Chiara Badano

Who they were

Chiara Badano was born in Sassello, near Savona in northern Italy, on 29 October 1971, the daughter of Maria Teresa and Ruggero Badano. At about nine she joined the Focolare Movement, whose founder, Chiara Lubich, later gave her the name Luce, light, 'the light of the Ideal that conquers the world'.

In the summer of 1988, at seventeen, a pain in her shoulder while playing tennis turned out to be bone cancer that had already spread. She met each stage of it with the words 'For you, Jesus: if you want this, so do I.' She died at home in Sassello early on 7 October 1990, aged 18, and gave her corneas. Her last words to her mother were 'Ciao! Be happy, because I am.'

The miracles

Her beatification took place on 25 September 2010 at the Shrine of Divino Amore in Rome. Neither her official site nor the other sources checked name the boy, as is common when the person healed is a child. One more approved miracle is needed for her canonisation.

Why that counted as sanctity

On 3 July 2008 the Church declared that this life showed the Christian virtues to a heroic degree, and gave the title Venerable. The case of a boy from Trieste was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle, opening the way to beatification. Beatification followed on 25 September 2010 by Archbishop Angelo Amato, for Benedict XVI.

Connected on this site

• Chiara Lubich Servant of God
  “At age nine, she joined the Focolare Movement and received the nickname "Luce" ("light") by the founder Chiara Lubich.” — Wikipedia