Catholic saint biography
St. Pauline of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus
- Lived:
- 1865–1942 — Italy; ministry in Brazil
A Catholic liturgical calendar date has not yet been verified for this entry. Execution dates are not treated as feast days; a shared celebration requires a scoped calendar citation.
Read the sources for this biography
Biography
Pauline was born Amabile Lucia Visintainer in what is now northern Italy and emigrated with her family to Brazil in 1875. Parish service and care for sick people shaped her early vocation. In 1890 she and Virgínia Rosa began caring for a woman with cancer, an initiative that grew into the Little Sisters of the Immaculate Conception.
Her ministry later included children and formerly enslaved people in São Paulo. After being removed from leadership, she continued in more hidden work and prayer rather than abandoning the community. Her biography therefore includes both foundation and loss of authority. She died in 1942 and was canonized in 2002; her life belongs to the histories of both migration and Catholic service in Brazil.
From the Saint Discovery blog
Keep exploring your faith
Practical guides to prayer, the saints, and living the Catholic faith.
St. Josephine Bakhita: Hope Without Denying Suffering
Learn what St. Josephine Bakhita teaches about Christian hope, dignity, and freedom, with practical reflection prompts and an original prayer.
Faith in difficult timesRead the article Prayer & reflectionWhat Is Redemptive Suffering? A Catholic Guide
What is redemptive suffering? Learn what Catholics mean by offering it up, how to unite suffering to Christ, and why seeking help belongs with faith.
Faith in difficult timesRead the articleFrom reading to reflection
What will you carry with you?
After reading about St. Pauline of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus, take a moment to consider:
- Which event or decision in this life stood out to you?
- What virtue would you like to understand or practice more deeply?
- What small action could you take today in response?
These are reflection prompts from Saint Discovery, not quotations from the saint.
Sources and further reading
- Vatican: Pauline of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus, individual biography ↗
- Vatican: canonizations of John Paul II ↗
Biography source comparison recorded on . This is an AI-assisted comparison, not independent human or ecclesiastical approval.
What the recorded review covers
Individual Catholic institutional source review; original concise factual summary. Individual biography name, life dates, community and location checked against the existing published directory; the compiler additionally rejects name and slug collisions with archived legacy records and every expansion batch.
A source list helps you check an account; it does not establish that every claim is certain. Follow the biography’s qualifications about historical evidence, traditions and feast calendars.
Suggest a correction to this biography
How we research these pages and handle corrections · Directory corrections log