Saint Mary was born in 1890 in the village of Dedino, Zaraysky district of Ryazan province, in the family of a peasant, Ivan Shashin. After finishing the village school, following her father's death, she found work as a hired hand, and in 1914, she went to serve as a novice in the Kolychyovsky Women's Monastery, dedicated to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. In 1920, the monastery was closed by the godless authorities, and she returned to her native village, where she sewed blankets and sang in the choir during services.
In 1930, the authorities intended to close the church in the village, but the sisters gathered funds to pay the taxes and went to Moscow to prevent the closure. On June 1, 1931, novice Mary was arrested and imprisoned in the Ryazan prison. During the interrogations, she answered questions about life in the monastery and its relics, refusing to acknowledge the accusations of counter-revolutionary activities.
The OGPU troika sentenced her to three years of imprisonment in a corrective labor camp, to which she was sent in Kazakhstan. After returning to her homeland in 1934, she was elected a member of the church council. In 1936, the authorities turned the church into a warehouse, and she expressed her dissatisfaction about this, urging people not to abandon the Church.
On September 24, 1937, she was arrested again and, despite denying all accusations, on October 13, the NKVD troika sentenced her to eight years of imprisonment in a corrective labor camp. She died on October 2, 1938, in the camp and was buried in an unmarked grave.
