Maria Raffaella Cimatti

Maria Raffaella Cimatti
Born Santina Cimatti
(1861-06-06)6 June 1861
Celle, Faenza, Province of Ravenna, Italy
Died 23 June 1945(1945-06-23) (aged 84)
Alatri, Province of Frosinone, Italy
Beatified 1996 by Pope John Paul II

Maria Raffaella Cimatti (1861-1945) was an Italian nun of the order of the Hospitaler Sisters of Mercy. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1996.

Biography

Santina Cimatti was born on 6 June 1861[1] in Celle, a suburb of Faenza, Province of Ravenna, Italy[2] to Giacomo and Rosa (née Pasi) Cimatti. Her father was a laborer and her mother was a weaver and after Santina they had five boys: Domenico, Paolo and Antonio, who all died in infancy, and Luigi and Vincenzo, who both later joined the Salesians of Don Bosco. Upon her father's death in 1882, Cimatti helped her mother by schooling her brothers, though from a young age she wanted to join the church.[3] After her brothers joined the Salesians and the parish priest took her mother in, Cimatti, who was then freed of family obligations, went to Rome and joined the Hospitaller Sisters of Mercy in 1889.[4] She took the name Maria Raffaella and dedicated her life to helping the sick the following year, taking her vows in 1890.[3] In 1893 she was is sent to St. Benedict's Hospital in Alatri to learn nursing[1] and serve as a pharmacist's assistant. She took her final vows in 1905.[4]

Later, Cimatti was sent to the Umberto I Hospital in Frosinone, where in 1921, she was placed in charge of the congregation as prioress.[1] In 1928 she was sent back to the order in Alatri, where she served as the Superior until 1940, when she asked to retire from her administrative duties and serve the sisters, sick, the students, the hospital staff.[3] During the war, in 1944, she nursed the war wounded and personally interceded with the German General Kesserling at his headquarters in Alatri when rumors of bombing the city surfaced. The city was spared.[4] She died on 23 June 1945 in Alatri, Province of Frosinone, Italy.[2]

Her canonization process began on 6 June 1962 in Alatri. For five years, the Ordinary Process on the Reputation of Holiness was conducted and the Rogatory Process took place in Faenza in 1967. Between 1988 and 1989 her intercession in a miraculous healing was investigated, which led to a decree by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in 1994 for her beatification.[3] She was beatified on 12 May 1996[2] by Pope John Paul II[4] in St. Peter's Square in Rome and her remains were moved to the Cathedral of St. Paul in Alatri.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gottardo, Giuseppe (7 June 2001). "Beata Raffaella Santina Cimatti" (in Italian). Santie Beati. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 "Blessed Maria Raffaella Cimatti". Pleasantville, New Jersey: Hospitaler Sisters of Mercy. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Antonucci, Pietro (2011). "Maria Raffaella Cimatti" (in Italian). Alatri, Italy: Visita Alatri. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Bl. Maria Raffaella Cimatti". Irondale, Alabama: Eternal Word Television Network. 12 May 1996. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
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