09 january 2008, Sister Giuseppina NICOLI Daughter of Charity Beatified February 3, 2008
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Sister Giuseppina Nicoli set out for Cagliari on January 1, 1885 having just reached the age of 21. Several months earlier she had decided to leave her family and join the Daughters of Charity: Christ had captured her heart in an irresistible way.
She was born on November 18, 1863 in the village of Casatisma in the region of Pavia. Her father was a judge and her mother was the daughter of a lawyer. The fifth of six children, Giuseppina was loved by all. Her gentleness was a natural gift. She received a teaching certificate with the secret desire of dedicating herself to the education of poor children to whom she felt a natural attraction.
Sister Nicoli entered into her new mission at Cagliari in Sardinia with great enthusiasm. She had been assigned to the “Providence Institution” to teach the class of young girls, but her activities were not limited to education. Although health was not in her favor, she did not spare herself – at age 30 she contracted pulmonary tuberculosis, which would slowly take its toll on her until her death.
In 1899, she became Sister Servant of the Orphanage of Sassari. Here, she gave new life to the Association of the Children of Mary, gathered together the Ladies of Charity and guided them in the service of poor persons. She encouraged the development of catechism classes that brought together large numbers of boys and girls each Sunday. Of special note was her involvement in refounding the “School of Religion” for young people in secondary schools and universities in order to prepare them to become qualified teachers imbued with faith.
In 1910, Sister Giuseppina, having been named Provincial Treasurer, left Sassari for Turin. Eighteen months later, she became the Seminary Directress of the Daughters of Charity.
On August 7, 1914 Divine Providence led her back to Sardinia to the “Marina Nursery School” in Cagliari. This district was the center of a very large urban development plan, but also a place where many poor families lived. These families who lived in squalor survived by their wits, at times in dishonest ways.
Because the children were poor, they were refused the right to an education. This absence of schooling led them to engage in corrupt activities. The declaration of the First World War made the situation even more complicated.
Along with this material poverty and destitution, Sister Giuseppina also discovered the even more hidden scourges of moral and spiritual poverty. the “School of Religion” for young people in secondary schools and universities in order to prepare them to become qualified teachers imbued with faith.
On August 7, 1914 Divine Providence led her back to Sardinia to the “Marina Nursery School” in Cagliari. This district was the center of a very large urban development plan, but also a place where many poor families lived. These families who lived in squalor survived by their wits, at times in dishonest ways.
Because the children were poor, they were refused the right to an education. This absence of schooling led them to engage in corrupt activities. The declaration of the First World War made the situation even more complicated.
Along with this material poverty and destitution, Sister Giuseppina also discovered the even more hidden scourges of moral and spiritual poverty.
She continued promoting the need for formation of young people through the School of Religion and in classes of the “Marina Institute” that enabled her to bring the youth together. She also took care of the young people in the city working in large numbers in the tobacco factories and assembled them through the efforts of spiritual retreats. She was also concerned with the young girls who had come into the city from the outlying areas to seek employment in the homes of wealthy families. In addition to providing them with times of joy and relaxation together, Sister Giuseppina taught them catechism and offered them opportunities to learn to read and write.
Above all else, though, Sister Nicoli’s renown is connected with the “basket boys” who were well known throughout the city because of the special tools of their trade: their basket. These boys became her most constant concern. Hordes of these barefoot adolescents, poorly clothed and malnourished, would crowd around the market area in the city adjoining the Marina Nursery School.
They earned a living carrying luggage for those who were coming into the city, via the station or the port, or by transporting the goods purchased by the ladies going to the market. The youth would often knock on the door of the School to ask for something to ease their hunger.
Accompanied by the Sisters in her community, Sister Nicoli approached these young people with the gentleness of a loving mother. She won them over, for she responded to a profound and inexpressible need they had for attention and affection. Through her trust and friendship, she guided them to find the Lord. She renamed them “Mary’s boys,” confiding them to Mary’s protection. She gave them classes, prepared them to carry out a profession, and talked with them about God, giving them an awareness of their own dignity.
During the final year of her life, in 1924, she and her Sisters in the Marina were publicly maligned. Sister Giuseppina accepted this calumny in silence, until the President of the Administration recognized his error. On her deathbed, Sister Nicoli granted him forgiveness with a broad smile. She died on December 31, 1924.
Sister Giuseppina Nicoli will be beatified on February 3, 2008 in Cagliari, the city in which her charity spread far and wide. Numerous graces have been attributed to her intercession. The miracle that led to her beatification involved a young military man in Milan who was suddenly cured of cancer of the vertebrae with lumbar swelling.
Charity was the rule of her entire life. In her journey of humility, she daily lived out the words of our Founder:
“You serve Jesus Christ in the person of the poor; O my daughters, how true it is!”
St Vincent de Paul
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