Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints celebrated the Holy Mass for the beatification of Edvige Carboni (1880-1952) on June 15, 2019, in Pozzomaggiore, Sassari, Sardinia, Italy. A Franciscan tertiary, she supported the work of her brothers through her work as an embroiderer and spent her life alternating between domestic work and prayer. She had extraordinary supernatural gifts and in 1911, the wounds of the passion of Christ appeared on her body.
In his homily, the Cardinal remarked that for many years Edvige Carboni “lived an ordinary life, from the outside the same as that of so many laypeople, but extraordinary in terms of her intimacy with God, her union with Him, to the point of identifying with Jesus in a perfect and transforming union with Him, the spouse of souls. Friend of the poor and the marginalized, she had words of consolation for everyone; she loved to repeat, ‘One must always infuse comfort and hope’”.
“One is struck by the inner fortitude and by the granitic faith with which, first in her town and then in the cities of Lazio following her sister, the new Blessed lived a life in the service of the family and among simple household chores, to which she added exemplary activity within the parish and a fervent apostolate of charity”, he continued. “If we ask what are the strong points of the Christian life of this sister of ours, and which lead her to be an example of welcoming prayerfulness and humble and joyful abnegation, we would say that there are essentially two: constant contemplation of the Crucified Lord and the adoration of the Eucharist. … Only by embracing the cross can one have fullness of life and be capable of radiating light, hope, and comfort”.
“This spirituality, Passionist and of the Cross, sustained Edvige in the hardships of her daily life and in the misunderstandings within the family and outside it”, the prefect observed. “All of this could be inscribed in the image of Christ, denied, slandered, and despised. She prayed and asked prayer of the Crucified: addressing the Holy Cross she repeated often, ‘you resolve every bitterness. Blessed Edvige shared the Passion of Christ with special intensity, also in the body, in a journey of conformation to the suffering and crucified Christ. Despite the abundance of charisms granted to her by God, she was always modest. The supernatural gifts were not a source of pride to her: she considered herself a small creature, but greatly blessed by divine grace”.
The new Blessed had “a heart that was humble and full of charity because the long hours of prayer banished any trace of barrenness and spiritual idleness. Through prayer, Edvige performed acts of reparation for those who were in the shadows of sin, and implored divine mercy for those who insisted upon not allowing themselves to be reached by grace”.
“Humble and strong, generous and patient, laborious and proud, Blessed Edvige incarnated the most beautiful virtues of the Sardinian woman of the age. Even from her human and Christian lived experience, there emerge facts that make her witness more relevant than ever: Edvige is a valid point of reference for women of today, of every age and every social level. Her simple and profound spiritual experience, marked by charity without limits, boundless humility and ceaseless prayer, is a model that remains current, as it demonstrates that even in a simple and ordinary life, it is possible to experience a solid communion with God and an apostolate characterized by the passion for wounded and disadvantaged humanity”.
