insights concerning individuals, distant events, the state of souls, and matters affecting the Church and society.
Important people sought her counsel.
Yet these extraordinary gifts did not cause Anna Maria to abandon her ordinary vocation.
She still had meals to prepare.
Children to care for.
A husband to love.
A household to manage.
That may be one of the most beautiful lessons of her life:
Extraordinary spiritual gifts never excused her from ordinary duties.
When Should You Turn to Blessed Anna Maria Taigi?
Ask for her intercession when praying for:
Your husband or wife
A difficult season in marriage
Peace within your home
Greater patience with your spouse
Your children's Faith
Protection of your family
Financial necessities
Discernment about an important decision
Wisdom when you do not know what to do
Greater trust in Divine Providence
Mothers overwhelmed by responsibilities
Wives trying to grow in holiness
Conversion within a family
The grace to control anger or harsh words
Strength during suffering
A deeper interior prayer life
The grace to become holy through ordinary duties
She is especially encouraging when you feel:
“I would be holier if my life were easier.”
Perhaps God intends to make you holy through the life you already have.
Testimony From Her Own Husband
One of the most beautiful testimonies to Anna Maria's holiness came from someone who knew her in ordinary life:
her husband.
Domenico lived for many years after Anna Maria's death and gave testimony during the process concerning her life and virtues.
That matters.
It is one thing to appear holy to people who see you at church.
It is another thing for the people who have lived beside you—who have seen you tired, interrupted, worried, and carrying ordinary responsibilities—to recognize your holiness.
Anna Maria's sanctity was not merely something displayed publicly.
It was lived at home.
Trusting Divine Providence
Anna Maria's family knew financial difficulty.
She understood the worry of providing for a household.
Yet she developed tremendous confidence in God's Providence.
That does not mean she sat back and expected miracles while neglecting her responsibilities.
She worked.
She served.
She sacrificed.
She managed her household.
And then she trusted God with what she could not control.
That is a beautiful model for us:
Do what you can. Pray about what you cannot. And leave the rest with God.
Prayer to Blessed Anna Maria Taigi for Marriage & Family
O Blessed Anna Maria Taigi,
faithful wife, loving mother, and servant of God,
thou didst find the road to holiness
within the ordinary duties of marriage and family life.
I ask for thy intercession today.
I especially entrust to thee:
[Mention your spouse, family, or intention.]
Pray for my home.
Protect my marriage.
Help my family remain close to Jesus.
When I become impatient, obtain gentleness for me.
When I am tempted to criticize, teach me to pray instead.
When I am worried about my spouse, help me place him in God's hands.
When financial or family worries overwhelm me, obtain for me confidence in Divine Providence.
Help me understand that I cannot control everyone and everything around me.
Ask God to change what needs to be changed—
and begin with my own heart.
May my words bring peace.
May my sacrifices be offered to Jesus.
May my ordinary duties become acts of love.
And may my family, through all its imperfections and crosses, become a little school of holiness leading each of us toward Heaven.
Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, pray for us.
Amen.
When You Are Worried About Your Husband
Sometimes loving someone means watching him carry burdens you cannot fix.
You may want to solve everything for him.
Instead, try placing him before God.
“Blessed Anna Maria, you knew the joys and difficulties of marriage. Please pray for my husband. Protect him, strengthen him, guide his decisions, help him resist temptation, give him courage in his responsibilities, and draw him closer to Jesus.”
Then ask for another grace:
“Help me become the wife God is asking me to be.”
Prayer for your spouse should not become an attempt to control him.
It should become an act of entrustment.
Holiness Begins in the Next Room
You may never experience mystical visions.
You may never advise important people.
You may never do anything the world considers extraordinary.
But perhaps your path to Heaven is much closer than you think.
It may be in the kitchen.
At work.
Folding laundry.
Preparing dinner.
Listening patiently to your husband.
Caring for your children.
Forgiving.
Keeping your words charitable.
Praying when you would rather worry.
Doing something kind when nobody notices.
Blessed Anna Maria reminds us:
Ordinary life can produce extraordinary holiness when it is given completely to God.
Learn More About Blessed Anna Maria Taigi
Blessed Anna Maria is a wonderful Catholic woman to discover, particularly for wives and mothers who want to deepen their spiritual lives without neglecting their families.
Visit our parish bookstore to explore books about Catholic marriage, family life, the saints, prayer, and trusting Divine Providence.
Reading about holy wives and mothers reminds us that sainthood is not reserved for monasteries and convents.
There are saints in kitchens too.
Your Family Is Part of Your Path to Heaven
Do not wait for everything in your life to become perfect before deciding to become holy.
Do not wait for everyone around you to change.
Begin today.
Pray for your spouse.
Forgive quickly.
Control the unnecessary remark.
Make the meal with love.
Offer the inconvenience.
Pray for your children.
Create peace where you can.
And when family life feels particularly difficult, ask Blessed Anna Maria to walk beside you.
She understood.
Your marriage does not have to be effortless for God to work within it.
Your home does not have to be perfect for it to become holy.
And you do not need extraordinary circumstances to become a saint.
You need extraordinary love in the circumstances God has already given you.
Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, pray for our marriages.
Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, pray for our families.
Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, pray for us!
