MARIA ANNA SALA of the Sisters of Saint Marcelline

Blessed

Marcelline Edition

New edition by Sister Vittoria Bertoni 3rd edition Milan – May 2020

Introduction

«A great and strong wind passed that split the mountains and shattered the rocks - but the Lord was not in the wind. There was a fire - but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the soft whisper of a voice. And the Lord was in that soft whisper» (see 1 King 19, 11 13).

The type of holiness of Maria Anna Sala makes us think of that calm and quiet voice, in which God was present.

In order to reach great heights to soar free and joyous to the peaks of the spirit, we must, first, sink to the lowest depths of humility and live trusting in God, who can accomplish everything. This is the message that Maria Anna Sala conveyed all through her life. A hymn to God, a continuous prayer, while becoming more and more absorbed in the mystery of Jesus Christ, who knew the humility of the sepulchre; a confident progress of faith clearly knowing she was loved by God, whilst her being was possessed by Love and was singing to Love.

Sister Maria Anna Sala dedicated herself totally to the religious observance of the Rules of her Congregation and to apostolic work, with an incomparable spirit of sacrifice. She was a very humble and shy person, but God had endowed her with such remarkable intellect that she was quickly recognized as a teacher of outstanding value, who gave to her pupils not only formal education and this in an age when women were kept away from intellectual learning - but also wisdom and the fear of the Lord.

Without pretention nor flauntering sectoral redemption programs, she worked quietly and wisely for the promotion of women to give them adequate learning and piety based on sound theological knowledge.

Among her pupils was Giuditta Alghisi, later Mrs Montini, the mother of Pope Paul VI. This makes us think of the silent but grandiose function that holy mothers have had in the education of their children. And aside to them, the educators.

Card. Pietro Palazzini (Prefect of the Holy Congregation for the Causes of Saints)

Who are you?

Who are you? We did not know your face so young so new. Your eyes do not meet ours, they are looking far away: contemplative eyes absorbed in mystery. Your lips do not hatch to smile but they seem to be about to utter the eternal Word that is born from silence. Who are you? A presence A Sign Our sweet sister

(Sister Teresa Frova)

Prayer

O Lord, our God, Holy Trinity, who in your infinite mercy delighted to give cho- sen gifts to our Blessed Sister Maria Anna Sala, I humbly beg you, if this is your will, to show me how dear she is to you by granting me, by her intercession, the grace I am asking you now.

Prayer of Mons. Carlo Maria Martini, Archbishop of Milan

Blessed Maria Anna Sala, who have been among us sharing and living the daily experiences of us all, look at our present situation, our difficulties, understand the effort we make on the path to God, understand our desire for a life in which the values that you have proclaimed may be brought to everyone's heart and mind. Look at our educational effort, look at our difficulties, at our fears, at all the things that could make us lo ose hope. Get from God, through the gifts that God has given you, for the love that God brings you and for the love you bring to us, that our heart may be filled with hope. 6

The first years of her life

Brivio: the banks of the river Adda

Maria Anna was the fifth of Giovanni and Giovannina Comi's eight children. She was born on April 21rst 1829 at Brivio, an old village in Brianza on the banks of the river Adda, near Lecco. Her father was a very religious and industrious man, well known in the timber trade. He possessed a solid, comfortable house with a spacious porch in a vast, noisy courtyard in the center of the village. Maria Anna was born in this house and she grew up with her brothers and sisters in the warmth of family affections, in an atmosphere of peace and serenity.

Brivio (Lecco) The house where Maria Anna Sala was born

The commemorative plaque affixed to the front of the house

Her large family, faithful to Christian traditions, was well inte- grated in the parish community, of which Giovanni Sala was a vestry- man wise and listened. Maria Anna was baptized in the neighbouring church on the day of her birth and there she received the seed of Divine Life that would lead her to holiness. During her simple and innocent childhood, she would study the Truths of our Faith, which had always had a strong hold over her vivid intelligence, with great interest, thus deepening her piety.

Brivio: the parish church

As a little girl, she liked to visit a little church called «The Oratory of St. Leonard», which was near the village and where the good people of Brivio venerated the Virgin Mary to whom they took their sorrows, receiving in turn the comfort of Christian hope and often graces, as well.

