Giulia Valle

Sister Nemesia was sent to the Saint Vincent Institute in Tortona, a house that included a primary school, a boarding school, and an orphanage. She spent 36 years of her life there (from 1867/1868 to 1903). She taught French and general subjects there, while actively caring for the orphans and the poor of the city. Her kindness and constant availability earned her the nickname "the heart of Sister Nemesia" or "our angel" from the inhabitants of Tortona. At the age of 40, she was appointed superior of the Tortona community, a responsibility she assumed with a profound spirit of service and humility.

On May 10, 1903, Sister Nemesia was transferred to Borgaro Torinese, near Turin. The congregation opened the novitiate of the new province of Turin there. She was appointed mistress of novices, a mission she would carry out for thirteen years. During this period, she accompanied and trained nearly 500 young women for religious life.

However, her final years were marked by profound moral suffering. The provincial superior, who had a rigid temperament, disapproved of her formation method based on gentleness, kindness, and trust. Sister Nemesia endured numerous public humiliations and constant reproaches, which she bore in silence, prayer, and heroic charity.

Her health declined under the weight of these trials. In the autumn of 1916, she was struck by severe pneumonia. After six days of agony, she died on December 18, 1916, in Borgaro Torinese, at the age of 69.

After her death, Sister Nemesia's reputation for holiness continued to grow, accompanied by numerous testimonies of graces and healings obtained through her intercession.

The diocesan informative process opened in Turin in 1951 and closed in 1954. The cause was officially introduced in Rome on July 31, 1981, conferring upon her the title of Servant of God.

On July 5, 2002, Pope John Paul II promulgated the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues, thereby declaring her Venerable.

For her beatification, a miracle was presented for examination by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints: the unexplained healing of Sister Maria Luisa Ferrero (also known as Sister Luisa Ferrero), which occurred on June 14, 1993. This religious sister of the same congregation, then deemed incurable by doctors due to a serious illness (characterized by intestinal obstruction, metastases, and peritonitis), recovered suddenly and completely after praying to Sister Nemesia.

On December 20, 2003, Pope John Paul II signed the decree recognizing this miracle.

The beatification ceremony was celebrated by Pope John Paul II on April 25, 2004, in Saint Peter's Square in Rome.

The spirituality of Blessed Giulia Nemesia Valle rests on a total self-abnegation and an absolute trust in God. Her constant prayer, formulated from her youth, summarizes her ideal of life: "Jesus, strip me of myself and clothe me with Yourself."

Her spiritual and educational program was guided by gratuitous kindness and humble service, expressed in her personal notes: "Hasten the pace without looking back, fixing one's gaze on the essential: God Alone! To Him the glory, to others the joy, to me the price to pay, to suffer but never to make others suffer." She conceived of authority as a service and holiness as the faithful and daily fulfillment of the duty of state out of love.

Her body rests today in the church of the Sisters of Charity in Borgaro Torinese. Her spiritual legacy remains alive within her congregation and among the faithful of Piedmont and the Aosta Valley.