Posted July 18, 2014 in Donna Cristiana (The Christian Woman) by Tiziana Silletti
Translated by Michael LoDico
The figure that I want
to introduce is an amazing woman, charismatic and full of zeal, for her
is in place the collection of documents and testimonies in favor of the
opening of the process for the beatification.
To her I owe a lot ... and it's up to you dear readers, and dear readers of Donna Cristiana, I want to make it known to spread her extraordinary work in a life lived "ordinary."
Angelina was born in a small village in Sicily: Marianopoli, in the province of Caltanissetta on 8 April 1900 by Giuseppe LoDico, pharmacist of the village, and his wife Angela Immordino, the teaching profession. From both parents, Angelina learned the art and vocation of ministering to the sick and the educational passion that, during its existence, will be destined to the lowest social class: the poor, the farmers, the illiterate. From her uncle, the priest Luigi Immordino, she inherited the great gift of faith, a deep faith, characterized by a boundless love for God and neighbor, so much that she chose a consecrated life abandoning the pleasures of the world and refusing after a brief love affair with the young Virgil ... his vocation was different.
Angelina was a woman of tough decisions, strong, not allowing second thoughts. After teaching at a primary school in Sicily, there comes the news of the transfer to Tinchi: an unknown location in the Lucania, in which there was that poverty and working farms ... there was a school ... it, however, never built a church! ... It was to be built in the territory, in the homes and hearts of the people.
Well Angelina could not accept a life devoted to teaching empty and sterile grammar or letters, but it was a life consumed by love. Anyone who wanted her at home, from Tinchi to Pisticci, her fame spread ... was loved by all and at the same time she loved everyone.
I like to think of her as the little Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who recounted that her vocation was born from a phrase on the train to Calcutta had felt in her heart: "I THIRST" and that thirst was the thirst of Christ, the thirst tried on the Cross, a thirst for love, the thirst of man ... Angelina, also a small and simple in its way to drink brought people to this place trimmed culture, faith and hope.
Within a few years there arose the school and the Church: Tinchi - a swampy village, full of woods and fields, turned into a town, later came a hospital, and years later the hospital’s gift was a dedication in her name and for her work - and a mystery we hope can be resolved soon.
The ability to cure
the sick, inherited from her father, in her house here in Tinchi, she
had hosted a young farmer, from Lecce, sick with tuberculosis. This will
be the cause of her illness and her death in Marianopoli the night
between 4 and 5 November 1932.
Just like her birth, however, the sky - as with any Saint - will be the beginning of her long journey to glory.
On the day of her funeral, Father Luciano Vullo said:
"Ardent desire of her heart and her soul was perfect to leave the world
and to be religious; thousand obstacles have impeded and she remained
in the midst of the world, was never in the world, soul and body, she
consecrated to God. "
When the March 29 to 30, our association has participated in the national event dedicated to the culture "of the May" books with the photographic exhibition and conference dedicated to the person and work of Angelina, while we were in the council chamber to prepare everything a gentleman came up to me and began telling me:
"Tiziana you should know, everything is nice, all commendable but there is a mistake!"
I, already anxious about the event, organization, etc .. replied: "Tell me ..."
He almost makes me angry, saying; "you know the title of the event is wrong: you do not have quotation marks, the adjective " holy " and as you know very well you cannot say that she may be holy as the Church in this regard did not rule."
At that moment, I suddenly thought to myself: "here is someone that had to find something wrong!" But, when I got home I stopped to think and I realized: if this woman's life was entirely lived according to the Gospel if her mission was in full conformity to Christ's commandment: Love God and your neighbor, if her daily life was lived to heal the sick, free the prisoners, to proclaim Jesus ... certainly not her holiness of life depended, not depends on two quotes!
Angelina lived by Saints and we pray and we are confident that the Church can express themselves in this regard as soon as possible.
I conclude with a quote taken from "MULIERIS DIGNITATEM" the apostolic letter of Giovanni Paolo II dedicated to women on the occasion of the Marian Year, 1988 with which I would like to emphasize the great "value added" Angelina ...her being a Woman!
"Therefore the Church gives thanks for all women and for each: for mothers, sisters, wives; for women consecrated to God in virginity; for women dedicated to the many human beings who await the gratuitous love of another person; for women who watch over the human in the family, which is the fundamental sign of the human community; for women who work professionally, and who at times are burdened by a great social responsibility; for "perfect" women and for women 'weak' for all as they have come forth from the heart of God in all the beauty and richness of their femininity; as they have been embraced by his eternal love. The Church gives thanks for all the manifestations of the "genius" appeared in the course of history, in the midst of all peoples and nations; thanks for all the charisms which the Holy Spirit distributes to women in the history of the People of God, for all the victories which she owes to their faith, hope and charity: she gives thanks for all the fruits of feminine holiness. " ---- Tiziana Silletti