It is right in front of that statue that Maria Anna, with one of her sisters gathered in fervent prayer in a moment of great sorrow for her girlish hearth: when their mother was seriously ill. And while the young girls were praying, as recalled in a small vo- tive family picture, their mother recovered, certain of having seen Our Lady by her side, blessing her.

Brivio - Sanctuary of S. Leonardo: nursing Virgin Mary

Marcelline student

Maria Anna's parents, fully conscious of their responsibility towards their children, tried to educate them through their example of Christian life and a solid intellectual and moral formation. With wisdom and prudence, they prepared them to live the difficult situations of the society, in the second half of the XIXth century, when it was opening itself to the conquests of progress.

The fame of a recently founded girls' boarding school had reached Brivio: the Marcelline School. It was founded in Cernusco sul Navi- glio, in 1838, by Don Luigi Biraghi, the spiritual director of the Semi- nary.

Cernusco sul Naviglio (Milano) - The first school of the Sisters of St. Marcelline.

The aim of the institution was to educate young women of the emerging bourgeois class to the Christian faith, according to a solid curriculum for studies without neglecting domestic activities. Having immediately secured approval, the Sisters of St. Marcel- line opened a second boarding school at Vimercate in Brianza. Gio- vanni Maria Sala sent his more gifted daughters to complete their education at this school. Maria Anna was there from 1842 and was followed by her sisters Genoveffa and Lucia. Maria Anna distinguished herself as an exemplary student and in 1846 she obtained her teaching diploma with full marks.

Vimercate (Monza). The hall of the ancient school of the sisters of St. Marcelline

Her religious vocation

In the absorbing atmosphere of the school life, she had found an even greater joy than her diploma had prepared her for. Her heart had received the call of Jesus, asking her to follow Him in a life of devo- tion, to become an apostle and an evangelist like her teachers, whose piety she had admired, under the guidance of Mother Videmari, the fervent collaborator of the Founder.

Vimercate (Monza): the sanctuary of our Lady of the Rosary, where the first 24 Marcelline sisters pronounced their religious vows.

Maria Anna answered Jesus immediately, with complete devo- tion. However, she had to wait for two years before she could carry out this generous proposition.

Her mother's illness, the responsibility of a large family, the eco- nomic failure of her father, who had been defrauded, required her kind and serene presence at home. Her mother appreciated her very much and through her, her father found the strength of Christian forgiveness and the courage to resume his business. On February 13th 1848, Maria Anna fulfilled the sacrifice her heart longed for. She went back to the boarding-school at Vimercate, as an aspirant, following the call of a religious life. After her novitiate, she took her vows on September 13 th 1852, which coincided with the canonic creation of the congregation and the profession of the first 24 sisters of St. Marcelline.

The testimony of her life

Chambéry (Savoia-FR). The castle of the Dukes of Savoy.

She then began her life as a nun and as a teacher rising above the humdrum of everyday tasks and of the regular observance that was to carry her through the humble and incessant practice of uninterrupted Christian virtues to the only true realization of human existence: ho- liliness. The boarding school of Cernusco, Via Amedei Milan, Genoa and during the autumn holidays Chambery in the Savoy, were the

grounds for her fertile apostolate; during the last years of her life she was again sent to Milan, this time to general house of Via Quadronno.

The perfect obedience of Sister Maria Anna was manifested not only in welcoming with an always-willing heart all these transfers, even if painful to her because of her vivid and deep sensibility, but also in her full dependence of the Mother Superior and the Sisters, in her ready availability towards the students and anyone who had turned to her help. «She seemed to have taken vows of obedience to all the Sis- ters», said a witness.

«I’m coming right away » remained the motto of her life irrevo- cably offered to serve. Her « I’m coming right away » occasioned in- terruption of her most important activities such as her lessons metic- ulously prepared, or even depriving her of precious time for prolonged contact with God.

