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We all are the Priestly People of God. Together, we are leaders in responding to the emotional and spiritual needs of Priests and Brothers. September 2013 - Vol. 29 No. 9 Blessed Maria Bolognesi Patroness of the Servants of the Paraclete. It is with great joy that the servants of the Paraclete “ join with the universal church in celebrating the declaration of Pope Francis that Venerable Maria Bolognesi will be beatified in her home town of Rovigo, Italy on September 7, 2013. As the Supreme Moderator of the Servants of the Paraclete, I, Very Reverend David T. Fitzgerald sP, Servant General, hereby place our entire congregation, members and ministry, under the patronage of the soon to be Blessed Maria Bolognesi and ask that through her intercession we may receive spiritual aid and guidance in our religious life and ministry. Furthermore, we pray for the grace to imitate and venerate the example of Venerable Maria’s constant openness to Divine Providence and her ever present desire to do God’s will. We are grateful for the prayers, sufferings and sacrifices she endured and offered for the sanctification of priests and we commit ourselves to model our lives after her example. Very Reverend David T. Fitzgerald sP Servant General ” Outdoor mass to Dear Priestly People celebrate Blessed I’m not quite sure how it happened that I have been blessed Maria Bolognesi’s to travel to Italy a few times since becoming the servant beatification Rovigo Italy, general, but I always look forward to the journey. Who September 7, 2013 could not love Italy? Not only is the country beautiful, but the people are delightful and the food is delicious. Ancient Roman ruins, exquisite works of art, breathtaking sculptures and magnificent churches are to be found Among the thousands of people who came to honor everywhere. And for every Catholic there is the joy of a Blessed Maria Bolognesi at her beatification Mass and visit to St. Peter’s Basilica, the great churches of Rome, and ceremony in Rovigo, Italy, there were several whose the Vatican. presence is worth noting here. I come away from each visit filled with a sense of awe and At the invitation of Fr. Raffaele Talmelli, a monk presently wonder, grateful that we come from such a revered and belonging to the Benedictine Oblates of Vallombrosa, and sacred tradition of faith. And then, of course, there’s the also the postulator of the cause for beatification of Maria Pope! I love how Pope Francis continues to surprise the Bolognesi and author of a book on her life, I met a 97 year world and calls us all to live a more holy and prayerful old woman named Zoe. life, always mindful of and ready to serve the poor and those most in need. It came therefore as no surprise that Procession to the one of the first women he approved for beatification was a outdoor mass simple, holy, prayerful dedicated lay woman named Maria Bolognesi. When I told some of my priest friends that I was going to Italy last month, they wanted to know the purpose of my visit. After telling several of them that I had been invited to the beatification of Maria Bolognesi they mentioned that they knew little or nothing about her. A few said they had never heard of her. One priest, an American of Italian descent with a great sense of humor said: “Maria Bolognesi? I don’t know her but I am very familiar with her sauce!” Angelo Cardinal Amato SDB Then, almost as if by divine design, I received a photo on Prefect of the Congregation for Facebook of a pot of spaghetti sauce someone had made. the Causes of Saints Of course it was “Bolognese sauce.” So I made it my business to use that photo as a memorable, but admittedly Zoe, who lived with Maria for the last twenty five years unique way to promote the cause of Maria Bolognesi. You of her life, was seated just above and to the side of the have already noted, no doubt, that the sauce is spelled with outdoor sanctuary where the Mass and beatification were an “e” but Maria’s family name concludes with an “I.” celebrated. Zoe was radiant and had what could only be I couldn’t help but note that Maria was never a person for described as a serene and saintly countenance. whom the letter or word “I” took on any great importance. Not too far from Zoe, sat a young man named Marco, Maria was selfless, generous and kind; a person who never who as a young boy suffered a severe allergic reaction to sought anything for herself, except to know and do the will medicine that had been prescribed for a heart ailment. of God. She served humbly and prayed to God for those After having over 95% of his skin chemically burned by most in need, especially