Blessed Maria Gabriella

We celebrate the feastday of Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagheddu.

April 22nd.

Booklet published by Trappiste, Vitorchiano (VT), Italia. December 2006.

ISBN 978-88-6139-002-7

Chronology

17.3.1914 - Birth at Dorgali (Nuoro)

22.3.1914 - Baptised in the parish of St. Catherine 29.3.1924 -Receives First Communion

31.5.1931 -Receives Confirmation

1932-33 - After the death of her sister Giovanna Antonia, she is "converted" completely.

30.9.1935 -Arrives at the Trappistine monastery of Grottaferrata

5.10.1935- Enters as a Postulant

13.4.1936- Receives the monastic habit

31.10.1937- Makes temporary vows

18.4/29.5.1938 Spends 40 days in the St. John's Hospital, Rome

23.4.1939- Dies in the monastery infirmary at Grottaferrata

25.1.1983- Beatified by Pope John-Paul 11

Principal books published

M.G. DORE, Dalla Trappa per l’Unita della Chiesa, Suor Maria Gabriella, 6thed., Morcelliana, Brescia 1983

B. MARTELET, La petite soeur de t'unite. Marie Gabriella 1914-1939, Mediaspaul, Paris 1984

P.BELTRAME QUATTROCCHI, A Life for Unity - Sr Maria Gabriella. New City Press, New York 1990

M. DRISCOLL, A Silent Herald of Unity, Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo 1990. PEARSE CUSACK, Blessed Gabriella of Unity, Cistercian Press, Ros Cre - Ireland 1995

M. DELLA VOLPE, La strada della gratitudine, 2nded., Jaca Book, Milano 1996.

BEATA MARIA GABRIELLA SAGHEDDU, Lettere dalla Trappa, Ed. San Paolo, Cinisello. Bal. 2006

Night Office Reading

BLESSED GABRIELLA APRIL 22nd.

Born in Dorgali, in Sardinia, in 1914, Maria Sagheddu is very representative of the strong shepherd's stock from which she sprang, with all their good characteristics - fidelity, a deep sense of duty, strength of character and intransigent purity as well as their more negative ones - stubbornness, wilfulness and a streak of violence. Her most prominent personal trait as a child and an adolescent was her indomitable temperament, typical of her people.

At the age of 18, a personal encounter with the Lord, the exact circ­umstances of which are unknown, completely changed her life, leading her to lead a deep life of prayer and to devote herself to works of charity. At 21 she decided to enter the Cistercian Convent of Grottaferrata, near Rome. There her life appears to have been dominated by very few but very essential elements. The first and most visible was gratitude for the mercy that God had shown her in calling her to the Cistercian Life. The second element was the desire to respond to this grace with all her strength. After her profession she was inspired to offer her life for Christian Unity.

The impulse came from a request for prayers and spiritual offerings for this cause during the Prayer for Unity Octave, of which Fr Paul Couturier was the great apostle and guiding spirit. Sr.Maria Gabriella had never studied the problem of separation or the history of ecumenism and, in fact, knew very little about it. She was simply dominated by the desire for Christian Unity. During this time the Convent at Grottaferrata had contact with the Anglican Benedictine Abbey of Nashdom which still possesses a card signed by Sr.Gabriella during her final illness.

The fatal sickness that assailed her twenty-three year old body on the very day of her offering (up until then she had always enjoyed perfect health) brought her to her death after fifteen months of suffering. On April 23rd. 1939, her long agony ended in total abandonment to the will of God. It was Good Shepherd Sunday and the Gospel proclaimed: "There will be one flock and one_shepherd.”

Prayer for Blessed Gabriella.

Lord God, eternal Shepherd,
you inspired the Blessed Virgin, Maria Gabriella,
generously to offer up her life
for the sake of Christian unity.
At her intercession,
hasten, we pray, the coming of the day when,
gathered around the table of your word
and of your Bread from heaven,
all who believe in Christ
may sing your praises
with a single heart, a single voice.
Through Christ, Our Lord. . .