Pope Francis authorizes the enactment of decrees on the heroic virtues of the Servants of God Enrica Beltrame Quattrocchi, daughter of a couple beatified in 2001; Placido Cortese, a Franciscan friar who died tortured by the Gestapo; and a young Italian mother, Maria Cristina Cella Mocellin, who delayed chemotherapy treatments to save her son from being born.
By Benedetta Capelli
Three figures whose lives were characterized by surrender to the love of God, confidence in his mercy, and hope in his forgiveness. These are the traits that distinguish the new venerable servants of God.
After Monday’s hearing of Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Pope Francis authorized the Dicastery to enact Decrees on the Heroic Virtues of Enrichetta Beltrame Quattrocchi, Fra Placido Cortese and Maria Cristina Cella Mocellin.
“Riccardo, you are a gift to us”
The story of Maria Cristina Cella Mocellin recalls those of Santa Gianna Beretta Molla and, more recently, Chiara Corbella Petrillo.
Maria Cristina Cella Mocellin was born on August 18, 1969 in Cinisello Balsamo, in the province of Milan. He grew up in the parish and, during his high school years, began his path of vocational discernment in the community of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of Don Bosco. When she met Carlo at age 16, she changed her perspective and felt she was called to marriage. Two years after the discovery of a sarcoma in her left leg, treatments and therapies did not distract her from finishing high school and marrying Carlo in 1991. The couple had two children, but as soon as Maria Cristina discovered that she was pregnant with her third child, the disease reappeared.
She chose to continue the pregnancy, undergoing treatment that would not endanger her child’s life. In a letter, he explains to Riccardo, his third son, those moments:
“With all my strength I resisted giving up on you, so much so that the doctor already understood everything and added nothing else. Riccardo, you are a gift to us. It was that night, in the car back from the the hospital, which was moved for the first time, and you seemed to be saying, “Thank you, mother, for loving me!” And how can we not love you? You are beautiful and when I look at you and see you so beautiful, happy, kind, I think there is no suffering in the world that is not worth having for a child. “
Maria Cristina died of cancer at the age of 26, sure of the love of the Father, faithful to Him in his plans.
A family loved by God
Nine years after her death in Rome, the Church recognizes the heroic virtues of Enrica Beltrame Quattrocchi, the youngest daughter of Blessed Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi and Maria Corsini, who died at the age of 98. His was a family living a path of holiness. , demonstrating, said John Paul II when he beatified his parents in 2001, that “it is possible, it is beautiful, it is extraordinarily fruitful, and it is fundamental to the good of the family, the Church, and society.”
Enrica intended to follow in the footsteps of her brothers, Don Tarcisio, Sister Cecilia and Don Paolino, who pursued religious vocations; but his destiny was different, his vocation was to accompany the elderly parents. She participated in the voluntary work with the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Pau with whom she went to the most difficult areas of Rome; in Catholic Action along with his mother; and devoted himself to teaching. Since 1976 he has been Superintendent of the Ministry of Cultural and Environmental Heritage.
His life was marked by various illnesses and economic difficulties, but above all by prayer and daily participation in Mass. In his later years he devoted himself to helping couples in crisis. God’s love was his reason for living.
The man of charity and the word
The most notable feature of the Franciscan friar Plácido Cortese was his ability to surrender completely. He was patient, simple, always willing to face difficult situations such as those that characterized the last years of his life. Born on March 7, 1907 in Cres (now in Croatia), he became a priest in 1930, served in the Basilica of St. Anthony of Padua and a few years later was editor of the magazine The Messenger of St. Anthony (“The Messenger of St. Anthony”).
During World War II, on behalf of the apostolic nuncio in Italy, Archbishop (later Cardinal) Francesco Borgongini Duca, Fra Placido, helped Croatian and Slovenian inmates in Italian concentration camps, especially in Chiesanuova, near Padua. After the armistice of 1943, he worked tirelessly to facilitate the escape of former Allied prisoners, as well as people persecuted by the Nazis, including Jews. This will was interpreted by the Germans as a political activity and led to his death.
On October 8, 1944, through a ploy, he was lured out of St. Anthony’s Basilica, which was an extraterritorial area and therefore out of the jurisdiction of the occupation forces. He was taken to the SS barracks in Trieste, where he died after the harsh torture he suffered.