Dina Belanger (1897-1929)

DINA BELANGER was a Canadian musician, nun, visionary and mystic, beatified in 1993 . . .

Dina Belanger

Feast Day: September 4
Beatified: March 20, 1993

A Canadian nun and mystic, Dina Belanger’s brief life was accompanied by a dazzling musical score that, at her beatification, led St. John Paul II to say, “She had musical gifts that no doubt prepared her for the acceptance of the divine presence.”

Born in Quebec, Dina intended to become a concert pianist, though she early confided in hearing the Lord calling her to religious life. Her devout parents encouraged her musical aspirations, sending her to study at the New York Conservatory. As Dina wrote at the time: “To prove my gratitude [to my parents], I am duty- bound to become a saint. I will become holy in the degree God has marked out for me.”

She studied in New York from 1916-1918, often playing concerts for charity. While there, she continued interiorly hearing the call to religious life. She returned to Quebec to enter the Convent of Jesus and Mary.

Through the rest of her life she had mystical visions similar to those of St. Faustina and recorded them in her posthumously published autobiography. As a nun, she taught music. While tending to a sick child, she contracted scarlet fever, leading to the tuberculosis that took her life at the age of 32.