Chapel of the Holy Cross in Balazar,
Portugal
The village of Balazar is located 40 miles
north of Oporto, made up of small houses of
stone with a population of about 1,000
people. The village is surrounded by
vineyards and fields of corn, dates and
olives. The Church of Balazar is dedicated
to the Holy Cross. Erected in 1832,
commemorating the mysterious apparition that
year of a cross made on the ground. In a
report sent to the Archbishop of the
Archdiocese of Braga, the pastor of the
parish testifies the happenings of that day:
“I’m writing to make you aware of the
happenings in the Parish of St. Eulalia de
Balasar. During our latest celebration of
the Feast of Corpus Christi, the faithful
were coming towards the Church and noticed a
cross of a lighter color formed on the
ground. The morning dew was all over the
area, except on the cross. I myself went and
touched and moved around the ground where
the cross was formed, but the same image
reappeared in the same place. Later, I
ordered water to be poured over the same
area, but the cross reappeared again and it
has remained ever since.”
Many people came to see this phenomenon of
the cross to venerate it with flowers and
offerings. Till this day, the cross remains
in the same place, and it continues to be a
challenge to erase it.
Alexandrina lives the mystery of Cross
East of Balazar we find the Church of
St. Eulalia where on April 2, 1904,
Alejandrina Maria da Costa was baptized. She
was born on Wednesday of Holy Week, March
30th of the same year. She is the daughter
of very devout and hard working farmers. Her
father died shortly after her birth.
Alejandrina grew up with her older sister
Deolinda in a very simple, devout, and pious
environment.
In the writings of Alejandrina de Costa, she
makes three references to the cross, the
last one dated Jan. 14th, 1955. While in
ecstasy, she heard the voice of our Lord
saying to her: “A century ago I revealed to
this village the cross that comes to receive
the victim. Oh Balazar, if you don’t respond
! . . . A cross made of dirt for the victim
that is offered for nothing . . . The victim
is chosen by God and has always existed in
His eternal designs. Victim for the world,
but favored more by celestial blessings, who
has given ALL to heaven for love of souls,
she accepts ALL. Trust, believe my daughter,
I’m here!
All your life is written and sealed with a
key of gold.” (Alejandrina: Her Agony and
Her Glory)
During the first years of her life she was
fascinated by the religious processions that
took place around the village during days of
great celebration. At age three, while
resting one afternoon with her mother, she
saw a jar of cream on the table. She leaned
over carefully not to awaken her mother, and
reached out for the jar. When her mother
called her, she was surprised and the jar
fell on the floor and broke into pieces.
Having lost her balance, Alejandrina fell on
the floor, consequently injuring her lip and
created a scar for the rest of her life. She
was then taken to the nearest clinic. Her
mother, Maria Ana, anxiously cleaned off the
blood flowing from her mouth. A generous
assistant gave Alejandrina a bag of candies
in order to calm her down, but Alejandrina
responded by screaming, kicking, and
hitting.
“This was my first offense,” she wrote years
later in her autobiography, dictated to her
sister Deolinda by order of her spiritual
director. Alejandrina was a very active,
joyful child, full of life, but never
jeopardizing her precocious spirituality
with her humor and spontaneous character.
Years later she wrote the following
experience:
“Upon the death of our uncle, Deolinda
and I stayed at the house with his family
for seven days after his death to assist at
the Masses offered for the deceased. One
morning I was asked to go and get a bag of
rice in the room where my uncle’s body lay.
When I got to the door I did not have the
courage to enter. I was so frightened that
my sister had to get the rice. That same
night I was ordered to go and close the
window of that same room. As I approached
the door, I felt my knees trembling and
again I was unable to enter. I said to
myself: ‘I have to fight against this fear,’
I opened the door slowly and walked around
the room where my uncle was. Since that day,
with the help of God, I am able to manage my
fears.”
By the time she was ready for her First
Communion, at age 7, Alejandrina had a
profound love for the Eucharist, visiting
the Blessed Sacrament with unusual frequency
and doing spiritual communions on occasions
she was unable to attend daily Mass. On one
occasion, an aunt of Alejandrina who
suffered from cancer asked her to remember
her in her prayers. The child responded with
such perseverance and fervor that this habit
of prayer continued in the soul of
Alejandrina ever since.
