Ill by vocation… This is not - nor is it intended to be - a sensational title, but an expression that can summarize the short and luminous life story of Bertilla Antoniazzi (1944-1964), declared venerable by Pope Francis on January 19, 2023.
In this article, we sketch her story in the days leading up to the World Day of the Sick (February 11, 2024), because Bertilla tells us that even when we are sick, we can live fully; we can live by treasuring every moment; ultimately, we can live in complete joy… We need only never let go of the hand of that Friend capable of bringing light into every darkness: Jesus! She herself wrote: “The more you know how to abandon yourself to Jesus, the lighter your suffering will become”.
In illness… a vocation
“My vocation is to be ill, and I have no time to think about other things!” This is how Bertilla, barely twenty years old, responds when asked about her plans for life. After all, she is an expert, having lived with illness since she was just 8 years old: at that age, in fact, she is diagnosed with rheumatic endocarditis, a heart disease that leaves her breathless and saps her strength.
From that moment on, Bertilla’s life alternates between long hospital stays and returns home, during which she is nevertheless confined to bed.
In illness… a treasure to draw from
Bertilla’s revolutionary secret lies in two words: a smile and complete acceptance. Thanks to these two weapons, her life - which could have been nothing more than a dark tunnel - blossoms into a masterpiece of light! She decides, with extraordinary strength and courage, to live her condition as a sick person as a treasure from which she can draw: a little notebook dates back to her first hospitalization, in which she meticulously records, day by day, the people for whom she offers her suffering. And while at first, understandably, she directs it mainly toward her loved ones and those dear to her, around the age of 13 her work of intercession expands to the world: “On Mondays, for the souls in Purgatory; on Tuesdays, for missionaries and unbelievers [that is, nonbelievers]; on Wednesdays, for the conversion of dying sinners; on Thursdays, for priests…”
Missionary of suffering
At 15, she joins the “Volunteers of Suffering,” founded by Blessed Luigi Novarese, and turns her illness into “unceasing prayer”, becoming a “missionary of suffering”: through her illness, she offers God a continual hymn of thanksgiving; through her illness, she offers God her prayer, and for this reason she can advise her cousin, who has multiple sclerosis, “not to let a single moment of your suffering go to waste without placing it in Jesus’ hands.”
Another Bertilla as a friend
An important “encounter” takes place when Bertilla is 16, as she reads the life of another woman who shares her name, Saint Bertilla Boscardin. She immediately feels a deep connection with her, and the masterpiece of her life is completed at precisely 8:30 p.m. on October 22, 1964. Bertilla’s sister, Sister Pialuigia, recalls: “When the hospital Superior learned of Bertilla’s death, she said: ‘At this very hour and on this very day, Saint Bertilla Boscardin died. She came to take her and bring her with her to Paradise.’”
If you too are experiencing the difficult, dark time of illness, or are close to someone going through it, we invite you to share your experience with us, if you wish, and we hope that Bertilla’s life has brought you light and hope!
