Sandra Sabattini

From then on, Sandra became actively involved in the Pope John XXIII Community, dedicating her free time, weekends, and vacations to accompanying marginalized people, the disabled, and drug addicts. In 1980, after brilliantly obtaining her high school diploma in Rimini, she chose to enroll in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bologna. For her, medical studies were not merely a career prospect, but a true vocation: she nurtured the dream of becoming a missionary doctor in Africa in order to heal bodies while proclaiming the Gospel. In 1980, when the community opened a therapeutic center for young drug addicts in Igea Marina, Sandra immediately invested herself there with generosity, choosing to spend her summer vacations working there full-time. On a personal level, she met Guido Rossi in 1978. They became engaged the following year, in 1979. Together, they shared the same ideal of missionary life and service to the poorest, living their relationship in chastity, prayer, and the discernment of God's will.

Sandra's destiny changed tragically on the morning of April 29, 1984. While she was traveling with her fiancé Guido and a friend to the general assembly of the Pope John XXIII Community in Igea Marina, she was violently struck by a car as she stepped out of their vehicle. Rushed to the Bellaria Hospital in Bologna, she fell into a coma and passed away three days later, on May 2, 1984, at the age of 22. After her death, Father Oreste Benzi discovered the unsuspected depth of her inner life through her private writings, composed in notebooks and on loose sheets. He decided to collect them and publish them under the title The Diary of Sandra (Il diario di Sandra). This spiritual testimony reveals a young woman animated by an absolute love for Christ and a constant search for holiness in the ordinary. Father Benzi immediately perceived in her a model of holiness for contemporary youth and worked actively for the opening of her cause for beatification.

The cause for beatification was officially opened at the diocesan level in Rimini on September 27, 2006, after obtaining the nihil obstat on July 11, 2006. The diocesan inquiry closed on December 6, 2008. On March 6, 2018, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues, thereby declaring her Venerable. On October 2, 2019, Pope Francis approved the decree recognizing a miracle attributed to her intercession. This miracle concerns the scientifically inexplicable healing, which occurred in 2007, of a 40-year-old man hospitalized in an emergency in Rimini. Suffering from a "metastasized adenocarcinoma of the recto-sigmoidal junction," doctors gave him only a few months to live after surgery revealed diffuse metastases. Following fervent prayers addressed to Sandra Sabattini, the tumor and its metastases disappeared completely in a rapid, complete, and lasting manner. Sandra Sabattini was solemnly beatified on October 24, 2021, in the Cathedral of Rimini (Tempio Malatestiano). The celebration was presided over by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, on behalf of Pope Francis. She thus became the first fiancée of the modern era to be raised to the honors of the altars. Her liturgical memorial is set for May 4.

The spirituality of Blessed Sandra Sabattini rests on an intimate union with God nourished by daily prayer, Eucharistic adoration, and contemplation. For her, holiness does not reside in extraordinary actions, but in the radical nature of love lived out daily. She notably wrote: "There are too many good Christians, while the world needs saints." Her relationship with time and life is marked by a total detachment and a deep gratitude toward the Creator. Two days before her accident, on April 27, 1984, she noted in her diary: "This life that is developing in me is not mine... Everything is a gift upon which the 'Giver' can intervene when and how He wants. Take care of the gift that is given to you, make it more beautiful and fuller for the moment that comes." Her legacy remains particularly alive within the Pope John XXIII Community. She continues to inspire many young people and engaged couples throughout the world, showing them that it is possible to live a joyful, committed, and fully holy youth.