Elena Guerra
becomes a saint

Writer, theologian, and educator, Elena Guerra (Lucca 1835 -1914), becomes a saint 110 years after her death. Pope Francis has indeed authorized the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decrees concerning the miracle attributed to the intercession of the founder of the Congregation of the Oblate Sisters of the Holy Spirit (also known as the Sisters of Saint Zita), canonized in 1959 by Pope John XXIII.

Of noble origins, Elena Guerra did not seem destined for the convent; but during a visit to Rome with her father, she was moved at the sight of Pius IX and decided to dedicate herself to religious life. She did not always have an easy life. As a young woman, she encountered obstacles within her family when she promoted the first two forms of lay female aggregation. Undeterred, she founded a female lay community of active life, without vows, dedicated to the education of girls and named after Saint Zita, in 1882.

In her old age, disappointments come from her fellow sisters, some of whom accuse her of mismanagement, to the point where she is forced to resign as Mother General. Her remains are preserved in a crystal case in the church of Saint Augostine in Lucca.