Later she wrote: “I’ve always had great
respect for priests. At one time I found
myself sitting on the stairs at the entrance
of the village and I saw priests walk
through the streets. I stood as I was
accustomed to stand up in respect when they
passed by in front of me. They took off
their hats and said “May God bless you!” I
realized people would stare at me because I
had the habit of sitting at the same place
on purpose in order to see the priests enter
the village and show my reverence to them."
Due to the privations of the rural life at
the time, Alejandrina only assisted school
for 18 months and was sent to work in the
fields. She was hardworking and exposed to
bad habits and vocabulary from the other
workers who worked with her. After 3 years,
an employee of the area tried to attack and
abuse her. The Lord protected her with the
grace of an extraordinary strength that came
while she held the holy rosary in her hand.
After this serious incident, the child was
returned to her home. This opportunity
allowed her to renew her love and devotion
to the Blessed Sacrament. In that same year,
she became ill with typhoid. Her mother
would give her the crucifix for her to kiss
and Alejandrina would move her head and
murmur : “ I want Jesus in the Eucharist.”
Finally she recovered her health and was
transferred to the hospital in Povoa located
in the Atlantic coast. Upon returning to
Balazar her health was poor, she was very
weak and virtually paralyzed. Alejandrina
dedicated herself to sewing with her sister
Deolinda.
She became paralyzed to defend her purity
Just
like Saint Maria Goretti, the Italian martyr
of purity, Alejandrina would rather embrace
death before yielding to sin. In 1918, an
incident occurred that would mark
Alejandrina’s life forever. She was in the
second floor bedroom of her house with
Deolinda and another young friend when three
men approached and insisted with a strong
voice to allow them to enter. Alejandrina
looked out the window and recognized one of
the men, the one who tried to attack her
some years ago while working in the field.
She rapidly closed the door, but the men
were able to enter through an emergency door
in the roof. Deolinda and the other young
lady were able to flee, but Alejandrina was
cornered in the room by this man. She
screamed: “ Jesus, help me! ” hitting the
man with her rosary.
Behind her was a window, about 13 feet high.
It was the only way out. She preferred to
jump out the window with the possibility of
death before consenting to the low passions
of this man.
The fall was severe and with much pain. With
excruciating pain and grinding her teeth she
crawled her way into the house. Her vertical
spine was irreparably injured. Alejandrina
was 14 years old. What followed were many
long years of pain that increased
unceasingly, along with incapacity and
depression, but she never yielded to
desperation or weakness.
Completely paralyzed on April 14th of 1924,
she became bedridden for life at 20 years of
age. Her distraught family prayed for her
every night, united around her bed they
would light two candles to the image of our
Lady and prayed the Holy Rosary on their
knees.Alejandrina would spend her days
praying, meditating, asking our Blessed
Mother for healing; she would ask Jesus “his
blessing from heaven and from all the
tabernacles in the world.”
Because of her increased love for prayer her
distractions diminished. She started to
desire more and more a life of greater union
with Jesus. This union that she perceived
could only take place by orienting all her
incapacities and illness towards the Love of
Jesus. She soon understood the idea that
“suffering was her vocation.” At the end of
this same year, Alejandrina found herself
immersed in the sublime desire to offer
herself to God as a victim soul for the
conversion of sinners.
After praying and discerning, she felt
confident that our Lord was calling her to
live a life of love and reparation, offering
voluntarily all the sufferings to the
Beloved for the conversion of sinners. Like
St. Paul, Alejandrina was able to say, “ At
present I rejoice when I suffer for you; I
complete in my own flesh what is lacking in
the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his
body, which is the Church.” (Colossians
1:24)
Alexandrina and Fatima
News of the
apparitions of our Lady of Fatima started to
reach the village, 200 miles south. Healings
and miracles were reported at Fatima. A
pilgrimage was organized to go to Fatima
from Balazar. Having a great devotion and
love to Our Lady, Alejandrina wanted to be
completely sure of God’s will for her in
relation to her call to suffering.
She asked Our Lady to allow her to go and
accompany the pilgrims. The parish priest
and the doctors insisted that the trip would
be deadly for her condition, so the pilgrims
departed without her.
