Annunciata Astoria Cocchetti (9 May 1800 – 23 March 1882) was an Italian

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated ''Sr.'' or Sist.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to pr ...

and the founder of the Suore di Santa Dorotea di Cemmo, a congregation dedicated to the educational needs of the poor in

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

and the surrounding cities. Cocchetti made her

vows A vow ( Lat. ''votum'', vow, promise; see vote) is a promise or oath. A vow is used as a promise, a promise solemn rather than casual. Marriage vows Marriage vows are binding promises each partner in a couple makes to the other during a weddi ...

in 1843 and was close with Luca Passi who established a congregation similar to hers. Cocchetti was

beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

Saint Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on 21 April 1991. She is the patroness of the Suore di Santa Dorotea and of educators.

Life

Annunciata Astoria Cocchetti was born in

on 9 May 1800 as the third of six children to Marcantonio Cocchetti and Giulia Albarelli; two siblings were Vincenzo and Giuseppina. In 1807, she was orphaned at the age of seven and was taken to live with her grandmother. Her uncle Carlo from Milan decided to take both Giuseppina and Vincenzo to live with him while Cocchetti was sent to her grandmother's. She received her

First Communion First Communion is a ceremony in some Christian traditions during which a person of the church first receives the Eucharist. It is most common in many parts of the Latin Church tradition of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Church and Anglican Communi ...

and her

Confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...

- on 28 February 1810 - from the

Bishop of Brescia The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brescia ( la, Dioecesis Brixiensis) is a Latin rite suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Milan, in Lombardy (Northwestern Italy).Luca Passi who was in the process of establishing a new religious congregation and remained in touch with him until his death in 1866. Cocchetti learned of a school in Brescia devoted to female education and decided to join it; one evening in 1831 she decided not to attend a gala evening with Carlo at the Teatro alla Scala and instead left a letter on his desk and travelled to Cemmo Valmonica. In 1821 Erminia Panzerini (d. 2 May 1842) opened in Brescia a school for girls and entrusted it to the direction of Cocchetti in 1831; it was in 1831 she accepted a teaching position from Panzerini at this school with the encouragement of her spiritual director. She realized in this place that her true purpose in life was to the education of the poor. At this point Passi wanted the two women to join the congregation founded by him and aggregate the school to it, but this was hindered due to Panzerini's 1842 death. She travelled to

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

in 1842 to establish a congregation - all the more since Passi was there - and returned in October with two aspirants; the three made their solemn profession into Cocchetti's new congregation in 1843. From this school she formed a new religious congregation - the Suore di Santa Dorotea di Cemmo - and established it on 9 October 1842 after being vested on the previous 3 October. The institute later received the diocesan approval - on 5 February 1855 - of the Bishop of Brescia Giacomo Maria Corna Pellegrini. The congregation promoted the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola as an appropriate focus for retreats. On the morning of 18 March 1882 she went to

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

but felt ill after receiving the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

. She was diagnosed with a fever as well as disease ravaging her. She received the Last Rites and the Viaticum not long after this. Cocchetti died on 23 March 1882 and her remains were relocated on 22 January 1951. The congregation received the papal decree of praise of

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...

on 20 March 1934 and received the formal papal approval of

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

on 10 May 1941. The congregation now works in numerous nations such as

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

. As of 2005 there were 336 religious sisters in a total of 59 houses.

Beatification

Tumba_de_la_Beata_Annunciata_Cocchetti%2C_Cemmo

A miracle involved the cure of Bortolina Milesi - aged thirteen - who had severe bowel complications that could have proven fatal had it not been for the intercession of Cocchetti. The process for investigating the miracle took place in 1952 and concluded in 1953.

References

External links

Hagiography Circle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cocchetti, Annunciata Astoria 1800 births 1882 deaths 19th-century Italian educators 19th-century Italian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns 19th-century venerated Christians 19th-century Italian women educators beatifications by Pope John Paul II founders of Catholic religious communities Italian beatified people religious leaders from Brescia venerated Catholics