She captured historical attention due to claims that she became ‘possessed’ and authored a letter on August 11, 1676.
Accounts suggest she was discovered on the cell floor, her face ink-stained, holding a letter with strange writing.
Historical narratives claim the 14-line letter was from the Devil, attempting to lead her away from her faith.
Archaeologists have long tried to decode its meaning and may have begun to make some progress.
In a 2017 discussion with Live Science, Daniele Abate, Director of Italy’s Ludum Science Center, stated: “When working on historical decryption, you cannot ignore the psychological profile of the writer.
“We needed to know as much as possible about this nun.”
Historians recount that Sister Maria chose to commit her life to God at the age of 15, entering the Benedictine convent.
Abate continued: “The letter appeared as if it was written in shorthand.
“We speculated that Sister Maria created a new vocabulary using ancient alphabets that she may have known.”
To verify the letter’s script, researchers employed software to scan shorthand symbols from various languages.
They discovered that the nun’s letter incorporated words from ancient alphabets such as Greek, Latin, Runic, and Arabic.
Abate explained: “We analyzed how the syllables and graphisms [or thoughts depicted as symbols] repeated in the letter in order to locate vowels, and we ended up with a refined decryption algorithm.
“We thought we could just come out with a few words making sense. But the nun had a good command of languages. The message was more complete than expected.”
The letter not only referred to the Holy Trinity as ‘dead weights’, but also stated: “God thinks he can free mortals. The system works for no one. Perhaps now, Styx is certain.”
In ancient Greek and Roman mythology, Styx is the river dividing the underworld from the realm of the living.
According to Abate, the letter strongly suggests that Sister Maria was experiencing mental health issues.
He commented: “The image of the devil is often present in these disorders.
“We learned from historical records that every night she screamed and fought against the devil.”