Maria Domenica Brun Barbantini (17 January 1789 - 22 May 1868) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

professed religious and the founder of the Camillian Sisters Ministers of the Sick. Barbantini served the ill throughout her entire life and she dedicated her life to

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

following the premature deaths of her husband and son. Barbantini's beatification was held in Saint Peter's Square in mid-1995.

Life

Maria Domenica Brun was born in 1789 in

Lucca Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one ...

to the Swiss-born Pietro Brun and Giovanna Granducci. Three younger brothers and her father all died during her adolescence.Lazzari, Riccarda. "Maria Domenica Barbantini: The Woman and the Saint", Order of Ministers of the Infirm, May 22, 2017
/ref> Brun married Salvatore Barbantini on 22 April 1811 at the Cathedral of Saint Martin but her husband died that October. Her husband's death saw her - that moment - take a private vow of consecration to

and vowed to dedicate her life to the service of His people. Brun was pregnant at the point of her husband's death and soon gave birth to Lorenzo who died aged eight after a short illness. She soon turned her grief into service of the poor and abandoned sick people of her city. In the evenings, in all weather, she traveled with a glowing lantern the narrow and dark streets of Lucca seeking out sick and dying women abandoned in their homes. Other young women joined her. Barbantini died in 1868.

Beatification

The beatification process started in an informative process that Archbishop Arturo Marchi inaugurated on 6 May 1927 - in which all documentation pertaining to her life was compiled - and that Archbishop Antonio Torrini concluded in a special and solemn

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 eleme ...

on 6 February 1931; her writings received the approval of theologians to be in line with doctrine on 28 May 1935. Torrini later oversaw a supplementary process that spanned from 7 April 1937 until the following 10 July and the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pass ...

validated both processes on 1 February 1986 while later receiving the official

Positio In the Catholic Church, a ''positio'' (''Positio super Virtutibus'') is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a person is declared Venerable, the second of the four steps on the path to canonization as a saint. Des ...

in two parts in both 1988 and in 1990. Historians assented to the continuation of the cause on 11 October 1988 as did theologians on 20 April 1993 and the C.C.S. who also approved it on 7 December 1993; she became titled as

Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cat ...

on 26 March 1994 after

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 ...

confirmed that the late religious had lived a life of

heroic virtue Heroic virtue is a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs and used by the Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman abilities and great goodness, and "it ...

. The miracle needed for beatification was investigated and then validated on 12 December 1986 while a medical board approved it on 5 May 1994. Theologians also granted their assent to it on 21 October 1994 as did the C.C.S. on 6 December 1994. John Paul II confirmed it was a miracle on 15 December 1994 and then beatified Barbantini in Saint Peter's Square on 17 May 1995.

Camillian Sisters

Barbantini spent time living with the

Visitandines , image = Salesas-escut.gif , size = 175px , abbreviation = V.S.M. , nickname = Visitandines , motto = , formation = , founder = Saint Bishop Francis de ...

and later met the priest Antonio Scalabrini who guided her to the spirit of service to all people and to the service of the ill and frail. To that end she founded the Camillian Sisters Ministers of the Sick on 23 January 1829 in order to aid those ailing with illnesses. At first, the first community was called the ‘Sisters Oblate Nurses’, but subsequently was known as the women Ministers of the Sick of St. Camillus (in latin ''Institutum Sororum Infirmis Ministrantium''). It later received diocesan approval on 5 August 1841. The Religious Institute of the Sister Ministers of the Infirm (MI) established its first foundations in Kenya in 1976, assisting the Camillian missionary fathers at the Tabaka Mission Hospital in Kisii Diocese.. As of 2018 they work in four provinces, and serve in the maternity department of the Fatima Health Centre in the Diocese of Ngong. In 1979, the Camillian Sisters arrived in the Philippines, where they operate the “Camillian Sisters Polyclinic and Rehabilitation Center”.Camillian Sisters, Philippine Mission
/ref>

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbantini, Maria Domenica Brun 1789 births 1868 deaths 19th-century venerated Christians 19th-century Italian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns Beatifications by Pope John Paul II Founders of Catholic religious communities Italian beatified people Religious leaders from Lucca Venerated Catholics by Pope John Paul II