Benedictine Oblate (1904-1957)
Her life
+ Itala was born in La Spezia, Italy. Raised by parents who were indifferent to faith, she stopped practicing her Catholic faith in 1920, in large part because of doubts and grief caused by the death of her older brother.
+ She later experienced a profound conversion and returned to the Church, feeling called to religious life.
+ Itala was involved in various Catholic organizations and earned a degree in letters from the University of Genoa in 1928. That same year, she experienced the first of a series of miraculous visions.
+ In 1929, she became an Oblate of St. Benedict, affiliated with the ancient Abbey of Saint Paul Outside-the-Walls in Rome. She made her final oblation in 1933 and took the “oblate name” of “Maria della Trinità.”
+ In 1941, she proposed the creation of a Memorial of “Mary of the Trinity.” This was approved by Pope Pius XII.
+ Blessed Itala died on April 29, 1957, and was beatified in 2017. Her commemoration is celebrated on April 28.
Spiritual bonus
On this day, the Church also remembers Blessed Lindalva Oliveira, a Daughter of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul who was stabbed to death in 1993 by a patient at a hospital where she was serving in Salvador, Brazil. Honored as a martyr, she was beatified in 2007.
Quote
“Lord, I shall follow You unto the darkness, unto death.”—Blessed Itala Mela
Prayer
Lord God, who gave the holy Virgin Itala gift upon gift from heaven, grant, we pray, that, imitating her virtues on earth, we may delight with her in the joys of eternity. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(from The Roman Missal: Common of Virgins)
Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.
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