She lived in the presence of God which was to her like the air we breathe. Her pupils noticed it when they listened to her explanations in class, always marked by a profound spirit of faith that captured their attention and touched their hearts, and when they were close to her, in the chapel, in times of prayer of the community or when they saw her pass promptly though the corridors of the college, taken from her thousand tasks. Above all, they noticed when they watched her late at night, in the dimly lit dormitory, kneeling for a long time in a final daily conversation with Jesus Crucified. She is an extraordinary nun the pupils said to one another, point- ing her out. She is a saint, some dared to say after testing her patience, firmness, meekness, inexhaustible ability to understand, of forgiveness, of trust, of waiting, of love, like teenagers know how to do it with their teachers and educators. Sister Maria Anna, as true educator, had all these qualities, because, notwithstanding her strong personality, she was a meek woman. She had the strength of the meek: the strength that conquers the Kingdom.

Following Jesus the Master

Her limpid, crystal-clear letters kept by some of her correspond- ents as treasures of great value, help us understand not only her ex- pressive style but also her way of life. Sister Maria Anna wrote to her sister Genoveffa who was also a nun and a teacher in the same congregation in February 1869: «Dear Genoveffa,

As usual, I am answering your letter in a hurry - it was very dear to me, as dear as the beautiful holy picture you sent me. Oh, thanks for your kind-heartedness to me, many thanks! I am sorry about your cold. However, I hope you will be careful and get rid of it quickly. Try to keep up your strength because we can fulfil our duties better when we are healthy. Stay cheerful and think that God really favours for you and will help you more than you realize in educating and teaching your pupils well. Don't think you are wasting your time only because you cannot see the fruits of your work immediately; be patient and with the help of God you will be rewarded by working in our Lord's Vineyard. But if sometimes we think our duty is beyond our strength we must not be daunted because, on the contrary, at that moment we almost have the right to expect greater help from the Lord. In fact, if the will of our Superiores is for us the will of God, we must say that it is God who put us in this school, in this service and so on. And God will never give us a task beyond our strength; therefore it is certain that the more inadequate we are, the more He must help us so that His work does not fail. Take courage then, and be joyful: we must try to do what we can, to fulfil our duties but we must remember that God has to do His duty too, and He will do it as He always d id».

These are the deep beliefs that supported her existential choice: Sister Maria Anna knew how demanding the apostolate in school was, but she loved it, because it made her collaborator of her Master Jesus.

Here is what she wrote to her pupil Angelina Panzarasa:

«I am very much obliged to you for your beautiful letter and I am keeping it as a good omen that in the coming school year, I will have in you a pupil who will make my pleasant work as a teacher even more delightful. It is true that I am not worth much but may we trust in the Lord for Him to confirm my good will to do my best for your success and the one of each of my beloved pupils» (5/10/1850).

The blessed Maria Anna Sala (right) with her sister (left)

Sister Marianna worked tirelessly for her pupils because she wanted them to become not only educated but also strong in Faith and in all

Christian virtues like the «virtuous woman» in the Holy Scrip- tures. She encouraged them in life’s difficulties.

«Take courage my dear Virginia, courage and trust in God who always watches over you with the eyes of a truly loving father. He will always be near you and will help you to educate the dear children that he has entrusted to you and He will reward you for all you do to educate them well for Him and for society; He will support you in difficult moments; He will be generous with the divine graces that can warm the heart of a good and virtuous mother». (Letter written to Virginia Limonta on 29/7/1877).

One of her pupils stated at the trial:

«Her only aim in educating her pupils was to form real Christian women who would, in their turn, form their families in a Christian way, extending the Kingdom of God».

And another pupil added:

«The purpose of all her teaching was to form her pupils to become mothers of real Christian families».

The relationship between Sister Maria Anna and her pupils was always sincere and straightforward. Because she herself was «absolutely truthful», she wanted the truth. Her pupils understood this and loved her for it.

