Maria Oliva Bonaldo
Maria Oliva Bonaldo, in religion, Maria Oliva Bonaldo of the Mystical Body (March 26, 1893, Castelfranco Veneto – July 10, 1976, Rome) was an Italian Catholic nun, founder of the Daughters of the Church and recognized as venerable by the Catholic Church.
Early life and education
[edit]Maria Oliva Bonaldo was born in 1893. Her parents were Giuseppe Antonio Bonaldo and Italica Dionisia Bianco. She was the fourth child of a family of nine. Her parents were first restaurateurs before they opened and operated a hotel in the town of Bassano del Grappa where they settled. Her mother died on February 13, 1904, giving birth to her ninth child. Maria was 11 years old.[1]
Until the age of 14, she was educated in a school of the religious congregation of the Canossians. She then went to school in Venice where she obtained a teaching diploma in 1910.[2]
Career
[edit]Teacher
[edit]For her first teach assignment, Maria Oliva was sent to a primary school in the town of Castello di Godego, Italy. She redistributed part of her salary to the poor whom she called "Jesus" and got into the habit of attending mass every morning.[2]
In 1911, she became engaged to Mario Melli, a young Venetian painter.[2] On 22 May 1913, she decided to take part in the Eucharistic procession for the solemnity of the Feast of Corpus Christi. She would later describe this procession and the moment when the priest raised the host to give the blessing as the turning point in her life, considering at that moment that "everything that did not belong to God was vanity."[1] She would state that upon returning home, she resolved to become a nun, and ended her relationship with Mario Melli. She informed her spiritual director of her new plan to become a nun, but he, surprised by this sudden and unexpected decision, dissuaded her from entering the orders immediately, not considering her ready.[1]
During the First World War, Maria Oliva took refuge with her family in Portiolo, Italy, where she began serving Don Pericle Aldini, the local priest, and was active in youth ministry.[1]
Canossians
[edit]
In October 1920, at the age of 27, she joined the religious congregation of the Canossian Daughters of Charity in Treviso, and on October 24, 1928, she took her religious vows. From 1924 to 1928, she attended the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan and in 1930, she defended a thesis entitled: "The Virgin in Humanism" which allowed her to graduate in literature and philosophy.[1] She was then appointed director of the Pedagogical Institute of the Canossian congregation in Treviso.
During these years within the Canossian congregation, she felt the need to serve the Church by promoting prayer and Eucharistic adoration. In 1934, she wrote the "33 Foglietti" (33 Pages),[3] in which she developed the principles and physiognomy of what would later become the congregation of the daughters of the Church. Wishing to implement this project, she contacted Cardinal Adeodato Giovanni Piazza, Patriarch of Venice. On June 24, 1938, he authorized the creation of a "Daughters of the Church" community as a trial within the Canossian Daughters of Charity congregation. This first community was formed by Maria Oliva and four other nuns.
Daughters of the Church
[edit]
On April 21, 1946, Cardinal Piazza gave his approval for the community of the Daughters of the Church to become a diocesan congregation (which received papal approval on December 21, 1949) and asked Pope Pius XII that Maria Oliva be released from her vow to remain a Canossian forever, in order to allow her to join the congregation she had founded. The Pope accepted. On August 2, 1946, in the church of Saint Maurice in Venice, Maria Oliva made her perpetual profession, along with 46 sisters, within the congregation of the Daughters of the Church. She chose the name "Maria Oliva Bonaldo of the Mystical Body." She was elected Superior General of the congregation, a position she would hold until her death. Maria Oliva was called upon to serve as spiritual director. Among the people she followed were Igino Giordani and Giorgio La Pira,[2] both declared venerable by the Catholic Church.
Death
[edit]On July 7, 1976, Maria Oliva suffered a stroke[2] and died on July 10. Her body rests in the chapel of the mother house of the Daughters of the Church in Rome.
Recognition by the Catholic Church
[edit]On June 17, 1987, Cardinal Ugo Poletti opened the cause for the beatification of Maria Oliva Bonaldo of the Mystical Body.[4] On December 9, 2013, Pope Francis recognized the heroic nature of her virtues and declared her venerable.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e "Maria Oliva Bonaldo". Casa Generalizia Sancta Maria Mater Ecclesiae (in Italian). figliedellachiesa.org. Retrieved 19 August 2024 – via archive.wikiwix.com.
- ^ a b c d e "Venerabile Maria Oliva del Corpo Mistico (Maria Oliva Bonaldo) su santiebeati.it". Santiebeati.it (in Italian). Retrieved 19 August 2024 – via wikiwix.
- ^ "Gli scritti di Maria Oliva Bonaldo". figliedellachiesa.org (in Italian). Retrieved 19 August 2024 – via archive.wikiwix.com.
- ^ "Venerabile Maria Oliva del Corpo Mistico (Maria Oliva Bonaldo)". Santiebeati.it (in Italian). Retrieved 20 August 2024.
- ^ "Vénérable Maria Oliva Bonaldo Fondatrice de la Congrégation des Filles de l'Église (+ 1976)". nominis.cef.fr (in French). Retrieved 20 August 2024 – via archive.wikiwix.com.
