Overview
- Birth: Oct. 29, 1971
- Location: Sassello, Italy
- Death: Oct. 7, 1990
- Beatification: Sept. 25, 2010
- Canonized: N/A
- Feast Day: October 29
- Patron Saint of: Young people, World Youth Day
Chiara Badano was born in 1971 in a small town in Northern Italy. Her parents tried for 11 years to have a child with no luck. Her father prayed at a shrine for Our Lady of the Rocche, and shortly thereafter, Chiara was born.
As a child, she was intelligent and strong-willed. At 9, she discovered the Focolare Movement, which began in Italy during the Second World War and promoted a message of unity to the world.
Chiara joined and introduced others to Jesus through her actions, not her words.
“I don’t have to talk about Jesus, I have to give Him… first of all by being in an attitude of listening, but above all by my way of loving,” she said.
Chiara Lubich, the organization’s founder, gave her the name Chiara Luce (luce means “light” in Italian), saying “It is the light of the ideal that overcomes the world.”
Bl. Chiara Luce Legacy
At 17, Chiara Luce was diagnosed with an aggressive form of bone cancer, after experiencing pain while playing tennis.
Her commitment to Christ, and the incredible faith she displayed in the faith of such hardship, inspired many.
Chiara Luce refuses to take morphine, a pain reliever, saying “It reduces my lucidity and there’s only one thing I can do now: to offer my suffering to Jesus because I want to share as much as possible in His suffering on the Cross.”
She died before her 19th birthday, telling her mother before she passed away to be happy–because she herself was.
Bl. Chiara Luce wanted her funeral to be filled with joyful singing, her body in a wedding gown, signifying that she was heading to be united with Jesus.
She is an inspiration to young people and is considered the first member of Generation X to be beatified. She is remembered for her unceasing joy and faith
Bl. Chiara Luce Prayers and Quotes
This prayer, in gratitude for Bl. Chiara Luce, comes from Italian Bishop Livio Maritano, who championed Bl. Chiara Luce’s beatification before his death in 2014:
Father, source of all good,
We thank you for the admirable
testimony of Blessed Chiara Badano.
Animated by the grace of the Holy Spirit
and guided by the shining example of Jesus,
he firmly believed in your immense love,
determined to reciprocate with all her strength,
abandoning oneself with full trust
to your paternal will.
We humbly pray to you: grant to us too
the gift of living with you and for you,
while we dare to ask you, if it is within Your will,
grace through the merits of Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Here are some powerful quotes attributed to Bl. Chiara:
- “At this point I have nothing left. But I still have my heart and with that I can always love.”
- “I have rediscovered the Gospel…I was not an authentic Christian because I did not live it fully. I won’t and cannot remain illiterate of such an extraordinary message. Now I want to make this wonderful book the only goal of my life.”
Bl. Chiara Luce Patronage
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