Saints for Our Times: An example of faith nurtured at home, in the parish

By Mary Lou Gibson | Columnist

Clelia (Cloelia) was only 14 when her pastor, Father Gaetano Guidi, began sending other young girls to her for catechism instruction. Clelia Barbieri was known to be a simple and open person with a strong belief in God.
She was born on July 13, 1847, in Bundrie near Bologna, Italy. Her father died when Clelia was very young, and she had to assume many responsibilities at an early age.
The mid-19th century was a difficult time for the church in Italy. The newly united Italian government was suppressing religious orders, confiscating church property and banning religious vows.
As Clelia attracted more members to her catechism instruction, she began to think seriously of forming a religious community. Sarah Gallick writes in “The Big Book of Women Saints” that Father Guidi tried to discourage her because he thought she was too young for such an undertaking.
One of Clelia’s friends, Teodora Baraldi, joined her in this catechetical instruction and the young girls formed a religious group called Our Lady of the Seven Dolors. Father Thomas Donaghy writes in the “Lives of the Saints II” that the object of this group was to pray for and give advice to the poor.
Because Clelia came from a poor family, she had no financial resources to contribute to the community. An elderly schoolmaster heard about this new group of “Little Sisters” and donated his house to them. This was the first in a series of donations that kept Clelia’s small community growing.
The formal beginning of the congregation was on May 1, 1868, when they moved into their new dwelling with the blessing of the archbishop of Bologna, Cardinal Lucido Maria Parocchi. According to editor Michael Walsh in “Butler’s Lives of the Saints,” Cardinal Parocchi gave the community its name of the Little Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows. He also suggested that the new congregation put itself under the patronage of St. Francis of Paola.
As her community began to take shape, Clelia’s physical health began to fail. Gallick writes that she promised her community they would someday have a convent of their own. Clelia died suddenly of tuberculosis at Budrio on July 13, 1870, at age 23. Soon after her death, when religious tolerance returned to Italy, the community received a gift of land on which they built a proper convent.
Stephen Bunson writes in “John Paul II’s Book of Saints” that Clelia designed the congregation as both an active and contemplative apostolate. The community was given pontifical status in 1949 and attached to the Servite Order.
A year after Clelia died, her community of sisters were praying in their chapel when they heard a familiar voice saying, “I die but I will never abandon you. I will always be with you.” Since then, Clelia’s voice continues to be heard in all their convents, according to Gallick.
Clelia was beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1968 and canonized by St. John Paul II in 1989. He held her up as an example to the Christian world of how the faith should be nurtured, first in the family and then within the parish. She is considered the youngest founder of a religious community in the history of the church.
Today, the Little Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows are at work in Italy, Tanzania and India. Clelia is venerated on July 13.