Sister Maria Anna's also loved simply and truly, as she herself writes with surprise in one of her most significant letters, her letter of farewell written to the Mother Superior in Genoa after receiving the obedience that transferred her to Milan:

«Dearest Mother Superior Caterina, I received the news of my new destination yesterday. I cannot express the effect that it produced on my heart because I am still very confused. But, enough. God wants it this way and He will help me. Is this the saintly indifference 19

we spoke of? Oh, how far I am from acquiring it! I am ashamed of myself because although I thought I was ready for any sacrifice I must face the fact that my nature still rebels so vividly. Dear Mother Superior, pray for me. I shall remember you in my prayers every day because this is the only way 1 have to repay you for the thoughtfulness and kindness you have always shown me and which I shall always keep written in my heart. I wonder how many times I have caused you pain because of my wild and abrupt nature! I beg for your forgiveness and hope that you will apologize for me to the other nuns for anything I may have said to offend them. Please give them my love and assure them I will always remember each one with affection. What about my dear pupils? And the older ones? Oh, if you knew how deeply I feel at having to leave them, I did not realize how much I loved them. Dear Mother Superior, please give them my love and encourage them for me. I hope that God will bless them this year and that they will be a comfort to you, dear Mother Superior, and to all those who are helping them. I must end now even though I still have a lot of things to tell you, but they must wait till next time. All my love and once again, I must thank you and hope that you will pray for me, to help me fulfil God's will. Always believe me, Affectionately and gratefully. Yours, Sister Marianna Sala» (1st November, 1878).

Then, in this very same letter, she added: «P.S. I have read my letter again and I realize that you might think that I am not happy here; that is not true; I feel sorry at having left you all, but God is good to me. In fact, the Mother Superior is very good and kind and all the nuns are kinder to me than what I deserve. I hope God will help me to return all this goodness».

Cernusco sul Naviglio – P. Rivetta1957. Blessed Maria Anna represented with the uniform that was of the Marcelline from 1866 to 1968.

Milan, the school at Via Quadronno, where the blessed Maria‐Anna lived. The al- tar of the chapel is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception.

Her suffering

After the outpouring, albeit very controlled, of her feelings, the post scriptum of the letter to Superior Locatelli, is, for Sister Maria Anna, as a resumption to regain control of herself because she does not want her sufferings to be a burden to other people. Sister Maria Anna was always like that. Only the people who lived in close contact with her were able to understand to some extent her participation in the mystery of the Cross to which God calls His disci- ples.

Milan – the boarding-school in Via Quadronno where Sister Maria Anna died

Undoubtedly, the inevitable human miseries of day to day life in a community were causes of suffering which she always accepted with unalterable peace in addition to the frequent rebukes from Mother Videmari, because she thought, in good faith, that saints must be put to the test, adding pain to Sister Maria Anna’s cross.

She suffered physically as well. The illness that would be the rea- son of her death appeared at least eight years prior to it, when she was in Via Quadronno. She developed a throat cancer, which caused a swelling of her neck.

To hide it, she wore a little black scarf without any embarrass- ment while a sweet imperturbable smile in her face, after violent at- tacks of acute pain that even forced her to interrupt her lessons, made people forget how much she was suffering. Indeed, in a wonderful overcoming of herself, she got into the habit of referring jokingly to the ugly disfigurement as «my string of pearls (her pearl necklace) ».

She never confessed how much she suffered, not even during the last months of her life. «I am well, » she wrote to her sister on July 26th of 1891. She was now living what she had written many years before, with the logic of the great lovers of Christ Crucified: «We must be brave, my dear Genoveffa, to serve the Lord as best as we can, even when He requests some sacrifice from us: if we can even call sacrifices the little difficulties we may encounter when try- ing to be virtuous. In fact, what is our suffering in comparison to what Jesus, our dear Bridegroom, suffered for our love? On the contrary, we must be happy and thank the Lord when He gives us the opportunity to prove our love and faithfulness to Him. Oh, we must give ourselves completely to God in everything and for everything, and He’ll help us to become saints». (Letter to her sister Genoveffa. 16/10/1874).

Becoming a saint was, to Sister Maria Anna, a matter of truth, fidelity and consistency: it was her commitment from baptism and her vows, therefore she fulfilled it with apparent simplicity, though under 24

great ascetic tension which was not revealed in anything striking but in practicing the ordinary virtues with extraordinary continuity. It was however a tension softened by the joyful hope of Heaven. Her longing for Heaven, in which she always involved her pupils as well, seemed to become stronger and more frequent towards the end of her life. On August 10th, 1891 she wrote to Annunciata Crosti: «Have courage and faith; rest assured that I really pray for you and your loved ones and, please, say a few words in prayer to Our Lady for me, especially in these days, as we are preparing ourselves for the beautiful solemnity of the Assumption. Sursum corda, my dear, Sursum corda The price of Heaven is never too elevated!».

