Her success in the apostolic life and her high degree of sanctity were due to her intimate union with the Immolated Lamb. She, crucified, made the spirit of the Crucified her own, and it became her throne, her light, and her joy.
It is the end of the sixteenth century. This historical period is marked by impiety and atheism, by attachment to luxury and riches, by sin and immorality. The Church needs fiery souls, who with untiring zeal will renew the face of the earth. And among the elite battalion that Providence raises up at this time is Virginia Centurione Bracelli.
Was she essentially the foundress of a religious congregation? Or an expiatory victim? Or an exemplary and charitable woman of society? To date, the mission of this unique Blessed has never been precisely defined. Many of her contemporaries compared her to another great Saint, Catherine of Genoa, who lived many decades earlier in the same city.
“Is she an Angel?”
Virginia was born on April 2, 1587. A few days later she was taken to the baptismal font, where the sacred minister seems to have discerned in her innocent face the sign of the predestined. “Is she an Angel?” he asked upon seeing her. He even momentarily considered giving her the name of one of the heavenly spirits, instead of Virginia.
Lelia Spinola, the blessed child’s mother, was a pious lady. She took great care to raise her daughter in the ways of virtue and supernatural affinity, and she was so successful in her efforts that the little child “prayed admirably by the age of four, and, while she was yet studying the alphabet, she knew how to meditate on Jesus crucified.”1
When she was a small child, her elder brother Francisco received Latin lessons, but he was very mischievous. This obliged his mother to keep an eye on him during the classes, while Virginia sat sewing nearby, in the same room. As she was already skilled at sewing, she strove to pay attention to the lessons, which enabled her to learn the language of the Holy Church very young. Even before reaching the age of ten, she studied, meditated on and learned long passages of Scripture, especially the Gospels, with which she became so familiar that she was able to quote them by heart and even preach on them.
This, along with many other facts, confirmed that the child had a very serious and contemplative soul, pointing to a high vocation. She felt an inner and ardent desire to become a religious, but she only confided these desires of her young heart to her pious mother. The latter understood and encouraged her, promising her that when the time came she would personally take her to the convent. Nevertheless, her premature death left the child in the care of her father and a step-mother. These continued her upbringing in a very different manner…
A path contrary to God’s designs
Virginia belonged to a noble Genoese family. Giorgio Centurione, her father, held an important post in the Republic and, being accustomed to directing himself in all matters by financial and political criteria, he was ill equipped to comprehend the religious vocation of his daughter, whom he intended to marry to one of the wealthiest men of the city.
The young girl was docile, generous and of a timid nature. At fifteen years of age, she still did not have the strength of soul to stand up to her father’s will, or to contend with the ruses he used to impose it. Thus, when he told her that he already had a candidate and a date set for the marriage, Virginia could only accept her father’s decision, immersed in sorrowful tears.
On the arranged day, before setting out for the church, she went to take her leave of the Crucified One, before whom she had so often prayed, seeming to hear from Him that He wanted her entirely for Himself. However, on this occasion, she clearly heard a severe admonishment from His lips: “Virginia, you are going to leave Me for a man!”
It was the beginning of a painful Calvary. God would to transform her fainthearted nature of a dove into that of a fearless lion, ready to fight for the glory of His cause. Her anguish and affliction for having betrayed her divine calling to travel such a contrary path never left her. Added to this was the apparent abandonment that Heaven permitted her to experience…
Five years of marriage
Gaspar Bracelli, her husband, spent his time at parties and gambling. During the long days she spent at home alone, Virginia found comfort before her Good Jesus. She implored Him to pardon her failings, to make her into a spotless daughter, and to allow her, in the end, to fulfil her mission.
After five years of marriage, the fruit of which were two daughters – Lelia and Isabel – Gaspar contracted tuberculosis, which quickly claimed his life. Virginia obtained for him the grace of the Last Sacraments, and he breathed forth his soul at peace with God.
Giorgio Centurioni wanted to use the situation to best advantage to arrange another brilliant marriage for his daughter. However, upon presenting the proposal to her, he received a categorical refusal. And when he continued, insisting with threats and flattery, Virginia cut her beautiful hair as a sign of a definitive break with the world and perpetual abandonment into God’s hands.
