Monastery of St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi and Her Tomb

Why pilgrims come

Visit the resting place and legacy of St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi

In the Careggi hills north of central Florence, the cloistered Carmelite monastery of Santa Maria Maddalena de’ Pazzi preserves the body of the Florentine mystic whose life joined intense contemplative prayer to service, community life, and a passionate desire for renewal in the Church. This is her principal present-day pilgrimage destination, distinct from the former monastery at Borgo Pinti where she lived and died.

She was born Caterina de’ Pazzi in Florence on April 2, 1566. Benedict XVI’s account describes an unusually early attraction to prayer and the Eucharist: she received First Communion at ten and made a private vow of virginity soon afterward. On January 30, 1583, she entered the Carmelite monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Borgo San Frediano and took the name Mary Magdalene. Serious illness led her community to permit an early profession on May 27, 1584.

Her mystical experiences were not written as a polished autobiography. At the instruction of her superiors, sisters recorded her words and experiences in manuscript collections known as The Forty Days, The Colloquies, Revelations and Intelligences, and The Probation. Those texts describe both consolation and trial, but her spirituality consistently returns to the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Eucharist, and Christ’s suffering love.

Mary Magdalene also wrote letters urging reform and fidelity in the Church. The drama of that language can obscure the ordinary work surrounding it: she served the community, formed novices, and practiced charity within the enclosure. Benedict XVI presents her mysticism as inseparable from ecclesial communion and from a daily life shaped by the Gospel.

After years of physical suffering, she died on May 25, 1607, at about three in the afternoon. Urban VIII beatified her less than two decades later, and Clement IX canonized her in 1669. Church sources describe her body as incorrupt. When the Carmelites left their earlier Florentine house in 1928, they brought her body to the present monastery at Careggi, where it is venerated in the monumental gilded-bronze and precious-stone urn designed by Giovanni Battista Foggini in the early eighteenth century.

Pilgrims should approach this as a living enclosed monastery, not a museum stop. Pray at the saint’s shrine, read a short passage from her writings, and protect the silence of the community. The Archdiocese of Florence lists the monastery within the parish territory of San Pietro a Careggi, but a reliable public schedule for visitors, Mass, or confession was not located. Contact the monastery or parish before making a special journey, and never assume that enclosure, liturgy, or access to the church will follow tourist hours.

Pray at the bodily shrine of Florence’s Carmelite mystic, then read her life through the unity of Eucharistic devotion, Trinitarian prayer, service to her sisters, and love for the Church. Respect the silence and enclosure of the living community.