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| Blessed Josephine Vannini, Pray for us ! |
⛪ Other Names :
* Giuditta Vannini * Giuseppina Vannini
⛪ Born :
7 July 1859 at Rome, Italy
⛪ Died :
23 February 1911 in Rome, Italy
⛪ Beatified :
16 October 1994 by Pope John Paul II
Blessed Giuditta Vannini (7 July 1859 – 23 February 1911), also known as Josephine Vannini, was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious who became a Camillian and established – alongside Blessed Luigi Tezza – the Daughters of St. Camillus. Upon her profession to the religious life in the Camillian order she assumed the new name of "Giuseppina".
Pope John Paul II presided over Vannini's beatification on 16 October 1994.
Giuditta Vannini was born in 1859 in Rome to Angelo Vannini and Annunziata Papi; her two siblings were brothers Giulio and Augusto. She was orphaned at the age of seven and was also separated from her brothers when she was sent to Via Sant'Onofrio in Rome under the guidance of the Vincentians.
Vannini entered their novitiate in Siena but she was forced to leave due to ill health. She would meet Blessed Luigi Tezza in 1891 while on a retreat; Tezza desired the establishment of a female religious congregation dedicated to the care of the sick and asked if Vannini would be interested in joining him. She accepted after a period of discernment and inner reflection on 2 February 1892. On 19 March 1892 she and two companions received the scapular and the religious habit of the Camillian tertiaries and in 1893 professed private vows. She made her perpetual vows into the new order she established with Tezza – the Daughters of St. Camillus – in 1895 and was made its Superior General; she assumed the religious name of "Giuseppina".
Pope Leo XIII decided not to allow for the opening of new religious congregations around 1900 and that added with the unjust slander of Tezza led to the Cardinal Vicar of Rome Pietro Respighi sending him to Lima in Peru in 1900 to exercise his pastoral mission there. With this new development the leadership of the order fell to Vannini alone.
The congregation received the formal approval of Respighi on 21 June 1909 as an order of diocesan right.
Vannini died in the evening of 23 February 1911 in her bed in Rome.
The congregation that Vannini and Tezza established received the Decree of Praise on 25 February 1922 and received the papal approval of Pope Pius XI on 17 June 1931.
As of 2005 there are 823 religious in a total of 97 houses in places in Europe such as Poland and Portugal. The congregation also operates in Latin America in states such as Argentina and Mexico and in Africa in Benin and Burkina Faso. The order's headquarters is located in Grottaferrata.
The diocesan process for the beatification process commenced on 8 June 1955 and ended on 20 December 1956. Her writings were all collated and investigated and formed part of the beatification process as being a vital component to investigating her virtues and her religious life; the decree on her writings was signed on 22 March 1961. The formal introduction of the cause – which designated her with the title Servant of God – came on 15 December 1977. The second process on her life and virtues was also held and both process were ratified and made valid in 1985.
The Positio – containing biographical details and espousing her cause – was submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in 1988 and led to Pope John Paul II declaring her to be Venerable on 7 March 1992 on the account of her model life of heroic virtue.
The miracle required for her beatification was investigated and was ratified on 20 December 1985. The Rome-based medical board advising the Congregation for the Causes of Saints met and approved the miracle on 16 March 1993; assisting theologians followed suit on 4 June 1993. The Congregation itself also approved the healing as a legitimate miracle on 5 October 1993 and passed it onto the pope who approved it on 23 December 1993.
John Paul II celebrated her beatification on 16 October 1994.
The current postulator of the cause is Gabriella Marzio.