July 13th - St. Cloelia Barbieri, Founder

[Weedy]

July 13th - St. Cloelia Barbieri, Founder
Also known as
• Cloelia Barbieri

Died 1870
Cloelia was ahead of her time. This young saint did more in 23 years
than many do in a lifetime of three times more. Adults often talk
about how young people are the hope for the future. That can serve
both as a statement of confidence in a better tomorrow and a reminder
that young people should wait many years before they try to bring
about change.

St. Cloelia Barbieri didn't wait. In her short--23-year--life, this
19th century saint became the youngest founder of a religious order in
church history. Despite that, she is virtually unknown to most
Catholics.

St. Cloelia was born in Budrie, near Bologna, in northern Italy, to
Joseph and Hyacinthia (Nanetti) Barbieri, a pious couple of modest
means. After the death of her father when she was only 8, Cloelia had
to go to work to help provide for the family. She was confirmed at age
9, and made her First Communion two years later, both of which
strengthened her faith.

These were hard years in Italy that included battles to unify the
country under native rule and attacks on the Papal States, which
during this era shrank from an area that included most of Central
Italy, to an area around Rome, then to the 109 acres of the Vatican.

Despite the tumult, Cloelia became a catechist in her parish. Soon,
her pastor, Fr. Gaetano Guidi encouraged Cloelia and her friend,
Teodora Baraldi, to pray for and serve the poor by educating poor
girls in the parish. On May 1, 1868, Cloelia, along with Teodora and
Orsola Donati, moved into a house and began the Little Sisters of Our
Lady of Sorrows. Cloelia was only 21.

From the start, Cardinal Lucida Maria Parocchi, Archbishop of Bologna,
supported the women's efforts and even provided the name "of Our Lady
of Sorrows" (the Seven Dolors) in honor of the Marian devotions
popular in that part of Italy. Card. Parocchi also suggested that the
congregation take as its patron St. Francis of Paola, founder of the
Minim Friars.

St. Cloelia was well-known for her devotion to Christ in the
Eucharist, her contemplative prayer, humility, simplicity, bodily
mortifications and her ability to read people's hearts. Shortly after
she founded the congregation, Cloelia became ill, but then had a
miraculous recovery. She died two years later. When Pope John Paul
canonized her in1989, he said she showed how Christian faith was to be
nurtured in the family, then in the parish.

Patronage: people ridiculed for their piety

(Sources: Butler's Lives of the Saints, Lives of the Saints II and
World Book Encyclopedia.)


Saint Quote:
Always look for God. In Him is the source of all bliss. Apart from
Him, happiness is impossible. God alone suffices... Men's hearts love
one day and on the next they are indifferent. God alone never changes.
--St Teresa of Los Andes

Bible Quote:
But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if the Spirit
of God really dwells in you. Any one who does not have the Spirit of
Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although
your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of
righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead
dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life
to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit who dwells in you.12 So
then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to
the flesh— 13 for if you live according to the flesh you will die, but
if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.
[Romans 8:9-13]


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Signs of Sorrow & Love

I kiss the wounds in Your sacred head,
with sorrow deep and true.
May every thought of mine this day
be an act of love for You.

I kiss the wounds in Your sacred hands,
with sorrow deep and true.
May every touch of my hands this day
be an act of love for You.

I kiss the wounds in Your sacred feet,
with sorrow deep and true.
May every step I take this day
be an act of love for You.

I kiss the wound in Your sacred side,
with sorrow deep and true.
May every beat of my heart this day
be an act of love for You. - Amen.