Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello (1791-1858)

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성녀 베네딕타 캄비아지오 프라시넬로
Santa Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello Religiosa
ST. BENEDICTA CAMBIAGIO FRASSINELLO
Born : 2 October 1791 at Langasco, Italy as Benedetta Cambiagio
Died : 21 March 1858 at Ronco Scrivia, Italy of natural causes
Beatified : 10 May 1987 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized : 19 May 2002 by Pope John Paul II at Rome, Italy
Benedetta = che augura il bene, dal latino

성녀 베네딕타 캄비아지오 프라시넬로는

1791년 10월2일 이태리 제노바 란가스코에서 태어났으며

1858년 3월21일 제노바 론코 스크리비아에서 선종하였다.
1987년5월10일 요한 바오로2세께서 시복하였으며

2002년 5월19일 요한 바오로2세께서 로마에서 시성하였다.

Santa Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello Religiosa
21 marzo
Langasco, Genova, 2 ottobre 1791 - Ronco Scrivia, Genova, 21 marzo 1858

Figlia di contadini, nacque il 2 ottobre 1791, nell'entroterra genovese. Nel 1804 si trasferì a Pavia. Pur sentendosi votata alla vita religiosa accettò, per esigenze familiari, di sposare Giovan Battista Frassinello, operaio e fervente cristiano, originario di Ronco Scrivia. Non ebbero figli. Allora Benedetta, con il consenso del marito, cercò di realizzare il desiderio di consacrarsi interamente a Dio. Accolta dalle suore Orsoline di Caprioglio, nel Bresciano, dovette lasciare per motivi di salute. Rifugiatasi nella preghiera, ebbe la visione di san Girolamo Emiliani che la guarì. Mentre il marito entrò come fratello laico tra i Somaschi, lei avviò un'opera di assistenza per le fanciulle povere. Nel 1827 fondò a Pavia la prima scuola popolare. Dalle ragazze che la frequentavano prese avvio la Congregazione delle Suore di Nostra Signora delle Provvidenza. Dodici anni dopo a Ronco Scrivia nascerà la Casa della Provvidenza. Morì a Ronco Scrivia il 21 marzo 1858. È stata canonizzata da Giovanni Paolo II il 19 maggio 2002. (Avvenire)

Etimologia:Benedetta = che augura il bene, dal latino

Benedetta Cambiagio nacque il 2 ottobre 1791 nell’entroterra genovese in una famiglia di contadini, ultima di sette fratelli. Quando nel 1804 una folta colonia di contadini si spostarono verso Pavia, anche la sua famiglia si aggregò ad essi.
Nella nuova residenza trascorsero gli anni e Benedetta ormai adulta, pur sentendosi votata per la vita religiosa, si indirizzò verso il matrimonio per esigenze familiari. Giunta ai 25 anni, si unì in matrimonio con Giovan Battista Frassinello, originario di Ronco Scrivia, operaio emigrato anch’egli a Pavia, fervente cristiano.
Purtroppo dalla loro unione non nacquero figli, allora Benedetta con il consenso del marito, cercò di realizzare il sogno della sua gioventù, quello di dedicarsi alla vita consacrata; dopo un fallito tentativo con le cappuccine di Genova, venne accolta dalle suore Orsoline di Capriolo in provincia di Brescia, ma dovette lasciare dopo pochi mesi a causa della salute malferma.
Rifugiatosi nella preghiera, ebbe la visione di s. Girolamo Emiliani il quale miracolosamente la guarì. Il marito entrò come fratello laico tra i somaschi e lei prese a mendicare casa per casa dando così inizio ad un’opera di assistenza per la fanciulle povere e abbandonate.
Nel 1827 fondava a Pavia la prima scuola popolare della città; quattro anni dopo le fanciulle superavano il centinaio e altre persone di buona volontà le si affiancarono per aiutarla nello scopo. Esse costituirono il primo gruppo della nascente Congregazione delle Suore di Nostra Signora della Provvidenza, che Benedetta fondò in quel periodo.
Trascorsero dodici anni di intenso e fruttuoso lavoro ma gli anticlericali locali presero ad osteggiarla furiosamente, al punto che la fondatrice dovette lasciare Pavia e cercare un nuovo posto e insieme a tre suore aprì a Ronco Scrivia (città natale di suo marito) una scuola, con l’accoglienza anche di ragazze benestanti e altre opere di carità. Fu chiamata “Casa della Provvidenza” ed è attualmente la casa madre della Comunità.
Le sue suore furono chiamate dal popolo ‘benedettine’ facendo riferimento al nome della fondatrice.
Morì a Ronco Scrivia il 21 marzo 1858 e sepolta nel cimitero del paese, durante la seconda guerra mondiale nel 1944, un furioso bombardamento alleato sconvolse il piccolo cimitero e le sue reliquie furono disperse.
Le sue suore tornarono a Pavia più di un secolo dopo, nel 1961, nell’Istituto “Benedetta Cambiagio”.
Beatificata da papa Giovanni Paolo II il 10 maggio 1987, è stata poi elevata agli onori degli altari come santa il 19 maggio 2002 dallo stesso pontefice.
Elevato esempio di sana vita coniugale, impregnata di virtù cristiana reciproca dei due coniugi.

