Upon returning from a weekend trip to the Trappist Monastery in KY, today I will feature a sister of the Trappist order. Maria Gabriella was an Italian nun and professed member of the Trappist order. She was born in 1914.
Maria's father and three brothers died during her childhood. She left school after her primary education in order to help the family. She was a willful, obstinate, and argumentative child, but she was also serious and had a strong sense of duty. She accepted her share in family life by doing housework, laundry and baking bread. For a short time she served as a maid.
In 1932, her beloved younger sister, Giovanna Antonia, died. It seems that this event prompted Maria to deepen her faith life. She joined Catholic Action, taught the catechism to children, spent long periods praying in church and began discerning her vocation. Her local priest suggested a Trappist Monastery. She entered the Trappist monastery of Grottaferra on Sept.30, 1935. She was given the religious name of Maria Gabriella.
In 1937, for the first time, the pamphlet "The Week of prayer for the unity of Christians" came to the Monastery. An elderly nun asked for permission to give the remaining years of her life as a offering. The offer was accepted and the nun died a month later after five days of agony due to paralysis. Inspired by this example, when another pamphlet came a year later, Sr. Maria Gabriella chose to offer her life for the intention of Christian Unity. Every suffering, spiritual and physical, was offered for this intention. She soon fell ill with tuberculosis. The doctors declared the condition uncurable and she died 15 months later.
Maria Gabriella's feast day is April 22. She is a patron saint of Ecumenism.
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