E. Manfrini – Tomb of the Blessed Maria Anna Sala - (Mother House - Cernusco sul Naviglio)

In the autumn of 1891, Sister Maria Anna had resumed her nu- merous and demanding activities and the teaching in the senior clas- ses. However, after the first few days of school, she was forced to interrupt her work and was sent to the school infirmary. Her illness

overcame her physical and moral strength and she underwent terrible suffering for fifteen days.

On November 24th, while the other sisters were reciting the Litany of Our Lady in the Chapel, Sister Maria Anna Sala passed peacefully away as the words «Regina Virginum» were uttered, and on her death bed she seemed graced with new beauty: even the signs of her deadly illness had disappeared.

Sisters and pupils alike spread the fame of her holiness: to the Sisters she was the perfect religious always faithfully in observing the Rule; to the pupils she was the teacher who by word and-example had so impressed and influenced them.

When, in 1920, her exhumed body was found still intact, the interest in the never forgotten Sister Maria Anna Sala was renewed and her former pupils joined the Sisters of St. Marcellina in earnestly pe- titioning that the case of beatification should go forward. At the sub- sequent informative trial, many more witness to her heroic virtues and saintly life.

A unique testimony

Amongst Sister Maria Anna's former pupils was Giuditta Alghisi Montini, mother of Pope Paul VI. She was educated in the college of Via Quadronno from 1883 until 1890 and had Sister Maria Anna Sala as a teacher in her final years.

These providential circumstances, which spiritually bound a Pope and a humble teaching nun, through the sacred transmission of Faith from a mother to her child, reveals how important and effective is the exhaustive mission of Christian education.

Some manifestations from her students

"From her behavior we understood that all that is earthly is nothing, absolutely, if it is not addressed and made for God. She lived as if she was detached from earth, even while doing everything with the utmost attention and with great pleasure, but we felt that she was a higher soul and that, internally, she lived alone with the Lord (...). "(Paleari Pozzi).

I liked to observe Sister Maria Anna, who, on her kneeler, prayed, prayed, and I fell asleep even before she went to bed. Thinking about her now, I see her in a position of prayer. "(A. Paleari Pozzi)

"From her eyes, a light of Paradise just pourred". (Rebecchi)

She always approached us smiling, forgetting completely of herself, to make us happy. "(C. Sacconaghi Mozzati)

"As a teacher she was like Manzoni, in the dormitory she de- scended to attach the buttons "(E. Antonioni).

"She could also be firm and if it was 'no', however sweet, it remained 'no' and we knew it so well, that it didn't even come to our mind the temptation to ask again. "(T.C. Ferrari)

"Her quiet sweetness was not altered; never her lips had accents of impatience. "(C. Badò Cavigliono)

Her message

As St. John Paul II said in the homily of the celebration of the Eucharist for her beatification, October 26 th of 1980, Blessed Maria Anna Sala leaves us three great teachings.

The need for training and the importance of a good character, balanced, happy and generous even in the humble, hidden daily work.

The sanctifying value of commitment and duty, which do not leave any space for protagonists and evasions. The secret of her holiness consists, in fact, not in doing extraordinary works, but in experiencing the ordinariness of everyday life in an extraordinary way, "in living with" the Lord Jesus and with our brothers.

Furthermore, Blessed Maria Anna teaches us the fundamental importance of the educational work that always, at all times, demands happy dedication, courageous patience, seriousness of preparation, responsibility and sensibility. It is in this way, with tireless passion, that Blessed Maria Anna knew how to educate the young women entrusted to her to the knowledge of beauty, truth and goodness and, with the example of her life, led them to live gospel values.

A. Martini reliquary continent the relics of Blessed Maria-Anna Sala (General House of the Marcelline Sisters - Milan)

Her intercession

It is precisely from the Hospital in Muriaé that some of the remarkable healings were obtained through the intercession of Sister Marianna Sala.

In 1930, a farmer Giovanni Barbosa Soares was cured of gangrene in his left leg.