Antonio Borrelli
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E' la penultima di cinque figli di Giuseppe Cambiagio e Francesca Ghiglione. Sono piccoli proprietari di campagna, che verso il 1804 devono emigrare, come altre famiglie contadine impoverite dalla guerra napoleonica. Si stabiliscono a Pavia, dove nel 1812 va sposa la maggiore delle figlie, Maria. In Benedetta sembra crescere la spinta alla vita contemplativa. Ma nel 1816 eccola sposa, a 25 anni, nella basilica di San Michele.
E pure lo sposo è di origine ligure: Giovanni Battista Frassinello, nato a Ronco Scrivia. Seguono due anni di vita coniugale, senza figli, e poi marito e moglie si trovano a fare quasi da padre e da madre a Maria, la sorella maggiore di Benedetta: è tornata a Pavia malata di cancro, accolta in casa da loro due, e assistita per anni. Accanto al letto dell’ammalata, matura in essi una doppia vocazione: in Benedetta riprende forza l’aspirazione dei suoi anni giovanili alla vita religiosa; e una “chiamata” simile raggiunge Giovanni, che entra come novizio tra i Somaschi. Lei invece viene accolta fra le Orsoline di Capriolo (Brescia). Ma il suo fisico non regge, deve tornare a Pavia e mettersi a letto. Qui arriva una guarigione di sorprendente rapidità, che lei attribuisce all’intercessione di Girolamo Emiliani, il santo che ha fondato i Somaschi, pionieri dell’istruzione popolare. Guarita, dunque, e definitivamente orientata.
A 36 anni, sull’esempio di Girolamo Emiliani, Benedetta dedicherà la vita alla promozione culturale e all’educazione religiosa delle bambine abbandonate. Raccoglie alcune volontarie, mette a disposizione quello che ha di suo, si fa questuante. Trova anche l’aiuto di alcuni generosi (e tra questi si deve ricordare Angelo Domenico Pozzi). Il vescovo di Pavia, monsignor Luigi Tosi, decide allora che Giovanni Frassinello, lasciata la casa dei Somaschi, affianchi Benedetta nel suo lavoro di fondatrice. Così, nell’autunno del 1826, insieme rinnovano davanti al vescovo il voto di castità. Nel 1827 apre la prima scuola popolare, con l’aiuto delle prime volontarie. Col tempo, l’autorità civile (quella austro-ungarica) le conferirà il titolo di “Promotrice della pubblica istruzione”. Ma lei nel 1838 deve lasciare Pavia e la scuola, con Giovanni e con alcune ragazze: troppe avversioni, anche da parte di preti. Si stabilisce a Ronco Scrivia, paese natale del marito, Regno di Sardegna e diocesi di Genova. Qui, l’arcivescovo cardinale Tadini promuoverà i riconoscimenti canonici per le suore-insegnanti, che si chiameranno Benedettine della Divina Provvidenza. E il terzo millennio le vedrà all’opera in Italia, Spagna, Burundi, Costa d’Avorio, Perú, Brasile; impegnate, come dice la loro regola, a «prestarsi volentieri dove è maggiore l’urgenza di fare del bene».
Benedetta vede solo i primi sviluppi dell’opera, tra cui la nascita di una casaricovero a Pavia. La malattia di cui morirà (nell’ora e nel giorno da lei previsti) la coglie mentre sta andando ad aprire una nuova casa. Sepolta a Ronco Scrivia, i suoi resti sono andati dispersi nella distruzione del cimitero durante la seconda guerra mondiale, per un bombardamento anglo-americano nel 1944. Giovanni Paolo II l’ha beatificata nel 1987 e poi canonizzata nel 2002.

