Alfonsa Clerici
| Blessed Alfonsa Clerici S.P.S. | |
|---|---|
| Religious | |
| Born |
14 February 1860 Lainate, Milan, Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia |
| Died |
14 January 1930 (aged 69) Vercelli, Kingdom of Italy |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 23 October 2010, Cathedral of Sant'Eusebio, Vercelli, Italy by Archbishop Angelo Amato |
| Feast | 14 January |
| Attributes |
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Blessed 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 Venerable 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.[1]
Clerici was beatified on 23 October 2010 in Vercelli; Archbishop Angelo Amato presided on the behalf of Pope Benedict XVI who approved the beatification three months earlier.[2]
Life
Alfonsa Clerici was born on 14 February 1860 near Milan as the eldest of ten children to Angelo Clerici and Maria Romano; she had one sister (Bonaventura) and the rest were brothers (including Prospero and Ildefonso). Two of her brothers became monks while her sister became a member of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood based in Monza.[1] Clerici was baptized on 15 February in the church of San Vittore Martire and received her entrance into the faith from Father Francesco Spreafico.[2]
Her two brothers - Ildefonso and Prospero - became friars of the Barnabites while her sister became a professed member of the Monza sisters.[2] At the age of eight - on 6 October 1868 - she received her 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 and she studied at college from 1878 to 1879.[1]
Clerici gained her master's degree from a college that the Monza sisters ran and she went on to teach in Lainate from 1880 until 1883. 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.[1] She 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.[2]
She was appointed as the director of the Monza sisters' college on 22 November 1898.[1] Prior to this she had served as a teacher at the college from 1887 to 1889 and was made vice-director on 18 October 1898 before being made the director.[2] Clerici relocated to Vercelli on 20 November 1911 and would remain there until her death.
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 due to this. She was buried in Vercelli after a 16 January funeral but was re-interred in Monza on 8 May 1965.[1][2]
Beatification
The beatification process commenced in the Archdiocese of Vercelli in an informative process that opened on 13 January 1966 and saw the accumulation of documentation to support Clerici's reputation for holiness; the process concluded its business on 30 June 1969. This process occurred despite the fact that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints - under Pope Paul VI - did not grant formal approval to the cause until 4 January 1974 in which she was accorded the title of Servant of God. The C.C.S. validated the informative process in Rome on 18 November 1988.
The Positio was submitted to the C.C.S. in 1992 and allowed for her to receive the title of Venerable on 22 June 2004 after 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. Consulting theologians also approved the healing on 22 April 2009 while the C.C.S. themselves followed suit on 13 April 2010; Pope Benedict XVI approved the beatification to take place with the recognition of the miracle on 1 July 2010.
Archbishop Angelo Amato presided over the beatification on the pope's behalf on 23 October 2010.
The miracle in question involved the healing of the near-fatal heart condition of Mr. Nedo Frosini after his wife Carla Demi Frosini turned to the intercession of the late religious.
The current postulator that is assigned to the cause is Sister Santina Dino.