After all the
pilgrims left, Alejandrina closed her eyes
and started to pray, offering to the Lord
the sacrifice of her abandonment and
desolation. As she prayed her
mind was transported to the Blessed
Sacrament in the Church of St. Eulalia,
close to her home. Unexpectedly, she
received a divine illumination. She was
able to understand that Our Lord is also a
prisoner in the tabernacle.
This unity with
Jesus allowed her to visit Him spiritually
and to be constantly in His presence, loving
Him unceasingly and praying, offering
herself in immolation to console His Sacred
Heart and to obtain the conversion of
sinners. Recollected and moved by tears,
Alejandrina pleaded to the Lord to allow her
to suffer to the limit that she could
tolerate if this would help the sinners to
be delivered from the fires of hell.
She was unable to
go to Fatima, but the Virgin Mary granted
her the grace to understand and live the
messages in the most perfect way, intimately
uniting herself to the desire of the Blessed
Virgin. By offering her passion in this
way, Alejandrina became a victim soul for
love of the Eucharist and the consecration
to the Immaculate Heart, which are
fundamental messages of Fatima.
In response to the
courageous petition, her pain increased
until becoming almost intolerable. Night
after night, with very high fever
Alejandrina awoke with her head on her
pillow and with the rosary clasped strongly
in her hands so as to receive strength from
each Hail Mary. With tears, she prayed
exclaiming and repeating the prayer Our Lady
had taught her in Fatima: "Oh, Jesus, it
is because I love you, for conversion of
sinners and in reparation for all the
offenses to the Immaculate Heart of Mary."
She lived the Passion of Jesus
Alejandrina
experienced 180 ecstasies of the Passion,
preceded by many hours of fear and horror as
midday of Good Friday approached. This fear
was generally accompanied by an intense
sadness, nausea, and a strong sensation of
loneliness.
For seven years she
was unable to forget her first
crucifixion. She wrote: " All seemed to
be present before me, I felt the fear and
horror of those bitter hours, the anxiety of
my spiritual director at my side, and my
family in tears and horrified."
Minutes after midday on October 3rd, 1938,
Our Lord invited Alejandrina to immerse
herself in His Passion: "See, my
daughter, Calvary is ready, do you accept?"
Alejandrina courageously accepted.
Witnesses held their breath while she was in
ecstasy. Even though she was paralyzed, she
would recover movement in her body and
almost levitated from her bed with the same
movements of Jesus in the Agony of the
Garden of Olives to Calvary.
Images of the
ecstasy of the Passion were filmed forming
an important part of her beatification
process.
At the end of one
of her ecstasies at 3:00 pm, Alejandrina
raised her arms in thanksgiving and
exhausted in horror, she immediately cried:
"No, Jesus, no, Jesus, crucify me !!
Forgive, forgive, forgive !!! They have the
same right as I have, you died on the cross
for them, like you did for me. Jesus I don’t
want any soul to go to hell. I love you for
them. Forgive them Jesus, remember me in my
crucifixion. Hell is the worst place."
This dialogue reminds us of Saint Gemma
Galgani, a mystic of the end of the 19th
century.
A few days later,
Alejandrina suffered terrible pain, she
vomited blood and was tortured by an
unquenchable thirst. Water was not enough;
she was unable to swallow a drop of water.
She started to perceive the strong odor
of sin: "they were repulsive odors," she
related in her autobiography. "Perfumes and
violets were brought to me, but I rejected
them because I was still tormented by this
vile odor. Just to remember these things
make me suffer."
She is nourished only on the Eucharist
One day she heard the voice of God say to
her: "You will not be nourished any
longer with food from the earth. Your food
will be My Flesh, your drink will be My
Divine Blood, your life will be My Life. You
receive it from me when I unite my Heart to
yours. Do not be afraid, you will no longer
be crucified like in the past, now new
trials await you that will be the most
painful ones. But at the end I will take you
to heaven and the Blessed Mother will
accompany you."
Her last ecstasy of the Passion occurred on
March 27,th 1942 on the Feast Day of Our
Lady of Sorrows.
During the last 13years of her life,
Alejandrina ate and drank nothing. She was
nourished exclusively by the Holy Eucharist.
Her thirst was only
satisfied by God Himself. She was submitted
to many medical studies; the last one was
performed by: professor Joao Marques, a
teacher of Medical Sciences at the
University of Pernambuco; a well-known
conference speaker from the faculty of this
university; a professor of the nutrition
department of the School of Social Services;
and the President of the Gastronomy and
Nutrition of Pernambuco.