for priests who might be going that allergic reaction Marco was put into intensive care. through difficulty. It was her special love for priests and her Shortly thereafter an EEG confirmed that Marco had no willingness to suffer and do penance for their conversion brain activity and eventually he was pronounced dead. At and healing that led me to proclaim her a patron of the the same time, Marco’s grandmother was making a long Servants of the Paraclete earlier this year. train journey from her home to see the grandson she didn’t yet know had died. When she got to the hospital and was Father David attended the brought into his room, she began to pray and among some beatification of the new patroness books found a picture which dropped to the floor when she of the servants of the Paraclete opened one of those books. She immediately recognized that the woman whose picture had fallen from the book was the exact same woman who had appeared to her in a dream days earlier saying that Marco would be ok. She didn’t know who the woman was but she began to pray fervently to her on behalf of her grandson. Two hours and eighteen minutes after being pronounced dead Marco began to show signs of life and eventually fully “The Servant Of God, Maria Bolognesi, was a Mystic recovered. Figure, who suffered deeply through her love for Jesus On May 3, 2013 Pope Francis attributed Marco’s Christ. miraculous cure to Maria Bolognesi thus clearing the way Born in Bosaro, Rovigo, Italy, to a poor family, on October for her beatification, the second step on the journey towards 21, 1924, at a young age, she received a vision, where canonization. she saw Christ giving her three rings with five rubies, representing his five Stigmata. Along her life, she underwent several painful sufferings. In order to support her family, she left school after attending only two Elementary Classes, and ate little, mostly bits of potato which her relatives or friends left. Tempted by Demonical Possessions, she was miraculously cured but underwent harsh physical pains through loss of blood, bronco pulmonary, ophthalmic and chronic diseases, rheumatism, anemia, vomiting, and cardiac arrests. Suffering from a severe heart attack in 1971, she died on January 30, 1980, aged 55. She lived her life in remarkable silence, bearing her sufferance through her Family and friends of deep love of Christ. Blessed Maria Bolognesi gathered for her The Diocesan Process for her Beatification was opened on beatification October 21, 1992, during a Eucharistic Celebration in the Tempio della Rotonda of Rovigo. It was closed on July 8, 2000.” At the beatification Marco kept a low profile and maintained a prayerful disposition, never seeking any kind of recognition. After further study of her life by the Congregation for When I spoke with him after the Mass he had very little to say, the Causes of Saints, Pope Francis approved the miracles no doubt wanting the day to belong to Maria and the glory attributed to Maria Bolognesi during a meeting he had for his cure to belong to God. Marco is a living example of the with Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect for the Congregation power of God’s love and grace. By his life and witness he calls for the Causes of Saints. us to imitate the example of Blessed Maria Bolognesi and to Her simple gravesite, which is located inside the Cemetery follow Jesus faithfully. of Rovigo, is a continuous Pilgrimage Site, visited by What follows below is a moderately revised posting of hundreds every year.” information about Blessed Maria Bolognesi from the internet Created by: Eman Bonnici written prior to her beatification on September 7, 2013 when she was then known as a venerable servant of God. Father David sP, Father Rafaelle and Cardinal Amato Marco, the young man who was cured which led to the beatification of Maria Bolognesi Father Rafaelle and Cardinal Amato If God has blessed you and if you are able please send us a donation to help defray the cost of the new mobile home and all the expenses involved in setting it up and moving I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to be present our two beloved priests from Jemez Springs, NM to at Maria Bolognesi’s beatification. In God’s divine Dittmer, Missouri. providence, Fr. Raffaele Talmelli who is the postulator Also, in your kindness, please pray for Fr. Benedict for the cause of Maria’s beatification, and his confrere, Livingstone, sP and Br. Bernard Scollon, sP who will be Fr. Guido have begun the process of joining the Servants moving to Jemez Springs, New Mexico, to serve in our of the Paraclete.

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