Olga Gugelmo

In June 1935, a colleague told her about a nascent religious work. In August 1937, Olga met the founder of this project, the Canossian religious Maria Oliva Bonaldo, for the first time. The latter explained to her the charism of the future congregation of the Daughters of the Church (Figlie della Chiesa). Deeply touched by this spiritual ideal, Olga decided to leave everything to dedicate herself to it. On July 16, 1938, she left her family to join the very first nucleus of the foundation in Rome. During her religious profession, she received the name Sister Olga of the Mother of God (suor Olga della Madre di Dio), a name chosen by the founder because of her tender Marian devotion. She pronounced her first vows on August 4, 1940, in Treviso. From 1938 to 1941, Sister Olga closely assisted the founder in the first steps of the congregation, traveling between Rome and the Veneto region. In June 1941, she was sent to the community of Ischia. In October 1942, she settled in Mestre (Venice) where she served as the founder's secretary. Throughout these years, her apostolate unfolded among students, workers, and the most neglected poor, always combining social service with the teaching of the catechism.

Sister Olga's religious life was brief but of great spiritual intensity. On April 2, 1943, she was suddenly struck by fulminant cerebrospinal meningitis and had to be hospitalized in Mestre. She lived her final days in an attitude of total offering and joyful serenity. She passed away on April 11, 1943, Passion Sunday, at the age of only 33. The reputation of holiness of the young religious spread rapidly in Mestre and throughout the Patriarchate of Venice. On April 11, 1956, the anniversary of her death, the Patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (the future Pope John XXIII), officially opened the diocesan process for her beatification. This diocesan inquiry process concluded on May 20, 1960.

Following the examination of her cause by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome, Pope Francis authorized, on October 31, 2013, the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues. Sister Olga of the Mother of God was then declared venerable. For her beatification to be pronounced, the official recognition of a miracle attributed to her intercession by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints is required. Her remains rest today in the cemetery of Mestre, where many faithful continue to come to pray and seek her intercession.

The spirituality of the Venerable Olga Gugelmo is rooted in the charism of the Daughters of the Church: unconditional love for the Church, Eucharistic adoration, and the constant search for the Father's will for the unity of all Christians. She knew how to embody this charism through a simple daily life, lived with deep faith and a constant smile, even in the heart of physical and moral suffering. Before dying, she left a spiritual testament that remains alive for her community and her devotees, promising to continue her mission from heaven: "I will do as little Thérèse did... I will spend my heaven doing good on earth." Each year, around April 11, a solemn mass is celebrated in her memory at the church of San Girolamo in Mestre, gathering many faithful who testify to the graces received through her intercession.