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| Mother Assunta Marchetti – photo Emilio Coutinho |
São Paulo, Brazil (Monday, 10/27/2014, Gaudium Press) Thousands of faithful and religious of many different religious orders, packed the Cathedral of Sao Paulo, October 25, to attended the beatification ceremony of Mother Assunta Marchetti, co-Foundress of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of St Charles Borromeo – Scalabrinians.
The three hours ceremony was presided by the Archbishop of Sao Paulo, Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, being also present Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, who represented Pope Francis for this occasion.
In the plaza in front of the Cathedral, huge screens were installed to follow the ceremony. Delegations had come from other cities and even from other countries, as the United States and Italy.
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| Cardinal Odilo Scherer presides Beatification ceremony at the Cathedral of Sao Paulo – photo Emilio Coutinho |
The beatification rite began with the reading of the biography of Mother Assunta Marchetti done by the postulator of her cause of beatification, Sister Leocadia Mezzono, followed by the request addressed by Cardinal Scherer to the papal envoy, Cardinal Angelo Amato, asking that the name of the Servant of God be inscribed among the blessed.
Then Cardinal Amato read, in Latin, the Apostolic Letter of Pope Francis, declaring Mother Assunta blessed, presenting her as “a true witness of the love of Christ towards the migrants and the orphans, for whom she was a tender mother”.
“Assunta Marchetti was an extraordinary Christian”
In his homily, Cardinal Odilo asserted that that day was a special day in the life of the Catholic Church in Brazil since the Church was proclaiming that one of her daughters, Mother Assunta Marchetti, who lived in Brazil for so many years, “was an extraordinary Christian who lived her faith, hope and charity, in an exemplary way” … ” she did not only live according to the Beatitudes but also dedicated her entire life to the good of her neighbour, giving witness to the Beatitudes themselves.”
Cardinal Amato, at the end of the celebration, said that this country of Brazil became her spiritual home and that the needy orphans became her family.
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| Thousands attended beatification of co Foundress of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of St Charles Borromeo – Scalabrinians – photo Emilio Coutinho |
Finally, a relic of Blessed Assunta was carried in a cortege by Mother Neusa de Fátima Mariano, Superior General of the Missionary Sisters of St Charles Borromeo – Scalabrinians.
On that same Saturday the inauguration of the Memorial of Blessed Assunta Marchetti took place at the House of Mother Assunta Marchetti’s Association. A bronze statue of Mother Assunta was blessed by Cardinal Sherer, accompanied by Cardinal Amato and by Archbishop Italo Castellani, from the city of Lucca, in Italy, where the blessed was born in 1871.
Text: Leandro Massoni
Photos: Emilio Coutinho
