The more widely known saint for today is John Berchmans, but I would like to tell you about a lesser known saint, a blessed actually...Blessed Gaetana Sterni.
She was born on June 26, 1827 and was one of six children and they lived comfortably until her oldest sister and father died and her brother left home to be an actor. This left the family is a bad shape financially. Gaetana was a pious girl and did what she could to help her mother, but soon married a widower with three children, Liberale Conte. She soon was pregnant, but during prayer she received a prophecy of her husband's death. It was true and she was a widowed before the birth of their child and the baby died a few days after birth. Her late husband's family demanded that his three children be returned to them.
So at age 19, Gaetana found herself a widow, buried a child, alone, and alienated from her in-laws so she returned to her mother's house. She spent much of her time in prayer looking for direction for her future and then came to understand she had a call to religious life. She joined the Canosian convent at Bassano for five months, but received another prophetic message in prayer of her mother's death. Her mother died a few days later and Gaetana left the convent to care for her younger siblings. She did this for the next six years.
Finally at age 26 she responded to another message she received while in prayer with the Canosians. She had been told "to employ there all of herself in the service of the poor and thus fulfill His will." This message was confirmed by a Jesuit priest and in 1853 she began working at the hospice. She was there for 36 years, taking care of the aged, sick, and dying. In 1860 at age 33 she made a private vow of total devotion to God.
In 1865, she and two friends formed what would become the Daughters of the Divine Will. She chose this name to indicate that the members would surrender themselves completely to God's plans. They worked in service to the sick and poor, but they still lived in their own homes. The bishop of Vicenza approved the congregation in 1875 and today the Daughters are in Europe, America, and Africa. Blessed Gaetana died on November 26, 1889.
From the Vatican's website on Blessed Gaetana's biography: "Complete uniformity to the Divine Will through a total abandonment in God and a strong zeal for the well-being of one’s neighbor, ready to sacrifice anything in order to make them well."
Oh Lord, may I always do my best in trying to follow Your Divine will and plans for my life.
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