During the foregoing years, Our Lord had tempered the young woman’s soul in the fire of suffering, giving her, moreover, graces of seriousness and spiritual strength to carry the heavy crosses and confront the obstacles that He would send her from then on. God loved Virginia’s mission and would bring it to fulfilment.
The celestial communications returned. She spent hours in colloquies and ecstasies with her Lord Jesus and with the Blessed Virgin Mary. The friends who came to visit her were often obliged to wait for long periods while she remained praying in her oratory, but they mitigated the wait by secretly observing her through a narrow opening, edified by her profound recollection.
Awaiting a sign from Providence
At that time, Virginia lived with her mother-in-law, without the help of servants, and following rules, customs and a schedule more suited to a convent. She was awaiting a clear sign from Providence as to what way she should follow. At a certain moment, however, the situation in Genoa changed radically. The rich and carefree city was caught up in the throes of a crisis: the French and Piedmontese had joined forces to conquer it!
In the capital, fasts, Confessions and processions with the Holy Shroud and the relic of St. John the Baptist escalated, while thirty thousand enemy soldiers approached. Villages and towns were devastated, obliging thousands of children and elderly people to seek refuge in Genoa.
With the help of other nobles, St. Virginia aided the fugitives who gathered in the squares. At that critical juncture, she pleaded for material aid, and even more for an end to the grave and immoral consequences that visited the city with this calamity. “She dedicated herself to curtailing abuses, reorganizing families, legitimizing unions, preventing the profanations of the churches, and bringing back piety to the holy houses of mercy.”
When the danger of the invasion had passed, Virginia went to take stock of the entire city, putting everything in order. She was concerned with the spiritual formation of those abandoned souls, especially the children. She diligently sought the sheep: she strengthened the good, cured the injured and guided the wayward. But despite her dedication in carrying out this charitable work, she knew that this was not the way Providence had traced out for her…
The Refuge of Mount Calvary
For many years, St. Virginia recited the ejaculatory prayer “emitte lumen tuum – send Thy light,” so that her vocation would be revealed. One winter afternoon, after her mother-in-law had passed away and her daughters had married, she was recollected in prayer, when she heard the weeping of a child below her window.
When a maid informed her that it was a child abandoned as a result of the war, she decided to take her in. Moved by the voice of God which she clearly heard in her interior, she embraced the poor little one with deep emotion, clothed her, warmed her and said: “You will stay with me and be my daughter.” Thus began the first spiritual family of St. Virginia.
A while later she welcomed another girl; and some time later a third. It was not long before they numbered fifteen, and she soon had to leave her house and move to the vacant Monastery of Mount Calvary, built thirty years earlier by the reformed Franciscans.
She arrived there in solemn procession, accompanied by forty daughters. They first went to the church where, close to the tabernacle, she consecrated the new work to the King of kings. She asked Him not to leave it unfinished, but to assist it with an outpouring of graces so that from there would emerge souls who truly loved Him.
“Make each daughter into a flower and a gem,” she implored. “As for me, here I am: accept the sacrifice of myself that I offer Thee, and know that I will have no thought, nor any life that is not for these daughters with whom you have blessed me, and for all those who will yet come.”
The work of Virginia Centurione Bracelli was founded: a refuge for souls who sought God and needed protection. The first step had been taken for the future congregations of the Sisters of Our Lady of Refuge in Mount Calvary, and the Daughters of Our Lady on Mount Calvary.
Religious life begins in Carignano
In the Refuge of Mount Calvary, those girls would find, in addition to a solution for their material needs, support for their sanctification and salvation, for many of them were called by Providence to dedicate their lives to Christ. It was with this goal in mind that Virginia drew up the schedule and the rules, and designed the uniforms and habits.
The work soon put down vigorous roots, and other houses had to be opened. The girls who did not feel called to a religious vocation stayed in Mount Calvary and other places; Carignano was designated only for those who desired to live an austere and regulated life. On the recommendation of Friar Matthias Boroni, a Capuchin priest who became the director of the Refuge, they followed the rule of the Franciscan tertiaries, without vows, but promising obedience to their superiors. For their garb they adopted the habit of the Clarists and, thus, “they went from being ‘secular virgins’ to religious, and consecrated to God.”
