Alexandrina Maria was born in Balasar on March 30, 1904. At the age of 14, seeking to preserve her purity under threat from three men, she did not hesitate to leap from a window. The consequences were severe and developed gradually: after several years she could no longer walk, remaining bedridden for the rest of her life—a total of thirty years. Rather than sinking into despair, she resolved to surrender herself to Jesus with these words: “As You are a prisoner in the tabernacle, and I am a prisoner of my bed by Your will, we will keep each other company.”
Following this, she began to undergo increasingly intense mystical experiences. From Friday, October 3, 1938, until March 24, 1942, she relived the sufferings of the Passion every Friday on 182 occasions. From 1942 until her death, Alexandrina was nourished solely by the Holy Eucharist. Admitted to the hospital at Foz do Douro in Porto, she was closely monitored for forty days and forty nights by a team of physicians who conclusively verified her total fast and complete absence of excretion. After the long years of paralysis she had embraced in Eucharistic reparation and for the conversion of sinners, Jesus appeared to her on July 30, 1935, saying:
I have placed you in the world so that you may live only on Me, to bear witness to the world of how much the Eucharist is worth. [...]. The strongest chain that binds souls to Satan is the flesh, it is impurity. Never has there been seen such an outpouring of vices, wickedness, and crimes as in these days! Never has there been so much sinning [...]. The Eucharist, My Body and My Blood! The Eucharist: there lies the salvation of the world.
Our Lady also appeared to her on September 2, 1949, with the Rosary in her hand, saying:
The world is agonizing and dying in sin. I desire prayer, I desire penance. With this rosary, protect all those you love, and the whole world.
On October 13, 1955, the anniversary of Our Lady's final apparition at Fatima, she was heard to exclaim: “I am happy because I am going to heaven.” At 7:30 p.m. that same day, she breathed her last. Inscribed on her tomb are these words chosen by herself:
Sinners, if the ashes of my body can be of any help to save you, come near, walk over them, trample them underfoot until they disappear. But sin no more; offend our Jesus no longer!
Letter written by Alexandrina
Text and photographs: International Exhibition "The Eucharistic Miracles of the World", by Saint Carlo Acutis. Original panel at miracolieucaristici.org.