Blessed Chiara Luce Badano

Life story

Chiara Badano was born on 29 October 1971 at Sassello in Liguria, Italy, after her parents had waited many years for a child. She grew up in a devout family, attended local schools and loved sport, especially tennis and swimming. She came to know the Focolare Movement at the age of nine and joined its youth group, where she made friends and took part in activities to help the poor.

In autumn 1988, while playing tennis, she felt sharp pain in her shoulder. The diagnosis was bone cancer. She underwent rounds of chemotherapy and surgery at a hospital in Turin, but the illness did not recede. She lost the ability to walk. Visitors, including friends her own age, recalled that she kept her smile and kept writing to friends in the movement. Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare, gave her the additional name Luce, meaning light.

She died on 7 October 1990, at eighteen. She was beatified on 25 September 2010 at the Shrine of Divine Love in Rome. Her feast day is 29 October, her birthday. Youth groups in Italy and other countries have taken her as an example of living the faith.

She decided to give her gifts and savings to friends in an African country, through a friend in the movement. Her parents cared for her throughout the months of her illness. Her grave is in the cemetery at Sassello, and many young people visit it every year.

Works and witness

• Involved in the Focolare Movement from childhood
• Diagnosed with bone cancer in 1988 and treated in Turin
• Given the added name Luce, light, by Chiara Lubich
• Died in 1990; beatified in 2010

Saints from the same country

Saint Agnes, Saint Lawrence, Saint Cecilia, Saint Sebastian

References

• Martyrologium Romanum
• Dicastery for the Causes of Saints – biographical profile
• Focolare Movement – biographical materials on Chiara Luce Badano

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.