Celestina Bottego

Celestina Bottego (20 December 1895 – 20 August 1980) was an Italian Roman Catholic nun born in the United States of America. Bottego established the Xaverian Missionary Sisters of Mary. The point of her order was for members to act as missionaries for the Roman Catholic church. On 31 October 2013 she was proclaimed Venerable.

Venerable

Celestina Bottego

M.S.
Foundress
Born(1895-12-20)20 December 1895
Glendale, Ohio, United States
Died20 August 1980(1980-08-20) (aged 84)
Parma, Italy
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church

Life

Celestina Bottego was born in Glendale, Ohio on 20 December 1895 as the second of three children of Giambattista Bottego and Mary Healy. They had each immigrated separately to the United States and first met in California. Celestina was the niece of the Parmesan explorer Vittorio Bottego. She spent most of her early life in Butte, Montana until the age of 15. The death of her uncle in 1897 during an expedition to Africa caused the Bottegos to return to Parma to care for her grandparents. Her father took Maria and Vittorio with him and Celestina accompanied her mother in the summer of 1910.[1]

Bottego continued her studies in Pisa and qualified as an English teacher. She taught at schools for over two decades in Parma. In 1922 she chose to become a Benedictine Oblate.[2] Bottego help found the diocesan chapter of Catholic Action in order to devote her time to charitable activities.[2] In 1924, her sister Maria became a Franciscan missionary sister and left for India.[1]

In 1935 she became an English teacher at the Institute of the Xaverian Missionaries.[2] It was at this time she made a month long visit to India where she served with her sister Maria caring for the sick.[1] Father James Spagnolo of the Xaverian Institute suggested she establish a women's branch of the Xaverian Missionaries. Although initially she declined, [3] about a year later, in mid 1945 she established this branch with Spagnolo.[4] In 1966, she resigned as General Superior, leaving to others the direction of the Congregation.[5]

Bottego died on 20 August 1980 in Parma.[6][7]

Beatification process

The beatification process commenced under Pope John Paul II on 24 November 1994[8] with the commencement of a local diocesan process in Parma that accorded her the posthumous title Servant of God. The process spanned from 22 April 1995 until a short while later on 5 November 1997 and was granted the formal decree of ratification on 5 June 1998 in order for the cause to proceed. The Positio was compiled and submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome in 2001.

Bottego was proclaimed to be Venerable on 31 October 2013 by Pope Francis.[9]

References
  1. Hudock, Barry. "Who is Celestine Bottego?", OSV Newsweekly, August 5, 2015
  2. "Venerable Celestina Bottego", Nominis
  3. Kosloski, Philip. "A gentle woman from Ohio draws closer to beatification", Aleteia, March 26, 2017
  4. "Origin", Xaverian Sisters
  5. "Venerable Mother Celestina Bottego", Xaverian Sisters
  6. "A saint from Montana". 24 January 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  7. "Venerable Celestina Bottego". Santi e Beati. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  8. "Celestina Bottego". New Saints. Hagiography Circle. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  9. "Connor, Tanya. "Xaverian Sisters start U.S. ministry here 60 years ago", Catholic Free Press, June 5, 2014". Archived from the original on June 25, 2016. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.