Blessed Chiara Luce Badano

Blessed Chiara Luce Badano was born in Italy on this day in 1971. She died of bone cancer just before her 19th birthday. She witnessed to the world the fact that God's love is stronger than suffering and death. She was a daughter of the Focolare Movement. She had a great love of Jesus Christ, especially by accepting proudly her cross. She is an example of every young person who works for Jesus.

Chiara Badano was an only child, conceived after 11 years of marriage. Her arrival was considered a blessing from Our Lady of the Rocche, to whom her father had pleaded with humble and faithful prayer. Chiara seemed to have everything going for her as a teen. She had a loving, holy family and a solid faith. She was popular among her friends and was liked by boys. She loved nature and was great at tennis, swimming and mountain climbing and had an outgoing personality and adventurous spirit. Chiara had a bright life ahead of her. She was beautiful, and from the beginning, she stood out for her love for Jesus and the Blessed Mary. She was particularly attracted to them and filled her attention and good deeds, often giving up her free time.

One day while playing tennis, Chiara experienced excruciating pain in her shoulder. Shortly afterwards she was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma. She watched her bright future slip away. The real story of her life begins, the story of heroic virtue. Chiara’s joy was explosive and it only increased with her suffering. After one very pain-filled night she said, “I suffered a lot, but my soul was singing.” Pictures of her on her death bed show her eyes look like pools reflecting the glory of heaven. One of her doctors remarked, “Through her smile, and through her eyes full of light, she showed us that death doesn’t exist; only life exists.” Cardinal Saldarini heard of this amazing teen and visited her in the hospital. Awestruck, he said, “The light in your eyes is splendid. Where does it come from?” Chiara’s reply was simple: “I try to love Jesus as much as I can.”

Chiara had a profound sense of redemptive suffering. She often repeated the phrase, “If this is what you want, Jesus, so do I.” Like any teenage girl, she loved her hair, but with each lock that fell out she’d pray, “For you, Jesus.” She frequently refused morphine, saying, “I want to share as much as possible in His suffering on the cross.” Chiara showed love to her family, her friends and the members of the Focolare movement. At Rome's Shrine of Divine Love Sept. 25, Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, presided over the beatification of the young Italian who died in 1990.

"Only Love with a capital L gives true happiness. Young people can find in Blessed Badano an example of Christian consistency, because she was certain of God's love and trusted in that love even as she was dying." Pope Benedict XVI

At the beatification Mass, Archbishop Amato called Blessed Badano a missionary of Jesus, "who invites us to rediscover the freshness and enthusiasm of the faith." Even as she lost the use of her legs and was dying, she shared her faith and God's love with the dozens of people who would visit her each day, he said. "Her last gift was her corneas, the only organs that were still transplantable" because they were not damaged by the cancer that had spread throughout her body, the archbishop said. "They were given to two young people who can see today thanks to her."

Blessed Badano's parents, Teresa and Ruggero, attended the beatification Mass. Her mother said that Chiara's religiousness grew gradually and normally. When Chiara got sick, she said, "She taught us how to do God's will, like she did, because you don't just say 'yes' when everything is going well."

After the beatification, about 8,000 young members of the Focolare movement gathered in the Vatican audience hall for a nighttime celebration of Blessed Badano's life with readings and singing. Blessed Badano's parents were joined by 600 of the young people from 42 countries at Pope Benedict's weekly general audience Sept. 29 in Saint Peter's Square. The Italian teen's parents went to thank the pope, but it was Pope Benedict XVI who thanked them for making Blessed Badano's life and witness possible. The Badanos gave the Pope a note their daughter had written in which she entrusted herself to Mary, asking for "the necessary strength to never give up."

"We give praise to God because his love is stronger than evil and death; and we give thanks to the Virgin Mary who leads young people, even in the midst of difficulty and suffering, to fall in love with Jesus and discover the beauty of life." Pope Benedict XVI