Sergio Bernardini

The couple settled as farmers in Barberino di Verica. Together, they led a simple life, marked by working the land, daily prayer, and active charity toward the most destitute, particularly during the trials of the two World Wars.

Sergio and Domenica had ten children. Driven by the desire to raise their family in the love of God, they saw eight of their children embrace the consecrated life: * Six of their daughters became nuns: five joined the congregation of the Daughters of Saint Paul (Figlie di San Paolo) and one became a member of the Franciscan Sisters Handmaids of the Good Shepherd. * Their two sons entered the Capuchins. One of them, Germano Bernardini, would later become Archbishop of Izmir in Turkey.

Their other two daughters, Maria and Paola, married and committed themselves, just like their parents, to the Third Order of Saint Francis (Secular Franciscan Order). The couple was also affiliated with the Pauline Cooperators.

Despite their very modest resources, Sergio and Domenica demonstrated exceptional missionary generosity. At retirement age, they decided to spiritually and financially "adopt" a Nigerian seminarian, funding his priestly studies in Rome thanks to their meager pension. This seminarian, Felix Alaba Job, would be ordained a priest and later become Archbishop of Ibadan in Nigeria.

Sergio Bernardini passed away on October 12, 1966, in Verica, surrounded by his family, after 52 years of marriage. His wife Domenica joined him in the peace of God a few years later, on February 27, 1971. Their respective funerals drew a vast crowd of faithful and priests, already testifying to their reputation for holiness.

Given the popular fervor and the exceptional example of their married life, the Archdiocese of Modena-Nonantola opened a joint cause for beatification for the couple. The diocesan process took place from May 20, 2006, to May 18, 2008. At the conclusion of this phase, the file was transmitted to Rome, to the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Causes of Saints.

On May 5, 2015, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic Christian virtues of Sergio Bernardini and his wife Domenica Bedonni. By this act, they were both declared "Venerable".

They thus constitute the third married couple in the history of the Catholic Church to be declared venerable jointly, after the Blesseds Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi and the Saints Louis and Zélie Martin. For their beatification to be pronounced, the official recognition of a miracle attributed to their joint intercession is required.

The spirituality of Sergio Bernardini rests on an absolute trust in Divine Providence and a humble acceptance of God's will, even in the heart of the greatest personal tragedies. Faced with the loss of his first family, he did not rebel, exclaiming like Job while blessing the will of God who gives and who takes away.

The couple exemplified the vocation of the Christian family as a "domestic Church" and a subject of evangelization. Their daily life shows that holiness does not require extraordinary works, but is accomplished in fidelity to the duties of one's state, conjugal love, the Christian education of children, and generous openness to the needs of others. Their spiritual legacy is today promoted by the association "Amici dei Venerabili Coniugi Bernardini" and remains a source of inspiration for contemporary families.