Nella Pratesi

Nella Pratesi

Synopsis

When faith is all

The crucifix of Valdarno, as it has been defined by some writers/authors. Her short life ends in a sweet and “strange death”. After a succession of sufferings, her death occurs with a sudden ecstatic sleep. God had already traced her path, an earthly life made up of suffering for the salvation of all humanity. The stigma and severe pain debilitate the life of Nella who is forced to live her last years in a bed, but God has great things in store for her and graces are not long in coming through his intercession.

Biography

Nella was born in Petrognano di Pomino on the day of the first Christian martyr Saint Stephen, it was Thursday December 26th, 1907. Petrognano di Pomino is a village in the Municipality of Rufina, in the metropolitan city of Florence, in Tuscany. Today Petrognano di Pomino remains a small agglomeration of houses immersed in the greenery of the Rimaggio valley, in the heart of Chianti.

Her parents, Giuseppe Pratesi and Cesira Mozzi, raised Nella’s first years of life with a solid Christian formation. Thanks to the constant presence of the parish priests of the village and of her father, a frequent visitor to community meetings, Nella immediately developed a marked Eucharistic piety. The eldest of eight brothers, after a few years the young Giuseppe is called up to the military and Nella has to help her mother Cesira look after her brothers.

The absence of the father causes the family to experience a serious economic situation. Due to privations and hardships, Nella’s first years of life were irreparably conditioned by her poor health. The father’s return from the front, due to a serious wound, allows the family to recover from the discomfort. Nella takes advantage of this temporary joy to devote herself body and soul to Catholic Action, which soon becomes a real association, so much so that shortly after she is elected parish president.

1931 is a date that indelibly marks her life. After the first of a long series of surgeries, always motivated by precarious health, her father Giuseppe passed away. After a few years and other surgical interventions, her health deteriorates, the infirmity gets closer and closer in Nella’s life, between an alternation of improvements and worsening. However, she manages to face this transitory condition of her health through her Christian faith, dictated by a marked and pious acceptance of God’s trials, an extraction taught by her father.

In 1937 Nella returns from a pilgrimage to Lourdes and the subsequent trips to Loreto lead to further spiritual growth.

After only two years she was forced to move with her mother and some brothers to Faella in the province of Arezzo. The reason for this forced move is caused by the work of the brothers, who buy a mill. The house is adjacent to the Church of S.Iacopo in Montecarelli, in the municipality of Pian di Scò.

Italy emerges from the dark period of the war, it is 1946 and the conditions of her health deteriorate a lot, to the point that she has to resort to various and complicated surgical interventions. After some time she can no longer get out of bed and is reduced to permanent immobility. The great Christian faith allows her to accept God’s will in her puny life. She accepts everything with an unsettling serenity, so much so that the medical staff marvel at the courage with which she faces her condition of illness.

Her home soon became a pilgrimage destination, many people went to visit her with the expectation of getting advice or to be comforted due to life’s events. Nella does not deny anyone being received and offers everyone a word of comfort. She who due to her suffering should have been comforted and reassured, bestows this privilege on others.

September 15th, 1951 marks the beginning date of a series of visions, she sees the cross of Christ and experiences the sufferings of crucifixion on her frail and tried body. In this historical period of her short life, extraordinary phenomena of a mystical nature begin to manifest themselves.

On October 30th, 1953, after receiving Communion, the signs of the Passion of Jesus appeared to her. The pains are getting stronger every day, blood comes out of her side, wrists and feet. Some of her brothers take turns looking after her and try to keep this series of extraordinary events a secret, but word soon spreads from the neighbors, who often looked after her when the brothers were not available. Her suffering soon becomes public knowledge, many ask to know her, talk to her or just see her.

Nella used to share some of her reflections with her spiritual director. One in particular struck us a lot, because she expresses her great faith in Jesus and Mary, and awareness of her life as a means of expiation. We reproduce it below:

September, 1955
I think how the Lord uses my state of suffering to give my neighbor the opportunity for good works. Many deign to visit me in the midst of my pains, Mary and the Divine Son come to visit me to console me by giving me the treasure of suffering united with resignation.

We have collected this meager information about Nella for the care of the notes written in a diary, which her spiritual director Don Aldo Romoli, chaplain of Faella, kept and faithfully updated every time he met Nella.

On March 23rd, 1958, Nella Pratesi die with a reputation for holiness. As requested by her, she is buried in the small cemetery of Montecarelli, near Faella.

On April 23rd, 1958 many people come from all provinces to Faella, near and far, her house was a succession of visits and tributes.

On April 4th, 2000, the Servant of God Nella Pratesi obtained the “Nulla Osta” from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, for the start of the process of beatification.

On June 17th, 2000 Monsignor Luciano Giovannetti, bishop of Fiesole, presided over the opening rite of the diocesan information process on the life and virtues for his beatification in the Cathedral.

On September 13rd, 2003 on the eve of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Monsignor Luciano Giovannetti presided over the final session of the process in the Cathedral of Fiesole, the acts of which were delivered to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.