In 1931, José Januario de Matos was also cured of gan- grenous ulcer in one of his leg.

In 1934, Giuseppe Modesto da Silveira recovered from a very serious case of peritonitis with strangulated hernia.

In 1958, a child, Jesus Vidon Filho, was cured of capillary bronchitis.

Also in the Cardinal Panico Hospital in Tricase (Lecce) the Sis- ters implored the intercession of Sister Maria Anna Sala for the recovery of a small child, Antonia Pantaleo, hospitalized in 1968 in a state of traumatic shock suffering from multiple fractures on the right side of her body, caused by a road accident.

The list of temporal and spiritual graces obtained through the intercession of Sister Maria Anna Sala could indeed be very long.

The recovery of Mrs. Giuseppina Perasso Rampon from very severe peritonitis in 1931 was officially recognized as a miracle by Canonical decree on July 13th of 1979.

Synthesis of the life of Sister Maria Anna Sala

1829 Born in Brivio, in the diocese of Milan, fifth of the eight April 21rst : children of Giovanni M. and Giovannina Comi.

She was baptized the same day in the parish church.

1839 Receives the Confirmation. September 13th :

1842-46: She is educated in the college of the sisters of Saint Marcellina, at Vimercate (Monza), where she obtained her diploma for education.

She1848 is accepted As a postulante in the college of Vimercate, to consecrate February herself to God in the educational apostolate. 13th:

She receives the religious habit and begins the novitiate. 1849

April 12th:

At Vimercate, on the canonical erection of the Institute, cele- 1852 brated by Archbishop Romilli, she publicly professes her reli- September gious vows with the first 24 Marcellines. 13th:

1853-58: She is an elementary teacher and music teacher in the college of Cernusco sul Naviglio.

1859: She is in the military hospital of S. Luca, in Milan, with other Marcellines who assist the wounded of the II war of Independ- ence.

1860-68: She is a teacher and vice-superior in the college and external school in via Amedei in Milan. 1865: Brilliantly passes the teaching qualification exams required by the Italian government.

1868-78: She is vice superior and teacher in the Marcelline college opened

in Genoa-Albaro.

1873 She coordinates a group of students on a study vacation in September/ Chambéry and supports Monsignor Biraghi's project for a new October: foundation in that Savoyard town.

1878: Called back to Milan, to the General House of September/ via Quadronno, she is a teacher of the older students, October assistant to the Mother, chancellor and treasurer.

1879 Mourns the death of the revered founder Monsignor L. Biraghi. August 11th:

She signs the opening act of the college in Lecce with the Gen- 1882: eral Council.

1891 Mourns the death of Mother Marina Videmari. In July, she par- April 11th: ticipates in the Chapter that elects Sister Caterina Locatelli, the second superior general of the Marcelline.

1891 Purified from the long suffering of a throat tumor, after a short November 24th: hospital stay, she dies in the concept of holiness.

1920 The discovery of her uncorrupted body due to the casual open- January 29th: ing of her tomb and the healing of Sister Melania Gulfi, asked as a "sign" of the divine will, begins the collection of the attes- tations on her life of holiness.

1931-38: The ordinary process for her beatification takes place in Milan.

1940 Her body is transferred to the Marcelline chapel in Cernusco. 2 maggio:

1944 Decree of approval of the writings.

1962-64: The apostolic process for beatification takes place in Milan.

1977 Paul VI decrees the heroicity of the virtues of Sister Maria 20 gennaio: Anna Sala.

Decree of approval of the miracle: the healing of Mrs. Rampon 1979 Perasso of Busalla (Genoa) 13 luglio:

1980 John Paul II proclaims Blessed Sister Maria-Anna Sala and 26 ottobre: sets the feast on November 24th.

Index

Introduction ...... 3 Who are you? ...... 5 The first years of her life ...... 7 Marcelline student ………………………………………………………….11 Her religious vocation ...... 13 The testimony of her life ...... 15 Following Jesus the Master ...... 17 Her suffering ...... 23 A unique testimony …………………………………………………………27 Her message ...... 29 Her intercession ...... 31 Synthesis of the life of Sister Maria Anna Sala…….………….….33