Pilgrimage in the nursery of the Spirit
Disciples of the spirituality of Saint Ignatius
by Ottavio De Bertolis
A few days ago, on May 20th, the Ignatian year was proclaimed, a time of singular grace, for the whole Church and naturally for the Society of Jesus, the Order founded by Ignatius of Loyola. In fact, we remember a fact that marks what was called his "conversion", which took place 500 years ago: the future saint, rather far from being what he would become, was fighting in Pamplona, Spain, against the French, when he was hit by a cannonball which knocked him down.
Margherita: the little "blind" girl from Metola
A new Saint who exalts the humility of faith
by Francesco Marruncheddu
Margherita di Città di Castello, the little "blind girl from Metola", becomes a saint by will of Pope Francis. A figure who, despite the seven centuries that separate her from us (this year marks the seventh centenary of her death in 1320), is more relevant than ever for the time in which we live. A young woman who in her life has experienced handicap, illness, discrimination, abandonment and rejection.
Margherita was born in 1287 in the Metola castle, near the Metauro river, between Marche and Umbria. She is the daughter of Messer Parisio, noble lord of the castle, and Donna Emilia. With her birth, instead of cheering up her parents, without her will, she upsets their life: in fact, the child's physical malformations are immediately noticeable and she appears lame and hunchbacked and later, she reveals that she doesn't even have the sight of her. Baptized in the Collegiate Church of Mercatello sul Metauro (at the same source where a few centuries later the great Capuchin mystic Saint Veronica Giuliani would also receive Baptism), she is considered a burden by her parents, who are ashamed of it and decide thus to lock her up in a small cell adjacent to the castle chapel. Margherita is however entrusted to the spiritual and cultural care of the chaplain who spends most of the day with her, satisfying the little girl's lively curiosity, and introducing her to the knowledge of sacred texts and Latin. The little girl appears smart, intelligent and good, with a strong memory, and she treasures every instruction, learning by heart all the Psalms that she recited with deep faith. she only wants affection and attention. But these, from Parisio and Emilia, will never arrive.
Moved with compassion, the chaplain urges them to go to the nearby Città di Castello, from which rumors came about the miracles that occurred at the tomb of the Blessed Giacomo. It could be the last card to play in an attempt to heal. But the miracle did not happen. Annoyed, her parents decide to abandon Margherita to her fate, and promising to come back to pick her up, they leave her outside the church and leave forever.
The little girl is only five years old. she is collected by the poor of the city, to whom she is tender, and who teach her to beg. Margherita, however, expresses the desire to consecrate herself to God, and is thus welcomed into the Benedictine Monastery. The young girl immediately stands out for a life of very high spirituality, prayer and penance. But after a while the nuns cannot stand that high and austere presence of hers, which seems to reproach them for their laxity and worldliness, and with various pretexts they manage to discharge her from their convent. However, she is welcomed by a married couple, Venturino and Grigia, who live in a beautiful stone house in the same square as the convent. He is a merchant, she is a lay Dominican, cloaked, good mother of the family.
Margherita, who had never known the affection and warmth of a family, will grow up as one of their daughters, together with the spouses' offspring, without discrimination due to her physical disabilities. Gray Monna places her among the lay Dominicans and takes her with her when she goes to visit the poor, the sick and the prisoners, bringing help, consolation and affection. All things that had been denied to her. When she grew up, she also wore the habit of the Dominican Mantles, consecrating herself to the Lord as a tertiary.
He confesses every day, communicates often and prays assiduously. She prefers the people most in difficulty, and among these those condemned to death, whom she visits night and day, blindly crossing the streets of the city without making mistakes, helping herself with her cane and a sense of direction that seemed miraculous. The inhabitants of Castello began to know and appreciate her, and the fame of her sanctity soon spread outside the turreted walls of the city.
The young woman also becomes a point of reference for many priests and religious who turned to her for advice, gifted with a divine knowledge that did not come from her studies, but from God himself. She trains young people in Christian life and doctrine, and at the same time practices harsh fasting and penance, she wears the sackcloth, flagellates herself, to participate in the Passion of Jesus. She is devoted to the Holy Family and to Saint Joseph.
Prayer is the center of his day, and he often appears as if in ecstasy, in the Church of San Domenico, from which he leaves every day to go and practice charity.
On 13 April 1320, Margherita died in the house of Mona Grigia and, as soon as the news spread, many people flocked to San Domenico asking the friars not to bury her underground, but to expose her in the church, where her body still rests, under the altar. Numerous miracles soon occur at her burial and are recounted in the various biographies of her.
On 19 October 1609 she was beatified by Pope Paul V. An uninterrupted cult was born and grew not only among the Tifernati (inhabitants of the area) but expanded well beyond regional borders to various parts of the world. Furthermore, since 1988, she has been protector of the blind and disabled in the dioceses of Urbino-Urbania-Sant'Angelo in Vado and Città di Castello, and patron of many voluntary associations, such as in the city of Sassari. Meanwhile, in 2000 the diocesan process towards canonization had been resumed. All this pushes, in 2019, the Bishop, Msgr. Domenico Cancian, together with the Bishops of Umbria and Urbino, to ask the Pope for Canonization "by equivalence", i.e. without further investigation and request for a miracle. The Holy Father, having heard the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, proceeded to canonize her on 24 April, thus extending her veneration and example to the entire Church. «The Blessed's virtuous life – we read in the decree signed by the Pope – is characterized above all by her confident abandonment to Providence, as a joyful participation in the mystery of the cross, especially in her disabled, rejected and marginalized condition. This loving conformity to Christ was accompanied by intense mystical experiences. The sapientia cordis thus matured radiated into others."
A shining example, and with a problem that was ahead of its time. In fact, in the Middle Ages, sensitivity and attention towards disabled people, towards disability and social marginalization were still far away, and Margherita was able to break down the barrier of this marginalization with the sole strength of God and the light of faith.
The evangelizing force of popular piety
by Michele Gatta
Popular piety is a faith received and embodied in the spirituality of pilgrimage.