h clelia 5

Theodora Baraldi...

Her family was poor and deeply Christian.

Their paths cross when Clelia, after her first communion at the age of twelve, wishes to find a friend with whom to share the dreams and desires of her heart.

Her Ancient Memoirs tell us that the parish priest Don Gaetano Guidi, confessor of both, brings them together. There are four years of difference but their hearts carry inside ...

- the same dream: Jesus

- the same life project: virginity

- the same song of love: the mercies of the Lord.

And they soon become close friends.

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Thus followed years of intense apostolic activity... 

until Clelia, now twenty, matured the project for a new foundation.

The most faithful Teodora, companion of the first hour, is with her, together with two other young people: Orsola and Violante.

Clelia wishes to form a holy union with them to seek God together and follow Jesus with all the ardor of her heart. May 1, 1868, they enter the Retreat of Divine Providence and take the name of Daughters of Mary of Sorrows.

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In the first person Theodora lives all the trials... 

and welcomes all the graces of the founding charism, gives the precious contribution of her young life with generous love and becomes the "precursor" on the way to heaven both of Mother Clelia and of all of us.

She is a beautiful soul, obedient, mortified, in love with God. Her work, in the community, is the weaving of hemp and her companions attest that every time she pulls the shuttle, she makes an act of love to God.

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Her health is very delicate ...

and she begins to get sick just five months after entering the retreat. Her misery is great, so much weakness, tiredness, hunger and, at times, her companions find her unconscious on the loom.

Yet she never complains and is happy to have something to offer to the Lord.

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In December 1869 she was struck by fulminant pneumonia.

Theodora soon worsened, Don Guidi assists her spiritually and accompanies her on her way to meet the Bridegroom with the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick and the Most Holy Sacrament administered as viaticum.

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Mother Clelia, with the pain and love of a mother, offers her to God... 

as the first fruits of her holy family... 

and, together with her companions, cares for her with so much tenderness.

On December 16, 1869 Theodora died peacefully with the sweet names of Jesus and Mary on her lips and in her heart, at the age of 26.

Clelia, already ill, will follow her on the path to heaven seven months later.

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Of the four "Foundress" sisters, the first two, Theodora and Clelia... 

were immediately chosen to lay their heads in the lap of the Father ...

so that our family, the smallest plant of the Lord, could have holy roots... 

and a living source up there.

And from these holy roots, from this living source...

 holiness and life still flow today.

[bron]