As a child, Maria Barba of Catanzaro, Italy, learned to play the piano. At the age of fifteen, she underwent an interior conversion that turned her heart and mind totally to God. However, her aspiration to religious life was opposed by her family. During this time, Maria found consolation in developing a profound love for the Eucharist and in reading the autobiography of the Carmelite, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. When at the age of thirty-six Maria was finally able to become a religious, she entered the Discalced Carmelite Order, having already assimilated their spirituality. Taking the religious name Maria Candida of the Eucharist, she soon became her convent’s prioress. In the 1930s, Mother Candida wrote a book on the Eucharist steeped in her own devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. She died on June 12th, 1949.
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