Today March 21, is the commemoration of Saint Benedetta Frassinello.
Foundress of the Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of Providence.
Benedetta was born in 1791 in Genoa, Italy. At the age of 20 she had a profound spiritual experience that made her desire for a life of prayer, penance, and consecration to God.
Her parents Giuseppe and Francesca ordered her to marry farmer/carpenter Giovanni Frassinello. Witnessing the obvious holiness of his wife, Giovanni agreed to a life of celibacy, living as brother and sister. They took care of Benedetta’s little sister Maria until the girl‘s death from intestinal cancer in 1825. Giovanni then joined the Somaschan Fathers, Benedetta became an Ursuline nun.
Poor health forced Benedetta to leave the congregation. Later, the bishop of Pavia Luigi Tosi asked her to help educating girls and her husband to leave the Somaschans to assist her in this new project.
Although they lived chastely, Benedetta and Giovanni’s unusual relationship drew gossip and criticism from civil and Church authorities. To lay everything to rest, Benedetta turned her work over to the bishop of Pavia, and lived as a nun at Ronco Scrivia, Italy.
Divine inspiration pushed her to start again. With five companions, she founded the Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of Providence dedicated to teaching. Benedetta spent her remaining years in prayer and service. She died in 1858 at age 66. Pope St. John Paul II beatified (1987) and canonized her (2002).