At Carignano, everything unfolded within a discipline that accompanied both piety and work. Virginia desired that the liturgical ceremonies be embellished with lavish ornaments and vestments, and marked with perfection and splendour, to help inflame souls with love of God. To be at the Refuge was to savour something of the sweetness of Heaven, and to be invited to change one’s ways, or to progress in fervour.
But, in addition to fomenting the spiritual life of her daughters with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, community prayer, particularly the Rosary, ceremonies in honour of Our Lady and meetings on spiritual themes, St. Virginia also educated them in work.
She was well aware of the Benedictine motto ora et labora and the benefits to the spiritual life gained by being occupied. While prayer reinvigorates the interior, work orders the exterior, forming the person in seriousness and dominion over the passions. Those given over to idleness become prey to the temptations of the devil and the solicitations of concupiscence.
Profound and exemplary piety
The spiritual life of the foundress served as a goal, model and example for her daughters. It was a daily occurrence for them to see her deep in ecstasies, and to notice, at the moment of receiving Communion, how her face became resplendent and her cheeks inflamed.
She had diligent recourse to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, sometimes twice a day. Her confessor, in turn would give her this simple counsel: “Go and receive Communion for the greater glory of God.” He was more inclined to give her blessings than absolutions, for which he believed there was no matter.
She continually conversed with Our Lady, asking Her for light, counsel and guidance in everything that she did. She received instructions and even revelations from Her, for she enjoyed a strong bond with the Queen of Heaven. This she sought to transmit and extend to those around her, not ceasing, even on her deathbed, to urge devotion to Her.
Victim of the fury of hell
Now, if St. Virginia had success in her apostolic life, and attained a high degree of sanctity, it was due to her intimate union with Jesus, the Immolated Lamb. “She, crucified, has made the spirit of the Crucified her own, and nothing is now more precious to her than the Cross. It has become her throne, her light, her joy and her happiness.”
As her earthly life drew to a close, Our Lord reserved a cruel immolation for the one who had thus offered herself as a victim. Stricken by a grave illness with a high fever, she suffered such violent fits that those in attendance had to tie her to the bed with leather straps, which she often broke…
She was assaulted by the fury of hell; the demons subjected her to a continuous martyrdom. In moments of calm, she was afflicted with depression and anguish, feeling completely abandoned by Providence, useless, and annihilated.
In addition to the diabolical attacks, she suffered the pains of Purgatory and was brought to the gates of hell. She suffered the heat of the eternal flames and even met some acquaintances there, dead or still living… Frightful visions so oppressed and terrified her that, when she returned to herself, the only cry that came to her lips was: “Lord, have mercy!”
During these visions, she uttered phrases, the significance of which those present were unable to grasp. They concluded that they must be related to the future of the Church and the world. Unfortunately, these revelations were not registered on the pages of history, but only in the book of life…
The consummation of the sacrifice
In December of 1651, Virginia confronted suffering with the courage of the martyrs, the strength of the crusaders and, most especially, with the calm and serenity of her Lord crucified. She never uttered a complaint and always sought, on the contrary, to do good to those around her. She prayed for each one and asked pardon of all.
Her illness was gradually consuming her. Foreseeing that she would die before Christmas, she told her spiritual daughters: “What joy I would experience if I were to watch, there above, the preparations of the Angels and Saints for the birth of the Redeemer!” And on the feast of the Immaculate Conception she asked one of them: “What if I were to find myself in Heaven in eight days?”
The holy foundress was not mistaken in her prediction. On December 15, the eighth day after the Immaculate Conception, while her daughters recited the prayers for the dying, with difficulty she formed the words: “My heart is ready, O God!… Lord, here is my soul!” And she breathed her last breath. She was sixty-four years of age.
As the new monastery was still being built, she was buried in the Church of St. Clare. On the day of the burial, her body did not become rigid; her face remained flushed, and her lips bore the hint of a smile. After fifty years had elapsed, the corpse was exhumed and found to be still flexible and intact.
On account of the multitudes that flocked to venerate her, the civil authorities ordered her to be entombed once again, this time in a very humid tomb, located in another church. After exhuming the body some time later to entrust it to the Sisters of the Refuge, it was found covered in mould. They had to remove the habit and carefully clean it.
Today, although deteriorated, the body of St. Virginia remains supple, clothed in the blue garb that replaced the former Franciscan habit. From it radiates a special aura of sanctity, in keeping with her exceptional soul, the delight of God Most High! ◊
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