Consolata Betrone

Maria Consolata Betrone (the Venerable) (6 April 1903 – 18 July 1946), baptised as Pierina Maria Betrone and commonly known as Sister Consolata Betrone, was a Catholic mystic and nun of the Franciscan Capuchine order. Betrone was born in Saluzzo, Piedmont, Italy, in a middle-class family. She died at the convent of Moriondo, Testona, Italy.

Venerable Consolata Betrone
Born06 April 1903
Died18 July 1946
OccupationNun
OrganizationFranciscan Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
Known forChristian mysticism
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Betrone was known for the intense propagation of the rosary, along with reputed apparitions by the Sacred Heart of Jesus and her guardian angel in 1916 during the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The reputed messages asked for the recitation of: "Jesus, Mary, I love you! Save Souls!", an ejaculatory prayer which Betrone said to release souls from Purgatory and to pardon 1000 blasphemies against the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The pious devotion is very popular among Filipino and Portuguese Catholics, who include invocations in their recitation of the rosary along with the Fatima Prayer.[1]

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Pierina Betrone was the daughter of Pietro Betrone and Giuseppina Nirino, the owners of a bakery in Saluzzo (Cuneo) and then managers of a restaurant in Airasco (Turin). Pierina was the second of six daughters born of her father's second marriage.[2] She joined the association of the Company of the Daughters of Mary in parish of San Massimo in Turin. She also became involved in the local Catholic Action group. After a visit to the tomb of Don Bosco in Valsalice, Pierina decided it was time to embark on a religious vocation. Her reading of The Story of a Soul attracts her to Thérèse of Lisieux's "little way".

On 26 January 1925, she joined the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, but after a little over a year, she became convinced that this was not her calling. She the tried a community founded by Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo, but returned to her family in August 1928 and continues her work with "Catholic Action". The superior of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd of Angers suggests that she might join the Franciscans.[3]

On 28 February 1930, Betrone joined the Capuchins in Turin, taking the name "Sister Maria Consolata". (The Blessed Virgin Mary is venerated in Turin under the name of Consolata, i.e., Consoler of the Afflicted.)[2] There, she served, among other duties, as cook and concierge. She purportedly experienced interior locutions with Jesus.[3]

In 1938, Sister Consolata was assigned to the new monastery of Moriondo (Testona-Turin) not far from the Turin-Genoa railway, which the Capuchins have just opened. In November 1945, Sister Consolata was hospitalized in a sanatorium; her condition being diagnosed as terminal, she returned to the monastery of Moriondo on 3 July 1946.[3]

Consolata Betrone died at the age of forty-three on July 18, 1946. After her death, Father Lorenzo Sales wrote the book Jesus Appeals to the World based on her reported messages.[4] Betrone is known for her prayer: "Jesus, Mary, I love you: Save souls". Betrone spent her life attempting to bring to perfection this Tiny Way of Love. She used to fight every thought, every word, every emotion, to keep unceasing her "Jesus, Mary, save souls" all day long.

In 1995, Cardinal Giovanni Saldarini started the canonical process of beatification for Sister Mary Consolata Betrone.[2] On April 6, 2019, Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognising the heroic virtues of Sr Consolata giving her the title Venerable. Significantly, April 6 is also the date of her birth.

References
  1. Michael Freze, 1993, Voices, Visions, and Apparitions, OSV Publishing ISBN 0-87973-454-X
  2. "A Life For Love", Monastery of the Sacred Heart
  3. Risso, Paolo. Sister Consolata Betrone, 2001
  4. Father Lorenzo Sales, 1955 Jesus Appeals to the World: From the Writings of Sr. Consolata Betrone Alba House Publishers ISBN 0-8189-0069-5
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