Alexandrina de Balazar: Life, Visions, and Prayers

Alexandrina de Balazar, beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II on April 25, 2004, is a Portuguese Catholic mystic. Known as the "apostle of the Eucharist", Alexandrina influenced Pope Pius XII for the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary.

Biography of Alexandrina de Balazar

Blessed Alexandrina de Balazar was born Alexandrina Maria da Costa on March 30, 1904, in the parish of Balazar, in Gresufes, 50 kilometers from Porto. She was baptized one week after her birth, on Holy Saturday, April 2, 1904.

At the age of fourteen, she fell from a window, four meters high, trying to flee three men who were chasing her to assault her. Unfortunately, Alexandrina did not emerge unscathed. She then suffered from progressive paralysis. Until she was nineteen, she could still walk, notably to go to mass, albeit with great difficulty. But, on April 14, 1925, she took to her bed and never got up again. She spent the remaining thirty years of her life in her bed.

For three years, until 1928, Alexandrina ceaselessly prayed to the Lord to heal her, wishing with all her heart to become a missionary. But, after these years spent in prayer she understood that suffering was her vocation; she became a witness to the suffering of Christ. She conformed to the Divine Will.

From then on, she began to experience mystical phenomena. Alexandrina had visions of Christ, who asked her, among other things, that the world be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Pope Pius XII acceded to this request, made in 1936, on October 31, 1942). She lived, every Friday from October 3, 1938, to March 24, 1942, the Passion of Christ, miraculously emerging from her paralysis and receiving the invisible stigmata. From March 27, 1942, Alexandrina completely stopped eating, with the exception of the daily Eucharist. She lost a lot of weight and weighed only 37 kilos. Doctors examined her, both to check on her health and to detect any potential fraud. They faced the evidence. The miracle of inedia was taking place. From July 1946, and until her death, she felt, even outside the Fridays when she relived the Passion, the pains of the stigmata, which remained invisible, at her request.

During all these bedridden years, Alexandrina wrote prayers and a hymn in honor of the tabernacles in 1931, which was very successful. Her sister, Deolinda, was her secretary and wrote down all of Alexandrina's visions and all the messages from Christ.

Alexandrina gave her soul to the Lord on October 13, 1955, in Balazar. A pilgrimage quickly formed around her room and her tomb in the parish church of Balazar. She was declared venerable on January 12, 1996, before being beatified. She is celebrated on October 13.

The Hymn to the Tabernacles by Alexandrina de Balazar

"O Jesus, I want each of my pains, each beat of my heart, each of my breaths, each second of my life, each minute, to be so many acts of love for your Tabernacles. I want every movement of my feet, my hands, my lips, my tongue, each of my tears, every smile, joy, sadness, tribulation, distraction, annoyance, or boredom, to be so many acts of love for your Tabernacles. O Jesus, I want every letter of the prayers I recite or hear recited, all the words I speak or hear spoken, that I read or hear read, that I write or see written, that I sing or hear sung, to be so many acts of love for your Tabernacles. I want every kiss I place on your holy Images, those of your and my holy Mother, those of your saints, to be so many acts of love for your Tabernacles. O Jesus, I want every drop of rain that falls from the sky to the earth, all the water of the oceans and all they contain, all the water of the rivers and streams, to be so many acts of love for your Tabernacles. I offer you the leaves of all the trees, and all the fruits that ripen on them; every petal of all the flowers; all the seeds the world contains; all that is in the gardens, in the fields, in the valleys, on the mountains: all this I want to offer you as so many acts of love for your Tabernacles. O Jesus, I offer you the feathers of the birds and their chirping, the fur of the animals and their cries, as so many acts of love for your Tabernacles. O Jesus, I offer you the day and the night, the heat and the cold, the wind, the snow, the moon, the moonlight, the sun, the stars of the firmament, my sleep and my dreams, as so many acts of love for your Tabernacles. I want every time I open or close my eyes to be so many acts of love for your Tabernacles. O Jesus, I offer you all the greatness, riches, and treasures of the world, all that happens within me, all that I am accustomed to offering you, as so many acts of love for your Tabernacles. O Jesus, the heaven and the earth, the ocean and all they contain, I offer them to you as if they belonged to me and I could dispose of them; accept them as so many acts of love for your Tabernacles. Amen".

Two Prayers by Blessed Alexandrina

Prayer to Jesus Present in the Host

"O my Jesus, I unite myself spiritually to all the Hosts of the earth, in all the places where you dwell in the Blessed Sacrament; I want to spend all the moments of my life there, constantly, day and night, joyful or sad, alone or accompanied, always consoling you, adoring you, loving you, praising you, glorifying you! O my Jesus, I would like so many acts of love to fall upon you, constantly, day and night, like the fine rain that falls from the sky on a winter's day. I would not want these acts of love only from me, but from all hearts, from all creatures throughout the world. Oh! How I would like to love and see you loved by all! You see, O Jesus, my desires: accept them as if I already loved You! O Jesus, may there not remain in the world a single place where you dwell in the Blessed Sacrament, without today and forever, at every moment of my life, my being there to tell You: 'Jesus, I love you! Jesus, I belong only to you! I am your victim, the victim of the Eucharist, the little lamp of your tabernacles!' O Jesus, I want to be a victim for priests, for sinners, for my family. A victim for love of you, for your most holy Passion, for the sorrows of the dear Mother, for your Heart, for your holy Will. A victim for the whole world! A victim for peace, a victim for the consecration of the world to the Mother in heaven! Amen."

Prayer to the Holy Virgin Mary by Alexandrina

"O my Little Mother of Heaven, here at your most holy feet is a soul that desires greatly to love You. O my adorable Lady, I want to live with a love so great that it allows me to suffer only for You and for my Jesus: yes, for my dear Jesus who is the All of my soul. He is the Light that enlightens me, the Bread that satisfies me; He is my Way, the Only one I want to follow... But, my sovereign Queen, I feel so weak to bear so many life's annoyances! O my Little Mother of Heaven, from the Throne where you sit, cast a glance upon my sad life. Come to my aid. Give me Your blessing and pray to Jesus, for me, your unworthy daughter. Dear Mother, come with me to all the Tabernacles of the world, to every place where Jesus dwells sacramentally. Present to Him my humble oblation. My sweet Little Mother, I want to go from Tabernacle to Tabernacle asking for Graces from Jesus, like the bee that goes from flower to flower to gather nectar! Mother of Jesus and my Mother, hear my prayer: I consecrate my body and my heart to You. Purify it, Most Holy Mother; fill it with your Love. Place it Yourself near the Tabernacles of Jesus, so that they may serve as a lamp until the end of the world... Bless me, sanctify me, O my sweet and tender Little Mother of Heaven!"

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