Maria is Nagi's maid and surrogate older sister/mother, and is the only one who understands the relationship between Hayate and Nagi. She is the character with the most common sense in the series, and appears to be the one in charge of everything in Nagi's manor, since everyone from the head butler to the SP either obeys or fears her (or both in some cases). She is highly intelligent, somewhat devious, good at general housework and likes games of all kinds, though she is deathly afraid of cockroaches, which she refers to as "the dark life-form that exists in the kitchen and other places". She has also proved capable of self-defense techniques in times of need. She is, however, poor at disguises, as seen multiple times when she tries to spy on Hayate and Nagi and is recognised instantly.
She has no last name because she was an orphan who was found next to the statue of St. Mary at a church, which is where she got her name. Not knowing anything about herself, her birthday was decided as December 24, the day she was found. She is the unfortunate one who always has to clean up everyone's messes. She has seen Hayate naked multiple times (and has been seen naked by him once), and she sees the effect he has on other girls, many of whom are attracted to him for his kind nature. Her own feelings for Hayate are unclear, but she bears some occasional awkwardness around him due to the fact that he is the only boy of her age that she knows. Although she has chosen to put any feelings for Hayate aside in order to support Nagi's love for him, she has been shown to be curious about love, and Nagi privately feels that she will someday fall in love with someone and leave her service.
Maria is also legendary throughout HakuÅ Academy for having graduated high school at the age of thirteen in just three years while maintaining the position of Student Council President for all three years. Because of this she was able to recommend Hayate to HakuÅ Academy despite him narrowly failing the entrance exams. Due to such unusual experiences, she both appears and acts in a manner more mature than people typical of her age. Because of this, even people near to her speak of her as if she is older than she really is, a pet peeve for her. She commonly responds that she is still a fresh 17-year-old girl and remains 17 years old (according to this phrase) throughout the entire 6-month-span of the series. She may have met Athena as a child. In the Animax-Asia version, which is dubbed in English, Maria is given an English accent.