Autore: Domenico Agasso

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Aggiunto il 12-Mar-2005

BENEDICTA CAMBIAGIO FRASSINELLO
Also known as
Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello; Benedikta Frassinello; Benedetta Cambiagio
Memorial
21 March
Profile
Daughter of Giuseppe and Francesca Cambiagio, she grew up in Pavia, Italy. At the age of 20 she had a profound mystical experience that left her devoted to prayer and desiring a religious life. However, to go along with her family's wishes, she married Giovanni Battista Frassinella on 7 February 1816. The couple had a normal married life for two years, but Giovanni, impressed with Benedicta's holiness and desire for religious life, agreed to live continently. The two took care of Benedicta's little sister Maria until the girl's death from intestinal cancer in 1825. Giovanni then joined the Somaschan Fathers, Benedicta became an Ursuline nun.

In 1826 ill health forced Benedicta to return home to Pavia. There she began to work with young women in the area. The work sent so well that her husband Giovanni was assigned to help. The schools continued to grow and prosper, and Benedicta was appointed Promoter of Public Instruction in Pavia. However, no matter how chastely they lived, Benedicta and Giovanni's unusual relationship drew gossip and criticism from civil and Church authorities. To insure that she did not get in the way of the work, in 1838 Benedicta turned her work over to the bishop of Pavia, and withdrew to live as a nun at Ronco Scrivia.

Not content to withdraw from the world, Benedicta began all over. With five companions, she founded the Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of Providence dedicated to teaching, and opened another school. Living alone, the local authorities found no causes for gossip, and Benedicta spent her remaining years in prayer and service.
Born
2 October 1791 at Langasco, Italy as Benedetta Cambiagio
Died
21 March 1858 at Ronco Scrivia, Italy of natural causes
Beatified
10 May 1987 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized
19 May 2002 by Pope John Paul II at Rome, Italy

BENEDETTA CAMBIAGIO FRASSINELLO
(1791 – 1858)

Saint Benedetta Cambiagio Frasinello was born on 2 October 1791 in Langasco (Genoa) Italy; she died on 21 March 1858 in Ronco Scrivia in Liguria. She was wife, religious and foundress. She let the Holy Spirit guide her through married life to the work of education and religious consecration. She founded a school for the formation of young women and also a religious congregation, and did both with the generous collaboration of her husband. This is unique in the annals of Christian sanctity. Benedetta was a pioneer in her determination to give a high quality education to young women, for the formation of families for a "new Christian society" and for promoting the right of women to a complete education.

Call to marriage, then to religious life

From her parents Benedetta received a Christian formation that rooted in her the life of faith. Her family settled in Pavia when she was a girl. When she was 20 years old, Benedetta had a mystical experience that gave her a profound desire for a life of prayer and penance, and of consecration to God. However, in obedience to the wishes of her parents, in 1816, she married Giovanni Frassinello and lived married life for two years. In 1818, moved by the example of his saintly wife, Giovanni agreed that the two should live chastely, "as brother and sister" and take care of Benedetta's younger sister, Maria, who was dying from intestinal cancer. They began to live a supernatural parenthood quite unique in the history of the Church.

Congregation founded by wife, who is supported by her husband

Following Maria's death in 1825, Giovanni entered the Somaschi Fathers founded by St Jerome Emiliani, and Benedetta devoted herself completely to God in the Ursuline Congregation of Capriolo. A year later she was forced to leave because of ill health, and returned to Pavia where she was miraculously cured by St Jerome Emiliani. Once she regained her health, with the Bishop's approval, she dedicated herself to the education of young girls. Benedetta needed help in handling such a responsibility, but her own father refused to help her. Bishop Tosi of Pavia asked Giovanni to leave the Somaschi novitiate and help Benedettain her apostolic work. Together they made a vow of perfect chastity in the hands of the bishop, and then began their common work to promote the human and Christian formation of poor and abandoned girls of the city. Their educational work was of great benefit to Pavia. Benedetta became the first woman to be involved in this kind of work. The Austrian government recognized her as a "Promoter of Public Education".

She was helped by young women volunteers to whom she gave a rule of life that later received ecclesiastical approval. Along with instruction, she joined formation in catechesis and in useful skills like cooking and sewing, aiming to transform her students into "models of Christian life" and so assure the formation of families.

Benedictine Sisters of Providence

Benedetta's work was considered pioneering for those days and was opposed by a few persons in power and by the misunderstanding of clerics. In 1838 she turned over the institution to the Bishop of Pavia. Together with Giovanni and five companions, she moved to Ronco Scrivia in the Genoa region. There they opened a school for girls that was a refinement on what they had done in Pavia.

