Teodora Fracasso, OCD (17 January 1901 - 25 December 1927) - in religion, Elia di San Clemente - was an

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nun in the

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. Fracasso once had the name of "Agnes" during a stint in the

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. Fracasso's inclinations to become a nun stemmed from her childhood after having had a vision in 1911 in which

Thérèse of Lisieux Thérèse of Lisieux (born Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin; 2 January 1873 – 30 September 1897), religious name, in religion Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, was a French Discalced Carmelites, Discalced Carmelite who is widely v ...

told her that she would become a nun; this realization came a decade later when she entered the

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

in her native

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 ...

where she remained for the remainder of her life. Her beatification cause was opened on 11 September 1980 and she became titled as a

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 ...

when the cause commenced and this led to the confirmation of 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 ...

which allowed for

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to name her as

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later approved her beatification which Cardinal

José Saraiva Martins José Saraiva Martins, C.M.F. GCC (born 6 January 1932) is a Portuguese cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints from 1998 to 2008. Biography Born in Gagos de Jarmelo in Guarda, Portug ...

presided over on 18 March 2006 on the pope's behalf in the

Bari Cathedral Bari Cathedral, or Cathedral of Saint Sabinus, ( or ''Cattedrale di San Sabino'') is the cathedral of Bari, in Apulia, southern Italy. The cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Bari-Bitonto, as it was previously of the archbishops, earlier ...

Life

Teodora Fracasso was born on 17 January 1901 in

as the third of nine children (four died as infants) to Giuseppe Fracasso and Pasqua Cianci; she received 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 ...

on 21 January in the San Giacomo parish church from her paternal uncle Carlo Fracasso. Fracasso had at least four sisters; her elder sisters were Prudence and Anna and her little sisters were Teodora Domenica and Nicola. Her father worked as a painter and decorator while her mother was a housewife. Fracasso received her

Confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant (religion), covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. The ceremony typically involves laying on o ...

in 1903 from the Archbishop of Bari-Bitonto Giulio Vaccaro. In 1906 she claimed to have seen a beautiful woman in a dream moving among rows of blooming lilies who then disappeared in a sudden beam of light. Fracasso received her education as a child from the Stigmata Sisters and she studied at school until the third grade. In 1905 her parents decided it was time to relocate from their home in Saint Mark's Square to Via Piccinni into a little house with a little garden. On the night before 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 ...

- which was celebrated on 11 May 1911 - she had a dream of

who told her: "You will be a nun like me". She entered the association of Imelda Lambertini and became a member of the "Esercito Angelico" of

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

. Her

spiritual director Spiritual direction is the practice of being with people as they attempt to deepen their relationship with the divinity, divine, or to learn and grow in their personal spirituality. The person seeking direction shares stories of their encounters ...

and confessor at this stage was the Dominican priest Pietro Fiorillo who introduced her to the charism of the

; she was accepted into it on 20 April 1914 and assumed the religious name of "Agnes" upon making her vows on 14 May 1915. In late 1917 she sought advice from her confessor - the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

Sergio di Gioia (her new spiritual director) - who in 1918 directed her and her friend Clara Bellomi to the Saint Joseph

of the

in Bari. On 8 April 1920 she joined the congregation there while taking the religious name of "Elia di San Clemente" upon assuming the habit on that 14 November. Fracasso made her initial vows on 4 December 1921 and later made her solemn profession of vows on 11 February 1925. In the spring of 1923 the prioress Angelica Lamberti put her in charge of the embroider machine at the girl's boarding school but the authoritarian and strict head mistress of the school removed her from that position in 1925. But Lamberti held her in high esteem and in 1927 named her as the

sacristan A sacristan is an officer charged with care of the sacristy, the church, and their contents. In ancient times, many duties of the sacrist were performed by the doorkeepers ( ostiarii), and later by the treasurers and mansionarii. The Decretal ...

. From 1922 she became close with Father Elia di San Ambrogio and the two often corresponded. From 1926 she began to suffer from the effects of

encephalitis Encephalitis is inflammation of the Human brain, brain. The severity can be variable with symptoms including reduction or alteration in consciousness, aphasia, headache, fever, confusion, a stiff neck, and vomiting. Complications may include se ...

. Fracasso came down with a bad case of

influenza Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...

in January 1927 and her illness became worse over a rapid period of time which included frequent

headaches A headache, also known as cephalalgia, is the symptom of pain in the face, head, or neck. It can occur as a migraine, tension-type headache, or cluster headache. There is an increased risk of depression in those with severe headaches. Head ...

that she never took medication for. On 21 December she suffered from a high fever. On 24 December a doctor was summoned and diagnosed her with possible

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 ...

or encephalitis not deemed to be serious. But on

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morning two doctors were summoned and declared she had an irreversible

brain tumor A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the Human brain, brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign ...

far too advanced to heal. Fracasso died at noon on 25 December 1927 - Christmas - from a brain tumor; she had predicted that she would die on an important feast. Archbishop Augusto Curi presided over her funeral on 26 December.

Beatification

The beatification process opened in the Bari-Bitonto archdiocese in an informative process that Archbishop Enrico Nicodemo oversaw from 27 October 1953 until the process' closure on 9 May 1955; theologians collected and examined her spiritual writings and approved them all on 1 July 1964 as being in line with official doctrine and not in contravention of it. The formal introduction to her cause for sainthood came on 11 September 1980 and Fracasso became titled as a

as a result. Archbishop Andrea Mariano Magrassi oversaw the apostolic process from 1981 to 1982 while all documentation was sent to 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 ...

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who validated both processes on 23 November 1984. Officials for the cause compiled and sent 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 to the C.C.S. in 1987 for investigation; theologians approved this on 7 July 1987 as did the C.C.S. on 17 November 1987. Fracasso was titled as

on 11 December 1987 after

confirmed that the late religious had led a life of

. One miracle needed to be approved for her to be beatified; one such case was investigated and the diocesan process received C.C.S. validation on 1 October 2004 before a medical panel of experts approved it on 9 December 2004. Theologians likewise approved this on 7 February 2005 as did the C.C.S. on 15 March 2005.

approved this miracle on 19 December 2005 which therefore meant the beatification would occur; Cardinal

presided over the beatification on the pope's behalf on 18 March 2006 in the

. 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 Romano Gambalunga.

References

External links

Hagiography Circle

Discalced Carmelite Friars

Zenit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fracasso, Teodora 1901 births 1927 deaths 20th-century venerated Christians 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns Beatifications by Pope Benedict XVI Deaths from brain cancer in Italy Dominican tertiaries Lay Dominicans Italian beatified people Discalced Carmelite nuns Carmelite beatified people Venerated Catholics by Pope John Paul II