Today, December 18, is the memorial of Blessed Giulia Nemesia Valle.
Giulia was born in Sardinia in 1847 to Anselmo Valle and Cristina Dalbar who both worked in the family’s hatmaker shop. Her mother died when she was four, and she was raised by relatives in Aosta and Donnas in Italy.
She studied in Besançon, France under the Sisters of Charity of St. Jeanne Antida Thouret. Her father re-married and moved to Pont Saint Martin. Giulia returned to live with her family, but relations were already strained.
Soon after, the Sisters of Charity established a house in Pont Saint Martin. She felt she had a vocation to the religious life. When her father tried to enter Giulia into an arranged marriage, she firmly decided that she would pursue her vocation.
She entered the Monastery of Saint Margaret in Vercelli. Upon her final profession of vows in 1873, she took the name Nemesia. By this time she already had her master’s degree in education.
She taught general education and French, and worked in an orphanage. Nemesia always reminded herself: “Concentrate on the one goal: God alone!”
Nemesia was into charitable projects with St. Luigi Orione and Blessed Teresa Grillo Michel. She became novice mistress at Borgaro for 13 years, leading 500 new sisters into the religious life.
In 1916, she died of severe pneumonia. She was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in 2004 in Rome.