On 25 April 2004, she was declared blessed by Pope John Paul II who stated that "her secret to holiness was love for Christ".

[1] Alexandrina Maria da Costa was born on 30 March 1904, in Balazar, a rural parish of Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal.

In June 1938, based on the request of Alexandrina's confessor, Mariano Pinho, several bishops from Portugal wrote to Pope Pius XI, asking him to consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

[citation needed] In 1938 Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli was the secretary of the state of the Vatican, and he became Pope Pius XII in early March, 1939.

[4] According to her Vatican biography, from March 1942, for about 13 years until her death, she received no food except for the Holy Eucharist, and her weight dropped to about 33 kilograms (73 lb).