Blessed Elena Guerra was proclaimed a saint on October 20 by Pope Francis. When Pope John XXIII proclaimed her blessed in 1959, he also described her as the apostle of the Holy Spirit in modern times: “In modern times because her mission unfolds in a world whose landscape changes from day to day and which, in order not to lose its way, needs the Holy Spirit. […] In this reality of global transformations at the political, economic, technological, social, cultural, and religious levels, the individual needs to find himself again, to understand the meaning of his own life, to rediscover his dignity as a child of God, called to a life without end in eternal beatitude.” This is a world not so different from our own, in which one woman knew how to make a difference.
The Holy Spirit is central to Elena’s life, shaping and guiding her journey, because she devoted herself to the very end to spreading devotion to the Third Person of the Trinity in every way and to restoring the Church’s devotion to the Holy Spirit. In this article, however, we do not want to focus solely or primarily on this, but on the qualities that made Elena an exceptional woman, one who knew how to live in her own time while looking beyond it and dreaming of a Church and a world profoundly renewed by God’s love.

A woman with a great heart

Elena was born in 1835 into a noble family in Lucca, the city where she spent her entire life. Her home offered her a protected and loving horizon, but also a limited one that seemed, in part, to clash with the greatness and freedom of the spirit gradually taking shape within her. As a child and later as a young woman, she was particularly attentive and sensitive to what surrounded her, especially the suffering of the poor. One witness stated that “she would walk barefoot in the snow, and when asked why, she replied: ‘I do it to experience how much the poor who have no shoes suffer.’”
Elena has a great heart that cannot remain confined within the walls of her home and, in fact, at a certain point she takes flight: in 1882 she founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Zita. The sisters do not lead a cloistered life, but are dedicated to educating girls; they live in the world, working for heaven.

A woman with a “golden pen”

Writing has accompanied Elena since her youth: she writes pamphlets, keeps a diary, and then continues writing throughout her life. It must be emphasized that it was entirely unusual at the time for a woman to write, and to write so much: “Today, it is more or less taken for granted that a woman writes and publishes, and not only on educational subjects. In the 1800s, it was an exception; let us not forget that. At that time, helping the poor and visiting the sick could fit within the view of the female condition, even though it already extended beyond the private sphere. Elena does these things too, but she does not stop there: she organizes, establishes, publishes; she enters the near and distant circles of society through her work as a writer, which in itself was already an expression of exceptional ability in Lucca at that time” (R. Taddioli, Elena Guerra. The Woman of Pentecost and the Upper Room, Suore Oblate dello Spirito Santo, 1998, p. 133).

Indeed, she collaborates with Il Corriere Toscano, Il Monitore Ecclesiastico, and Esare because she feels a very strong desire within herself to speak about God: Elena knows that the press has the power to reach far and can truly be a tool for enriching and educating people’s minds and spirits. She writes 72 short works, 63 of them religious in nature and 9 dealing with educational and school-related topics. Don Bosco said to her: “You have a golden pen; continue to devote yourself to young women; my work is directed toward the people.”

A woman who has the courage to dare

It is 1886 when she herself confesses what could be called the first inspiration of her prophetic mission: little by little, a desire, an intention, a thought begins to make its way into her heart, which she personally defines as “audacious”: “The thought came to me of writing to the Pope… I even dared to mention it to a good person, saying: ‘What would it be like to write to the Holy Father?’ And I was told: ‘That would be too bold. It would be arrogance.’ I bowed my head and sighed bitterly.”

But then things begin to mature. Elena realizes that this is indeed God’s will and throws herself into the undertaking without any further fear: the first step is to send the Novena of Pentecost, which she wrote, to the Holy Father (March 27, 1894), who blesses the text. Then the correspondence between Elena and Pope Leo XIII begins, comprising thirteen letters. It is a dialogue that crosses distances, because the Pope responds to the letters with several documents emphasizing the need for Christian devotion to the Holy Spirit. Elena’s mission is accomplished!

Elena’s holiness is the holiness of a woman who knew how to let herself be guided by the Holy Spirit, who had the courage to dream the same dream that came from God’s heart; let us learn from her and entrust ourselves to her.