Bl. Alberto Marvelli

Alberto Marvelli was born on 21 March 1918 in Ferrara, Italy, the second of six children to Luigi Marvelli and Maria Mayr. He was a lively child but also very thoughtful and reserved, most sensitive to the needs of others.

Growing up, Alberto was especially influenced by his mother, who was the "Good Samaritan" of the Marvelli family and always kept open house for the poor. It was not uncommon for Alberto to see half his meal disappear right before his eyes so it could be given to the hungry. "Jesus has come, and he is hungry", his mother used to say.

Together with the highly Christian education he received from his parents, Alberto learned to be a hard worker and to defend justice and truth according to the Gospel.

In June 1930 the Marvelli family moved to Rimini and Alberto began to attend the Salesian Oratory and Catholic Action group in the parish, where his faith was nurtured and sustained, increasing his awareness of his call to holiness. He would often say, "My programme of life is summed up in one word: holy".

Alberto was very athletic and loved all kinds of sports, especially bicycling; this was providential, because it enabled him to carry out his future apostolate and works of charity and assistance.

In October 1933, following the unexpected death of his father on 7 March of that same year, Alberto began to keep a spiritual diary at age 15 in which he detailed his daily schedule: "I rise as early as possible each morning, as soon as the alarm rings; a half-hour of meditation every day, not to be neglected except for circumstances out of my control; half an hour at least dedicated to spiritual reading; Mass every morning and Holy Communion as regularly as possible; confession once a week normally and frequent spiritual direction; daily recitation of the Rosary and Angelus at noon".

When he was only 18, Alberto was elected president of Catholic Action. At Bologna University where he continued his studies, he was active in the Catholic organization, in addition to directing his Catholic Action group in Rimini. Every Saturday, upon returning home, he would give lectures, visit the poor and prepare programmes for the upcoming days. His primary concern was the plight of the poor.

Alberto graduated in 1941 with a degree in engineering and left immediately for military service, only to be exempted from it after a few months because two of his brothers were already in service.

Upon his return to Rimini, he was elected diocesan vice-president of Catholic Action. He began teaching in a high school, devoting his time to designing projects, to prayer (he was especially devoted to the Eucharist) and to helping the sick and poor.

During the Second World War, the Marvelli family was forced to move to Vergiano, seven kilometres from Rimini, because of the devastating air raids. After each bombing, however, at the risk of his own life, Alberto returned to the city to help the wounded, dying and homeless.

He gave to the poor what he had collected or bought with his own money: food, clothing, mattresses and blankets. Then, on his bicycle, he would carry what he could and distribute it to the needy. Sometimes he returned home without his shoes or even without a bicycle, all because he had given them to the neediest he met that day.

During the German occupation, Alberto was able to save many people from deportation to the concentration camps, courageously freeing them from the sealed carriages of the trains that were ready to leave the station of Santarcangelo.

After the liberation of Rimini on 23 September 1945, the Marvelli family returned to the city, now in ruins and without running water, electricity or sanitation.

The interim Authorities immediately entrusted Alberto with the allocation of housing. He proved to be an able administrator and a few months later became town councillor and a member of the Italian Society of Civil Engineers.

He also opened a soup kitchen and invited the poor to go to Mass and prayed with them, listening patiently to their troubles and worries, entrusting them all to God the Father. Alberto did not belong to any party at first, but joined the Christian Democrats after the war and became an active member of the Executive Committee. He understood politics as an important service of faith and justice to society.

He was one of the most popular candidates of the Christian Democratic Party and was respected by all, even by his political adversaries, the Communists, whose ideology he openly criticized; they acknowledged his honesty and profound dedication to the well-being of the community.

On the evening of 5 October 1946, as Alberto was cycling to attend a meeting for the local elections, for which he was a candidate, he was run over by an army truck and died a few hours later without regaining consciousness. He was 28 years old.

The scheduled elections were held as news of his death spread throughout the city, and many citizens decided to vote for him just the same. His mother, however, was elected in his place.

Bl. Joseph Allamano

Feastday: Feb. 16

Birth: 1851

Death: 1926

Beatified: Pope St. John Paul II

He was born on the 21st of January in 1851 at Castelnuovo d’ Asti (now Castelnuovo Don Bosco) and died on the 16th of February 1926 in Turin (Italy).

He was a diocesan priest of the diocese of Turin and rector of the Shrine of Our Lady Consolata for forty years. Deeply in love with Mary under this title and open to the Spirit's promptings, he responded to the discerned will of God to form a group of priests and brothers called to share the Gospel in Africa.

As the Christian Community grew in number, it became evident that priests and brothers couldn't cater for the needs of women and children. From this realization the presence of Sisters in the Mission field was conceived. Joseph Allamano expressed this concern to the pope Pius X during a visit to the Vatican.

St. Maria Goretti

Maria Goretti was born a poor peasant child in Italy in 1890, the third of six children. When she was nine, her family's situation grew even worse, when her father died of malaria. Maria's mother dutifully took her husband's place in the fields, while little Maria took her mother's role in caring for her siblings. The family was able to survive by working the fields of a Count, a job they shared with a man named Giovanni Serenelli and his teenager son Alessandro. Mr. Serenelli kept most of the profits from the farming, leaving the Goretti family quite poor and frequently hungry.

Through all the difficulties, Maria did her best. When neighbors or kindly merchants would give Maria a treat, she would take it home to share with her brothers and sisters. Cheerful and intelligent, Maria was also beautiful, with chestnut hair complementing her delicate features.

On Maria's frequent trips into the nearby village to sell eggs and chickens and to buy supplies for her family, she would visit the shrine of Our Lady of Graces. Her family being too poor to pay for Masses in her father's memory, every night Maria would recite the five Mysteries of the Rosary for the repose of her father's soul.

In June of 1902, 20-year-old Alessandro Serenelli began ordering 11-year-old Maria to perform various difficult chores, none of which could be completed to his satisfaction, and she was often reduced to tears. Alessandro also began making advances on Maria. She rebuffed them all, but, unfortunately, said nothing to her mother, for fear of causing trouble.

On July 5, 1902, Alessandro ordered Maria to mend one of his shirts. As Maria sat mending, caring for her little sister Theresa, Alessandro burst in and motioned Maria into a bedroom. As usual, she refused, but this time, he grabbed her, pulled her into the bedroom, and closed the door. He demanded that she submit to him, but she told him that it would be a sin. Enraged, Alessandro stabbed her 14 times in her heart, lungs, and intestines, and then fled to his bedroom, where he pretended to be asleep.

When little Theresa woke up and began to cry, the family discovered Maria lying on the floor. She survived for 20 hours in the hospital, undergoing surgery without anesthesia. Asked if she forgave her murderer, she replied, "Yes, for the love of Jesus I forgive him...and I want him to be with me in Paradise." She died on July 6.

Unrepentant, Alessandro was convicted, and sentenced to 30 years in prison. In his eighth year of imprisonment, he had a vision of Maria. He saw a garden. where a young girl, dressed in white, was gathering lilies. She smiled, and came near him, and encouraged him to accept an armful of the lilies. As he accepted them, each lily transformed into a still white flame. Maria then disappeared.

Alessandro's conversion was complete. When he was released from prison after serving 27 years, his first act was to travel to Maria's mother to beg her forgiveness. He then found a job as a gardener in a Capuchin monastery, a job he held for the rest of his life.

Along with 30 other witnesses, Alessandro testified as to Maria's sanctity during her Cause of Beatification. In 1950, she was canonized in a ceremony attended by a quarter million people, including her mother, the first mother ever to see her child canonized.