Maria Skobtsova (20 [8 Old Calendar] December 1891 – 31 March 1945), known as Mother Maria (Russian: Мать Мария), Saint Mary (or Mother Maria) of Paris, born Elizaveta Yurievna Pilenko (Елизавета Юрьевна Пиленко), Kuzmina-Karavayeva (Кузьмина-Караваева) by her first marriage, Skobtsova (Скобцова) by her second marriage, was a Russian noblewoman, poet, nun, and member of the French Resistance during World War II.

Furious at Leon Trotsky for closing the Socialist-Revolutionary Party Congress, she planned his assassination, but was dissuaded by colleagues, who sent her to Anapa.

Yuri ended up living with Daniil, and Elizaveta moved into central Paris to work more directly with those who were most in need.

Her bishop encouraged her to take vows as a nun, something she did only with the assurance that she would not have to live in a monastery, secluded from the world.

After the Fall of France in 1940, Jews began approaching the house asking for baptismal certificates, which Father Dimitri would provide them.

Mother Maria was glorified (canonized a saint) by act of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on 16 January 2004.

Dimitri, Yuri, and Ilya Fondaminsky took place at the Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky in Paris on 1 and 2 May 2004.

[2] On June 24, 2020, a memorial plaque to Skobtsova was unveiled at the famous Sainte Genevieve de Bois cemetery, on the territory of the Russian necropolis.

[8] Skobtsova is also commemorated in the American Episcopal Church's calendar, with a lesser feast on July 21.

[9][10] Mother Maria was designated as Righteous among the Nations at Yad Vashem in Israel.

[11] In July, 1942, when the order requiring Jews to wear the yellow star was published, she wrote a poem entitled "Israel":