mariandevotees
Blessed Gabriela Sagheddu
Maria Gabriella Sagheddu (1914-1939)
Virgin, Trappist Nun
Sagghedu was born into a family of Sardinian shepherds on March 17, 1914, in the eastern coastal town of Dorgali, the fifth in a family of eight children. In 1919, Maria lost her father. She was said to be obstinate as a child, but was also known to be loyal and obedient. "She would say no but she would go at once", is said of her. At the end of her primary studies, she had to leave school to help out at home where she showed herself serious and endowed with a great sense of duty.
Motivated to deepen her piety after the death of her younger sister, she enrolled in a Catholic youth group called "Azione Cattolica" when she was eighteen. She began to catechise the local youth, help the aged, and intensify her prayer life. At first, she taught catechism with a stick in hand. But one day the priest took away the stick and replaced it with a note that said, "Arm yourself with patience, not a stick." Maria accepted the criticism and changed her methods.
At the age of twenty, she entered the Trappistine Monastery of Grottaferrata, near Rome, on the Italian mainland. The abbess of the monastery during Sagheddu's time there was Mother M. Pia Gullini, whose enthusiasm for ecumenism (a fruit of the efforts of Father Paul Couturier) was passed on to the community. Devoted to this cause, she offered herself as a spiritual sacrifice for the unity of the Christian church during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity of 1938. She then immediately fell ill with tuberculosis, and after suffering for fifteen months, died on April 23, 1939. Significantly, the Gospel reading for that Sunday included the words, "There will be one flock and one shepherd. (John 10:16)"
Sr. Maria Gabriella was beatified on January 25th, 1983 by Pope John Paul II in the Basilica of St. Paul's outside the Walls,[5] at the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the same observance which motivated Sagheddu's decision to offer her life to God. By doing so, the Pope both affirmed the holiness of her actions and set her up as a role model for Christians to follow, especially as relates to ecumenism.
After her death, it was noted that in her Bible, Chapter 17 of St. John's Gospel had become yellowed and worn from being often read. In this chapter, Jesus prays to the Father on behalf of his disciples. Of particular significance are verses 11 and 21, in which Jesus prays "that they may be one, as we also are (John 17:11)," and "that they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me (John 17:21)." These verses are commonly used for a motto of the ecumenical movement. She offered her life to God as a sacrifice for the unity of the Church.
Her body is located in the "Chapel of Unity" at the Trappist Monastery of Our Lady of St. Joseph at Vitorchiano, near Viterbo. This is the current home of same monastery in which she had lived.
Blessed Gabriela Sagheddu
Maria Gabriella Sagheddu (1914-1939)
Virgin, Trappist Nun
Sagghedu was born into a family of Sardinian shepherds on March 17, 1914, in the eastern coastal town of Dorgali, the fifth in a family of eight children. In 1919, Maria lost her father. She was said to be obstinate as a child, but was also known to be loyal and obedient. "She would say no but she would go at once", is said of her. At the end of her primary studies, she had to leave school to help out at home where she showed herself serious and endowed with a great sense of duty.
Motivated to deepen her piety after the death of her younger sister, she enrolled in a Catholic youth group called "Azione Cattolica" when she was eighteen. She began to catechise the local youth, help the aged, and intensify her prayer life. At first, she taught catechism with a stick in hand. But one day the priest took away the stick and replaced it with a note that said, "Arm yourself with patience, not a stick." Maria accepted the criticism and changed her methods.
At the age of twenty, she entered the Trappistine Monastery of Grottaferrata, near Rome, on the Italian mainland. The abbess of the monastery during Sagheddu's time there was Mother M. Pia Gullini, whose enthusiasm for ecumenism (a fruit of the efforts of Father Paul Couturier) was passed on to the community. Devoted to this cause, she offered herself as a spiritual sacrifice for the unity of the Christian church during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity of 1938. She then immediately fell ill with tuberculosis, and after suffering for fifteen months, died on April 23, 1939. Significantly, the Gospel reading for that Sunday included the words, "There will be one flock and one shepherd. (John 10:16)"
Sr. Maria Gabriella was beatified on January 25th, 1983 by Pope John Paul II in the Basilica of St. Paul's outside the Walls,[5] at the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the same observance which motivated Sagheddu's decision to offer her life to God. By doing so, the Pope both affirmed the holiness of her actions and set her up as a role model for Christians to follow, especially as relates to ecumenism.
After her death, it was noted that in her Bible, Chapter 17 of St. John's Gospel had become yellowed and worn from being often read. In this chapter, Jesus prays to the Father on behalf of his disciples. Of particular significance are verses 11 and 21, in which Jesus prays "that they may be one, as we also are (John 17:11)," and "that they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me (John 17:21)." These verses are commonly used for a motto of the ecumenical movement. She offered her life to God as a sacrifice for the unity of the Church.
Her body is located in the "Chapel of Unity" at the Trappist Monastery of Our Lady of St. Joseph at Vitorchiano, near Viterbo. This is the current home of same monastery in which she had lived.