Alejandrina shared
with her spiritual director what the Lord
said to her: "You will live only on the
Eucharist because I want to show the entire
world the power of the Eucharist and the
power of My life in souls."
During her long
agony she heard the voice of God saying to
her: "Give me your hands because I want
to nail them to mine. Give me your head
because I want to crown it with thorns like
it was done to Me. Give me your heart
because I want to pierce it with a lance
like My Heart was pierced by one. Abandon
yourself completely to ME . . .Help Me in
the redemption of humanity."
Her death
Alejandrina died a little after receiving
the Holy Eucharist on October 13th, 1955,
the 38th anniversary of the miracle of the
sun in Fatima. Her last words before death
were: "Don’t cry for me, today I’m
immensely happy . . . . at last I’m going to
heaven."
To the priest,
pilgrims, and reporters who crowded the
place, she gave a message that should move
all humanity: "Do not sin anymore. The
pleasures of this life are worth nothing.
Receive Holy Communion; pray the Holy Rosary
daily. This resumes everything."
Before
her death, Alejandrina requested to be
buried facing the tabernacle of the Church,
saying: "In life I always desired to be
united to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and
to look at the tabernacle at all times that
I was able; after my death I want to
continue contemplating, always having my
eyes constantly on Our Eucharistic Lord."
She dictated to her
sister Deolinda her epitaph which still
exists today over her tomb: "Sinners: if
the ashes of my body are worthy enough to
save you, come close. If it is necessary,
step on them until they disappear, but do
not sin anymore. Do not offend Our dear Lord
anymore. Convert. Don’t lose Jesus for all
Eternity. He is so good !!"
The process of
beatification for Alejandrina was solemnly
opened by the Archbishop of Braga in 1973,
completed, and sent to Rome. Many miracles
occurred through her intercession.
Alejandrina Maria de Costa was solemnly
beatified by Pope John Paul II on April
26th, 2004.
We give thanks to
the Lord for allowing us to visit the Church
of St. Eulalia in 1996, where Holy Mass was
celebrated before the body of the great
victim soul of the Eucharist. We also
visited her house, saw the window out of
which she threw herself to save her purity
and the room where she lay so many years in
bed, loving and suffering for sinners. We
will never forget her example and memory.
Prayer
Mother of Jesus and our Mother, hear our
prayer. We consecrate to you our bodies and
our hearts. Mold them Blessed Mother, fill
them with your love. Like Alejandrina, may
we also be close to the tabernacle with
Jesus, so that we may serve Him like lighted
lamps while we live in this world. Bless and
sanctify us, Oh, loving Mother of Heaven!
May we also be prisoners of love. Purify us
so that we may desire what is undesirable
for love of Jesus, your Son and Our Lord.
Novena for personal use
Oh Jesus, who rejoice in the simple and
humble souls, many times ignored, forgotten
and despised by men! Exult your Servant
Blessed Alejandrina who always desired to
live hidden in the world and away from
greatness.
Oh, Lord Jesus so often in our times we need
lessons on holiness, which is the full
realization of our human and Christian
vocation, and, therefore, the elevation of
the human being to the beauty of love and
moral state. Bless your Servant Blessed
Alejandrina, and hear the petitions which we
offer through her intercession. Grant us
especially the grace ..............(name the
intention), if it is for honor and glory of
your Name Jesus, and the glorification of
the Immaculate Heart of Mary and salvation
of sinners, for whom Blessed Alejandrina
admirably immolated herself. Amen !
“Keep me company in the Blessed Sacrament. I
remain in the tabernacle night and day,
waiting to give my love and grace to all who
would visit me. But so few come. I am so
abandoned, so lonely, so offended…. Many…do
not believe in my existence; they do not
believe that I live in the tabernacle. They
curse me. Others believe, but do not love me
and do not visit me; they live as if I were
not there… You have chosen to love me in the
tabernacles where you can contemplate me,
not with the eyes of the body, but those of
the soul. I am truly present there as in
Heaven, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.”
Blessed Alexandrina, pray for us to
increase our love for the Eucharist!
Vatican
official small biography>>
John
Paul II's homily at her beatification>>
Bl.
Alexandrina's official Site>>
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