Alfonsa Clerici

Alfonsa Clerici (14 February 1860 - 14 January 1930) was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of Monza - an order that Maria Matilde Bucchi founded. Clerici served as an educator and a champion of the education of the poor while serving in leadership positions to that effect.

Blessed

Alfonsa Clerici

S.P.S.
Religious
Born(1860-02-14)14 February 1860
Lainate, Milan, Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia
Died14 January 1930(1930-01-14) (aged 69)
Vercelli, Kingdom of Italy
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
Beatified23 October 2010, Cathedral of Sant'Eusebio, Vercelli, Italy by Archbishop Angelo Amato
Feast14 January
Attributes
  • Religious habit
  • Cross

Clerici was beatified on 23 October 2010 in Vercelli; Archbishop Angelo Amato presided on the behalf of Pope Benedict XVI, who had approved the beatification the previous July.[1] Alfonsa Clerici is commemorated on January 14.

Life

Alfonsa Clerici was born on 14 February 1860 near Milan, the eldest of ten children to Angelo and Maria Romano Clerici, four of whom died in infancy. Clerici was baptized on 15 February in the church of San Vittore Martire and received her entrance into the faith from Father Francesco Spreafico.[1]

Two of her brothers, Ildefonso and Prospero, joined the Clerics Regular of St. Paul, while her sister, Bonaventura became a professed member of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood in Monza.[1] On 6 October 1868, At the age of eight, Alfonsa received Confirmation in the church of Saint Stephen from the Archbishop of Milan Luigi Nazari di Calabiana. Her First Communion was celebrated sometime between 1870 and 1872.

In 1875 Alfonsa enrolled at the College of the Precious Blood in Monza.[2] She graduated in 1879 and went on to teach in the Lainate community school for four years. Clerici felt a strong desire to enter the religious life but decided to postpone plans since she still had to support her parents and her siblings. She pursued her call not long after and joined the Monza sisters on 15 August 1883, the Feast of the Assumption. Their apostolate is the education of young people. Alfonsa received the habit and commenced her period of novitiate in August 1884 while making her first vows on 7 September 1886; a few weeks prior to this her sister made her solemn profession into the congregation.[1]

Clarici served as a teacher at the Monza sisters' college from 1887 to 1889 and was made vice-director on 18 October 1898. The following month she was appointed director.[1] She also served as secretary and general adviser to her Institute.[3]

In 1911, the bishop Teodoro Valfré di Bonzo asked Alfonsa to take over management of the lead the Ritiro della Provvidenza (House of Providence), established in Vercelli in 1840 for the education of the girls and daughters of poor families. Clerici relocated to Vercelli on 20 November 1911 and would remain there for the next nineteen years.[4]

Clerici suffered a cerebral haemorrhage on the night of 12–13 January 1930 while in prayer and fell face down on the ground. She died at 1:30pm on 14 January 1930, one month short of her seventieth birthday. She was buried in Vercelli after a 16 January funeral but was re-interred in Monza on 8 May 1965.[1]

Beatification

The beatification process commenced in the Archdiocese of Vercelli in process that opened on 13 January 1966 and saw the accumulation of documentation to support Clerici's reputation for holiness. The initial phase concluded on June 30, 1969. On January 4, 1974 she was accorded the title Servant of God. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints accepted the preliminary materials on 18 November 1988.

The Positio was submitted to the C.C.S. in 1992 and she was granted the title of Venerable on 22 June 2004 when Pope John Paul II recognized her life of heroic virtue.

The miracle needed for her beatification was investigated in a diocesan process that opened on 16 February 2004 and closed on 24 June 2004. The C.C.S. validated it on 5 November 2004 and passed it onto a medical board that approved the healing on 27 November 2008. The miracle in question involved the healing of the near-fatal heart condition of Nedo Frosini after his wife Carla Demi Frosini turned to the intercession of the late religious.[4]

Consulting theologians also approved the healing on 22 April 2009 while the C.C.S. themselves followed suit on 13 April 2010. With the recognition of the miracle on 1 July 2010, Pope Benedict XVI approved the beatification to take place. Angelo Amato, Pro-Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, presided over the beatification on the pope's behalf on 23 October 2010.[2]

The current postulator assigned to the cause is the nun Santina Dino.

References
  1. "Blessed Alfonsa Clerici". Santi e Beati. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  2. "Suor Alfonsa Clerici is Beata - The Religious of the Most Precious Blood to the Honors of the Altars", Vercelli Oggi, October 23, 2010
  3. "Blessed Alfonsa Clerici", Nominis, Eglise catholique en France
  4. Leblanc, Paulette, "Alfonsa Clerici", Nouvelle Évangélisation
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