Eventually, Benedetta founded the Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of Providence. In her rule she stressed the education of young girls. She instilled the spirit of unlimited confidence and abandonment to Providence and of love of God through poverty and charity. The Congregation grew quickly since it performed a needed service. Benedetta was able to guide the development of the Congregation until her death. On 21 March 1858 she died in Ronco Scrivia.

Her example is that of supernatural maternity plus courage and fidelity in discerning and living God's will.

Today the Benedictine Nuns of Providence are present in Italy, Spain, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Peru and Brazil. They are at the service of young people, the poor, the sick and the elderly. The foundress also opened a house of the order in Voghera. Forty years after the death of Benedetta, the bishop separated this house from the rest of the Order. The name was changed to the Benedictines of Divine Providence who honour the memory of the Foundress.

She was beatified by John Paul II on 10 May 1987.

Order of Saint Benedict; Benedictines
Broadly speaking, the Order comprises all religious following the Rule of Saint Benedict, though in its proper sense it does not include branches of the order which later became independent, such as the Cistercians and Camaldolese. The Benedictines, sometimes called Black Monks from their habit, were founded at Monte Cassino, Italy, by Benedict of Nursia, c.529. The aim of the order is the personal sanctification of its members who may undertake any work provided it be compatible with living in community and the performance of Divine Office in choir. The influence of the monks has manifested itself in missionary works, notably by the conversion of the Teutonic races, in the civilization of northwestern Europe, and in the fields of art, literature, and education. They engage in teaching, the practise of the arts, agriculture, in study, and, the care of souls. Continual industry and an atmosphere of peace characterize their monasteries. Peace is their motto. Monte Cassino was destroyed by the Lombards, 581 or 589, and the monks were sheltered in the Lateran Basilica, Rome. Pope Gregory the Great established the Benedictine rule in his monastery of Saint Andrew on the Coelian Hill, and probably in six others which he founded, and introduced the order into England, whence its missionaries spread over Europe. In the 9th century barberic invasions of Europe razed many monasteries, but a new period of Benedictine fame began with the establishment of the renowned Abbey of Cluny, 910. A number of the greatest universities of Europe developed from schools of the Benedictines, including those of Paris, Bologna, and Cambridge. Important among yhe offshoots of the order which were established during this period were the Camaldolese (1009), Vallombrosians (1039), Cistercians (1098), Sylvestrines (1231), and Olivetans (1319). Cluny's centralized method of government was followed by a number of monasteries which united themselves in groups, the groups later forming congregations. This was a deviation from the original idea of Saint Benedict, who sought the total independence of each abbey.

The feudal system, by which abbots of some of the great Benedictine monasteries became feudal lords, the appointment of commendatory abbots and other social and political circumstances resulted in a period of decline for the order in the latter half of the 12th century until its revival after the Council of Constance (1414-1418). Widespread reform ensued, and approximately 1500 abbeys could be counted in Europe at the time of the Reformation. All of these were centers from which civilization spread and some of them, especially Cluny, exercised a strong influence on the spirit, morals, and learning of their times. The French Congregation of Saint Maur, dating from 1621, attained fame by reason of its extensive activity in the field of literature and the devout lives of its members. The French Revolution, wars, secularization, and similar causes took their toll of Benedictine foundations, so that in the early 19th century there were no more than 30 houses of the order extant. Since that time another revival has taken place, though later in the same century houses were closed in Spain, Italy, and France. At present the Benedictines number 15 congregations, viz: the Cassinese, English, Hungarian, Swiss, Bavarian, Brazilian, French, American-Cassinese, Swiss-American, Beuronese, Cassinese of Primitive Observance, Austrian (of the Immaculate Conception), Austrian (of Saint Joseph), Saint Ottilien, and Belgian.

Benedictine nuns or Sisters of Saint Benedict are women following the Rule of Saint Benedict. As the abbeys of the Benedictine monks increased in number, monasteries for women were also established. Saint Benedict's sister, Scholastica, ruled over such a community not far from the Abbey of Monte Cassino, though it is open to question whether this may be considered the actual foundation of the Benedictine nuns. Gradually the Rule of Saint Benedict was introduced into convents of Gaul and the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle enjoined its observance in all nunneries of the empire. England, Germany, and other parts of the continent saw the rise of many convents, rivaling in number the abbeys of the monks in the Middle Ages. They sustained great losses due to the Reformation, the wars of religion, and the French Revolution. The convents are not united in the congregational system, but are either under the direction of a particular abbey or else subject to the episcopal jurisdiction of the diocese in which they are located. The nuns engage principally in educational work, and have monasteries in the United States, British Isles, and Malta, Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Holland, Italy, and Poland.

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