Maria Domenica Mantovani was born on 12 November 1862 in Verona as the eldest of four children born to Giovanni Mantovani and Prudenza Zamperini. She attended school as a child in her local area but was not there for too long. She learnt religion from her parents which contributed to her sense of vocation to the religious life. In her adolescence - in 1877 - her parish priest and spiritual director Giuseppe Nascimbeni encouraged her to visit the ill and to teach catechism in the parish. On 8 December 1886 she made a private vow to remain chaste and asked the Blessed Mother to guide her in how best to fulfill her vocation. In 1892 she co-founded a religious congregation alongside Nascimbeni and became the first superior; she led the order for a total of four decades. Mantovani and four of her companions made their solemn profession into the congregation on 4 November 1892. The institute later received the papal approval of Pope Pius XI on 3 June 1932. Mantovani died in 1934 due to complications from influenza. Her remains were transferred on 12 November 1987 to be near the remains of her friend and confidante Nascimbeni. The order now operates in places such as Albania and Brazil.
Canonization
The beatification process commenced after - on 27 January 1987 - the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued the "nihil obstat" to the cause in a move that accorded Mantovani the posthumous title of Servant of God. The conferral of the title acted as the first official stage in the process. The diocesan process opened in 1987 and after a brief period of collecting evidence on her saintliness closed in 1988. The C.C.S. validated the process on 25 May 1990 in Rome. The C.C.S. received the Positio in 1992 which would allow for them to commence their own investigation into the cause. The consulting theologians approved the contents of the dossier on 24 October 2000 while the C.C.S. approved it on 9 January 2001. On 24 April 2001 she was proclaimed to be Venerable after Pope John Paul II approved her life of heroic virtue - both cardinal and theological. John Paul II beatified Mantovani on 27 April 2003. The second miracle attributed to her - and needed for her canonization as a saint - was investigated in Bahía Blanca from 16 November 2015 until 10 June 2016; Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera presided over the closing of the diocesan process alongside the vice-postulator and medical experts. On May 27, 2020, Pope Francis authorized a decree during a meeting with the prefect of the C.C.S., Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, which approved a miracle clearing the way for Mantovani to become a saint. The current postulator assigned to the cause is Giovangiuseppe Califano. The current vice-postulator is Luciana Camella.
