Bl. Eurosia Fabris

I realize that many of the Saints I have featured in "Fun With Saints" this month were clergy or vowed religious, so I want to conclude with a layperson, Bl. Eurosia Fabris.

Eurosia, popularly known as Mama Rosa, was born in 1866 in an agricultural area near Vicenza Italy. She was only able to attend school for two years because she needed to help her parents with farm work and domestic chores. She was still able to learn to read enough to read several religious texts during her youth, including the Bible, the Catechism, and Church history. She joined the Association of the Daughters of Mary in her parish church and developed a special devotion to Mary, the Holy Spirit and the Eucharist. She was active in parish life, teaching catechism to children and sewing to girls who came to her home.

At eighteen, Eurosia had received several offers of marriage, but she declined not feeling herself alled to the vocation of marriage. In 1885, a young mother who lived nearby died tragically leaving three young daughters. One of the girls died shortly after. The other two were 20 months and 2 months old. Their father was away caring for sick relatives, so Eurosia went to the home every day for six months to care for the children and maintain their home. After this act of charity, she contemplated, prayed and consulted relatives and the parish priest before deciding to marry their father. She considered this marriage as an act of sacrifice to follow the will of God and embrace a new mission. She adopted the two girls and had nine more children of her own. She also kept her home open to other children as well, who called her "Mama Rosa."

Mama Rosa lived an intense life of prayer and emulated the strong women of the Bible. She died on January 8, 1932 and was buried at the parish church. Her heroic charity and serenity, fidelity to prayer, and dedication to catechesis surely contributed to the fact that of her nine children, three entered the priesthood and another three entered the religious life.Her feast day is January 8 and she is a patron of catechists and families.