Vatican City News February 20, 2021
Pope Francis has authorized the promulgation of the Decrees that will bring the co-founder, together with Father Gemelli, of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart to the altars and which recognize the heroic virtues of seven Servants of God.
Davide Dionisi - Vatican City
Founder of the first women’s youth circles of Catholic Action, she gave birth to the Secular Institute of the Missionaries of the Kingship of Christ in Assisi and was co-founder in 1921, together with Father Agostino Gemelli, of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. Armida Barelli is the missionary of Catholic Action for which Pope Francis recognizd the miracle by decreeing the forthcoming beatification and with her, in today’s audience with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the heroic virtues of venerable sects Servants of God.
Trust in God and always do his will
Born in Milan on December 1, 1882, she studied in a Swiss religious college before meeting, in 1910, the Franciscan Agostino Gemelli, with whom she organized the consecration of Italian soldiers to the Sacred Heart in the Great War. In 1917 Cardinal Andrea Ferrari, Archbishop of Milan, invited her to take care of the women’s movement, and she founded the first circles of the future Women’s Youth of Catholic Action, which in September 1918, on behalf of Pope Benedict XV, were extended into all Italy. She died at the age of 71, on August 15, 1952, in Marzio, in the province of Varese, and is buried in the crypt of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, in Milan. On July 17, 1970 the Archiepiscopal Curia of Milan started the diocesan process for her beatification, which continued in Rome at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
Wonderful contemplative vision
Cardinal Tomas Spidlik attributed to her “a wonderful contemplative vision of everything that surrounds her, and a great human sensitivity.” Armida Barelli is a key figure in the twentieth century church and the seeds sown then, with the spiritual and also vocational movement aroused by her work are still visible today. Without the experience of the female youth, everything that the Second Vatican Council subsequently acknowledged, with respect to the role of the laity, women and movements in the Church, would have been different. Her apostolic and missionary zeal led her to give birth to an initiative of sisters still active in China, but her commitment was above all aimed at giving awareness to the right and duty of women to participate in the life of civil society and that of the Church. The goal was to ensure that women could bring their personal experience into reflection on the dimension of the sacred. As for the more demanding pastoral challenges, she used to repeat that “Catholics have no right to be mediocre as witnesses to the royal priesthood of Christ.”
The miracle
The miracle attributed to the intercession of Armida Barelli took place in Prato. On May 5, 1989, Mrs. Alice Maggini, 65, was hit by a truck while traveling by bicycle and suffered a severe concussion. Doctors had predicted severe neurological consequences. It was then that the lady’s family involved the intercession of the Servant of God: in a scientifically inexplicable way, Alice Maggini recovered completely and, without having suffered any consequences, continued her life in total autonomy until the death occurred in 2012.
The joy of the Beatification and Canonization Committee
The announcement was received with great joy and gratitude for the Pope by the Beatification and Canonization Committee (the Italian Catholic Action, the Secular Institute of the Missionaries of the Kingship of Christ and the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart) together with many people who in Italy and around the world remember her and keep her legacy alive. The Committee hopes that the path of holiness lived and witnessed by Armida Barelli, starting from an unshakeable faith in the Sacred Heart, may be an example and encouragement for all those who in the life of the association, in the commitment of consecration in the world and in cultural and academic activity they try every day to contribute to the manifestation of the kingdom of God. With their intense spiritual life and tireless organizational activity continues the note, it was ahead of its time by helping to open new paths for the role of women in the life of the Church and of society. Docile to the action of the Holy Spirit, she was able to face new challenges with extraordinary courage and support prophetic works which still today are revealed to be rich in pastoral, social and cultural fruits.