Saint of the day: Santa Maria Bertilla Boscardin

Saint of the day, Santa Maria Bertilla Boscardin: If anyone knew rejection, ridicule and disappointment, that was the saint of today. But such trials only brought Maria Bertilla Boscardin closer to God and more determined to serve him.

Born in Italy in 1888, the young woman lived in fear of her father, a violent man prone to jealousy and drunkenness. His education was limited so that he could spend more time helping at home and working in the fields. He showed little talent and was often the subject of jokes.

Prayer to all the holy lawyers for graces

In 1904 she joined the Sisters of Santa Dorotea and was assigned to work in the kitchen, bakery and laundry. After some time, Maria received training as a nurse and started working in a hospital with children with diphtheria. There the young nun seemed to find her true vocation: to care for very sick and disturbed children. Later, when the hospital was taken over by the military. During the first World War. Sister Maria Bertilla took care of the patients without fear, under the threat of constant air raids and bombings.

He died in 1922 after suffering from a painful tumor for many years. Some of the patients he had attended many years earlier were present at his canonization in 1961.

Saint of the day, Santa Maria Bertilla Boscardin Reflection: This fairly recent saint knew the difficulties of living in a situation of abuse. Let us pray to her to help all those suffering from any form of spiritual, mental or physical abuse.

Until it collapses: the tumor has reproduced. “Death can surprise me at any moment”, he writes in his notes, “but I have to be prepared”. New operation, but this time he never gets up again and his life ends at 34. However, the irradiation continues. At his tomb there are always those who pray, those who need the nurse nun for the most diverse evils: and help, in mysterious ways, arrives. Lived darkly, Maria Bertilla is increasingly known and loved when she died. Expert in suffering and humiliation, she continues to give hope. His remains are now in Vicenza, in the Mother House of his community.