Mother Teresa Maria (1900-1985), prioress of the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Camaiore, was Maria Valtorta’s closest confidante.
The great spiritual affinity between her and Maria Valtorta led to a complete trust, which could only be expressed through a close correspondence.
The cloistered woman by vocation and the cloistered woman by infirmity never met, but for twelve years they exchanged intense correspondence, sharing their concerns about the development of the Work—now known as “The Gospel as revealed to me”—and confiding in each other the most intimate thoughts of their kindred spirits.
In her letters to the woman she had chosen as her spiritual mother, Maria Valtorta signed herself “Sister Mary of the Cross.” This was the name Jesus gave her on September 14, 1944.
In the first volume, we have collected the letters from December 1945 to December 1946. In the second volume, we have collected the letters from 1947 to 1957. Since the two volumes have almost the same number of pages, we believe that the letters (about two hundred) that Mother Teresa Maria burned at the request of Valtorta, who always obeyed divine instructions, belong to the second period.
