The “perfect nun” is supposed to be devoted to God, pious, sing in choirs, and teach students. Then there are the other kinds of nuns, the antithesis of what nuns should be, those that have become popular in the horror genre. They are evil, possessed, and demonic, terrifying anyone who encounters them.
There was even a nun whom the Devil himself possessed. Historians and linguists have studied this nun from Italy, and the strange letter she wrote for over 400 years. In 2017 we finally learned what Maria Crocifissa wrote, and it is frightening.
Who was Isabella Tomasi?
Maria was born Isabella Tomasi was born somewhere in Italy in 1645. She was the daughter of Prince Giuilo Tomasi di Lampedusa. The Tomasi family were the ancestors of author Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, known for his book “The Leopard.” When Isabella was 15 years old, she became a nun, a sister at the Benediction convent in Palme di Mantechiaro in Sicily, Italy.
Isabell Tomasi was then baptized and renamed Maria Crocifissa della Concezione. It was and still is a practice for many newly baptized nuns to choose or be assigned a religious name. This new religious name symbolized the person’s new relationship with Christianity and God.
By shedding their old names, they put the past and any sins behind them. Isabella Tomasi became Sister Maria Crocifissa and embraced her role as a nun.
Maria was a bit different than the other nuns. She was said to have told her sisters in the convent that the Devil possessed her. Maria fully believed that Satan was constantly trying to make her turn her back to God. Satan was trying to lead her down the path of evil. She feared that the Devil would force her to sin against her will.
