BL. ALESSANDRA SABATTINI, LAY PERSON - 2 MAY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY

Saints celebrated on the 2nd of May

WELCOME!

BLESSED ALESSANDRA SABATTINI, LAY PERSON 

Sandra Sabattini was born on August 19, 1961 in Rimini at the Riccione Hospital as the first of two children to Giuseppe Sabattini and Agnese Bonini; her brother was Raffaele. The Sabattinis lived in Misano Adriatico before relocating to Rimini in 1965 to the parish church of San Girolamo to live with her priest uncle Giuseppe Bonini, the pastor of the parish.

HER SPIRITUAL JOURNAL

Sandra Sabattini's pious nature as a child extended to keeping a journal since January 27, 1972 in order to record her spiritual thoughts. It was around 1973 that she first met the priest Oreste Benzi, who had founded the Associazione Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII. The encounter occurred at one of the association's meetings organised by her uncle in his parish. In summer 1974 she took part in a summer programme for teenagers at the Madonna delle Vette house in Canazei (Trento) for people with disabilities. 

SPIRITUAL ENTHUSIASM

This experience left her with such a profound spiritual enthusiasm that upon returning home she told her mother: "We worked till we dropped but these are people I'll never leave". In 1980 she completed her high school examinations in Rimini before beginning her studies in medicine at the University of Bologna. She achieved excellent results in each of her examinations.

SHE WISHED TO BECOME PART OF THE MEDICAL MISSIONS

However, she harboured within her a desire to become part of the medical missions in Africa to work alongside the poor and sick. On the weekends and in the summer breaks of 1982 and 1983 she attended to drug addicts in the association's rehabilitation centres. Each morning she got up early to meditate in the church in the dark before the Eucharist.

HER DEATH

In late April 1984 the association arranged a meeting in Igea Marina near Rimini. On April 29 at 9:30 am Sandra arrived there by car in the company of two friends. Just as she got out of the car both she and Elio, one of the friends, were struck by a passing car, sending her into a coma from which she never recovered. Less than a week later, on May 2, Sandra died from her injuries at Bellaria Hospital in Bologna. Her funeral was celebrated on May 5 in the San Girolamo church in Rimini and she was buried in the churchyard of the S. Andrea church of Misano Adriatico.

[Alessandra was beatified on October 24, 2021 by Pope Francis.]

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of the blessed Alessandra may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(Information from Wikipedia -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Sabattini)