Maria Valtorta - Death and Burial

Death and Burial

Maria Valtorta died and was buried in Viareggio in 1961, at age 64. In 1973 with ecclesiastic permission, her remains were moved to Florence to the Chapel in the Grand Cloister of the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata di Firenze. Chiseled on her tomb are the words: "DIVINARUM RERUM SCRIPTRIX" (Writer of Divine Things).

Presiding over the services at Valtorta's "privileged burial" and the relocation of her remains from Viareggio to the Santissima Annunziata Basilica was Father Gabriel M. Roschini. A respected Mariologist, founding professor at the Marianum pontifical institute in Rome and advisor to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Father Roschini had studied Valtorta's writings and her book The Poem of the Man God and was initially skeptical of the authenticity of her work. But upon studying her work further he grew to appreciate it as a private revelation. He wrote of Valtorta's work:

"We find ourselves facing an effect (her work) which seems to be beyond its cause (Maria Valtorta)".

The house at 257 Via Antonio Fratti in Viareggio, where all her messages were written, was purchased by the publisher of The Poem of the Man God and has been preserved intact. It can be visited by appointment in Viareggio, Italy.