Berthe Petit

Berthe Petit (January 23, 1870 – March 26, 1943) was a Franciscan Tertiary known for her devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She had reported visions of Jesus and Mary since an early age, and claimed to experience conversations with Jesus Christ for many years thereafter.

Berthe was born Francoise Marie Ghislaine Berthe Petit, in Enghien, Belgium and her father was a lawyer. She was a gifted child from an early age and reportedly had her first vision of the Virgin Mary at age 4. During her youth she reported a vision of the Infant Jesus coming towards her and saying "You will always suffer, but I will be with you."

She expressed her desire for a religious life on the day of her First Holy Communion. She said to her teacher, a nun, "I must suffer a great deal, I must be like Jesus." "Who told you that?" asked the nun. "The little Host which is Jesus," was Berthe's reply. Always in delicate health, at the age of fourteen she suffered a serious bout of typhoid in 1884.

On hearing her confession on September 8, 1888, Father Godefroid O.F.M. Cap told her that she would become a "crucified spouse" of Christ, and a victim soul for many sinners. At Christmas Midnight Mass in 1893, Berthe made a vow offering her life and health to God in exchange for the gift of a soul being called to the priesthood, and immediately received a mystical experience in which she believed Jesus accepted her vow, confirmed that she would experience great suffering, and that she would one day know the priest who would be the fruit of her prayers. This priest turned out to be Louis Decorsant, whom she would not meet until 1908.

After becoming a Franciscan Tertiary, taking the religious name 'Mary Magdalene of the Cross', Berthe suffered from many illnesses. At one point doctors had given up all hope for her, but she mysteriously recovered.

At Christmas Midnight Mass in 1909, Berthe received a deeper understanding of her vocation, in the form of a vision of the hearts of Jesus and Mary closely united together, pierced by a sword, and accompanied by words from Jesus: "Teach souls to love the Heart of my Mother pierced with the sorrow that transfixed my own heart." This message was repeated and amplified on 7 and 8 February 1910: Berthe was invited to "live in the heart of Mary" as she lived in that of Christ, and to make known the love of Mary's heart.

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