Rachelina Ambrosini (2 July 1925 – 10 March 1941) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

laywoman. Her childhood was marked with great devotion to the

Blessed Mother Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. ...

and she was known for her intelligent and gentle disposition to those she came into contact with. But in the 1930s she had a dream in which she was told she would die before she turned sixteen. This came to pass after she died from severe

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...

in 1941. The cause for her beatification opened in 1958 in

Benevento Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato (r ...

and culminated in mid-2012 after

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

confirmed her

heroic virtue Heroic virtue is the translation of a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs. The phrase is used by the Roman Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman a ...

and named her as

Venerable ''The Venerable'' often shortened to Venerable is a style, title, or epithet used in some Christianity, Christian churches. The title is often accorded to holy persons for their spiritual perfection and wisdom. Catholic In the Catholic Churc ...

Life

Rachelina Ambrosini was born in mid-1925 as the sole child born to Doctor Alberto Ambrosini (also a landowner) and Filomena Sordillo in the small Passo di Dentecane village near

Pietradefusi Pietradefusi (; ) is a comune in the province of Avellino, Campania, Italy. History According to some scholars, Pietradefusi lies on the site of the ancient ''Fusolae'', a town cited by Livy as an ally of Hannibal during the Punic Wars, and which ...

in the Avellino province. Her paternal uncle was a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

. Her

baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

was celebrated on 7 November 1925. In 1929 she was in the garden at her house when she saw the

and ran to tell her mother of this: "You know mamma I saw the Madonna!" Marian devotions came from her mother who oversaw her initial religious formation in her childhood. Ambrosini made her

First Communion First Communion is a ceremony in some Christian traditions during which a person of the church first receives the Eucharist. It is most common in many parts of the Latin tradition of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Church and Anglican Communion (ot ...

on 12 June 1932. In 1933 she contracted the

measles Measles (probably from Middle Dutch or Middle High German ''masel(e)'', meaning "blemish, blood blister") is a highly contagious, Vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-preventable infectious disease caused by Measles morbillivirus, measles v ...

and recovered from this. In school she told her teacher that in her illness she had a vision of Saint Antonio who healed her before telling her that he would guide her to Heaven upon her death which would happen before she turned sixteen. The girl became distinguished for her great devotion and faith from her childhood and was known to be an outgoing and intelligent child who was gentle and obedient to those around her. In

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

she attended middle school before moving to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

for her high school studies that the

nuns A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of Evangelical counsels, poverty, chastity, and obedience in the Enclosed religious orders, enclosure of a monastery or convent.' ...

oversaw. In 1936 her father suffered from a grave illness to which his daughter offered her own life in exchange for his; her father soon recovered. In 1941 she developed purulent otitis - a severe

ear infection Otitis is a general term for inflammation in ear or ear infection, inner ear infection, middle ear infection of the ear, in both humans and other animals. When infection is present, it may be viral or bacterial. When inflammation is present due t ...

- coupled with severe

for which she was hospitalized for on 26 February. The adolescent also predicted the date of her death. Her death came in a Roman hospital on 10 March 1941 after having received the

Extreme Unction In the Catholic Church, the anointing of the sick, also known as Extreme Unction, is a Catholic sacrament that is administered to a Catholic "who, having reached the age of reason, begins to be in danger due to sickness or old age", except in ...

. Her remains were later exhumed from her grave in Campanarello and relocated to the Santa Maria e Sant'Alessio church in Venticano on 28 September 1958.

Beatification process

The beatification process opened in Benevento in December 1958 and closed after its investigations concluded in April 1961; during this time a second process was being held concurrent with the informative process from 1959 until 1960. The formal introduction to the cause came on 13 November 1991 after the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, passi ...

provided the "

nihil obstat (Latin for 'nothing hinders' or 'nothing stands in the way') is a phrase traditionally used by Catholic Church authorities to formally declare that there is no objection to the publication of a book. It also has other uses. Publishing The ...

" (nothing against) with legitimized Ambrosini's posthumous title

Servant of God Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

. The Benevento diocese held another investigation from 7 December 1991 until 8 April 1995 with the C.C.S. validating the previous processes in Rome on 16 February 1996 before receiving the

Positio A ''positio'' (short for the Latin ''positio super virtutibus'': "position on the virtues") is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a Catholic person is declared Venerable, the second of four steps on the path to can ...

dossier in 2001 for assessment. Theologians discussed and approved the dossier on 19 November 2010 with the cardinal and bishop members of the C.C.S. also approving the cause in their meeting held on 3 April 2012.

titled Ambrosini as

a month later on 10 May after confirming that the teenager had lived a life of

. Her beatification all depends on papal confirmation of a miracle attributed to her intercession. One such case was reported in Benevento where a diocesan process was held to investigate the alleged miracle. The process closed in Benevento on 3 December 2017. The current

postulator A postulator is the person who guides a cause for beatification or canonization through the judicial processes required by the Catholic Church. The qualifications, role and function of the postulator are spelled out in the ''Norms to be Observed i ...

for this cause is the

Conventual Franciscan The Order of Friars Minor Conventual (O.F.M. Conv.) is a male religious fraternity in the Catholic Church and a branch of the Franciscan Order. Conventual Franciscan Friars are identified by the affix O.F.M. Conv. after their names. They are ...

friar Raffaele Di Muro.

References

External links

Hagiography Circle

Saints SQPN

Rachelina Ambrosini Foundation

The Real Presence
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambrosini, Rachelina 1925 births 1941 deaths 20th-century Italian people 20th-century venerated Christians Neurological disease deaths in Lazio Infectious disease deaths in Lazio Deaths from meningitis People from the Province of Avellino Venerated Catholics by Pope Benedict XVI

Life

Beatification process

References

Further reading

External links