Venerable Elisabetta Tasca Serena

 We have had a lot of Saints who were clergy or vowed religious, so today I went looking for a layperson.

Elisabetta Tasca was born April 24, 1899, the last of seven children to modest peasants. Her parents were devout and fostered in their children a devotion to the Cross. Elisabetta was a sociable child who was attentive to the needs of others. When she was tasked with taking lunch to her brother who was working on the construction of the local church and he complained that the food was too little for him, she would return home and ask her mother to let her take her lunch to the construction site to eat with her brother. Instead of eating her own lunch, she would give the food to her brother.

Her future husband, Giuseppe Serena was a serious but generous man who served in WWI. She was not too interested in his attempts to court her and politely turned him down twice. He was persistent and even had the local priest speak to Elisabetta on his behalf. She was still unsure and visited the Sanctuary of Monte della Madonna to contemplate the matter. It was here that she decided to pursue the relationship and the couple were married on April2, 1921.

The Serenas had 12 children, with two dying in childhood and four entering religious life. When Giuseppi fell ill, Elisabetta devoted herself to caring for him until he died in 1967. When technological advances saw her neighbors start to purchase television sets, Elisabetta set out her own so-called "TV channels" for a practical life:

• Go to the first Mass
• Recite the rosary
• Make stockings and mend clothes
• Work the stall
• Teach the lessons to the children and prepare for school
• Prepare the food
• Do the laundry
• Sing for joy
• Wish well t everyone
• So many jobs to do, and never idleness for a moment

Elisabetta attended her final Mass before her illness on October 1, 1978. She fell ill on October 2. She was diagnosed with bronchopneumonia. She died on November 2. 

The cause for canonization for Elisabetta was opened in December 1991. She became titled as Venerable in December, 2014, after Pope Francis confirmed that she had lived a life of heoric virtue. Since she has not yet been beatified, a feast day has not officially been given to her. 

Venerable Elisabetta, pray for us.