Anfrosina Berardi

Faced with the deterioration of her condition, her family sought every possible means to treat her. Her older brother decided to take her to Rome to consult specialists, but radiological examinations revealed a progressive and irreversible intestinal occlusion, making any further surgery impossible. Despite the illness, her brother brought her back to Rome temporarily at the end of 1931 and enrolled her in the Roman school "Dante Alighieri" to prevent her from losing her school year. However, the inexorable progression of the ailment forced her to return permanently to her native village. On October 13, 1932, during the canonical visit of the diocesan bishop, Anfrosina received her first communion and the sacrament of confirmation simultaneously. This event marked a turning point in her spiritual life. She spent the last five months of her existence bedridden, unable to eat normally, finding her only strength in the Eucharist that the village priest brought to her home regularly. During this period of forced confinement, the young girl benefited from exceptional mystical graces. She claimed to receive frequent visits from the Virgin Mary, with whom she conversed familiarly. She also manifested the gift of cardiognosis (reading of souls). Thus, when a village inhabitant suffering from severe deforming arthritis came to visit her, Anfrosina initially refused to see her, later explaining to her mother that it was not the physical illness that repelled her, but the ugliness of sin and the woman's obstinate refusal to accept her own suffering. Among the other extraordinary phenomena reported by those close to her is an episode of bilocation, during which she allegedly appeared to her brothers to bring them aid after an accident occurred in the snow. On Christmas morning 1932, she was enraptured in ecstasy before a vision of musical angels. Naively asking her mother for an instrument to accompany them, and being told that the family was too poor for that, she began to sing the Gloria in excelsis Deo with a voice of celestial purity.

Anfrosina's sickbed became a true place of pilgrimage for the inhabitants of the region, drawn by her reputation for holiness and her heroic patience. She exhorted visitors to entrust themselves to the Virgin Mary and constantly reminded them of the redemptive value of suffering offered out of love for the conversion of sinners. A few days before her death, she announced to her loved ones that she had received from the Virgin Mary the assurance of her imminent entry into Paradise, sealed by a spiritual kiss on her forehead. Those present reported having observed a damp and luminous mark on the designated spot. She also predicted with accuracy the day and hour of her passing. On the morning of Monday, March 13, 1933, stating that the Virgin had authorized her to break the Eucharistic fast, she asked for a spoonful of hot coffee. Around 7 o'clock, the parish priest brought her the Viaticum. After a time of thanksgiving, she reassured her family by saying: "I am not dying, but I am going to Paradise with the Virgin." Around 10 o'clock in the morning, after smiling at her parents and sketching a gesture of blessing, she passed away peacefully at the age of 12.

The crowd that gathered to venerate her remains was so large that the funeral had to be postponed until the following evening. Numerous testimonies of graces and unexplained healings began to flow in immediately, reinforcing her reputation for holiness. In 1962, the Archdiocese of L'Aquila officially opened her beatification process, conferring upon her the title of Servant of God. The validity of the diocesan inquiry was recognized by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in 1993. On April 24, 2021, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her theological and cardinal virtues, officially declaring her Venerable. Her mortal remains rest today in the parish church of San Marco Evangelista in San Marco di Preturo.

The spirituality of Anfrosina Berardi rests on a total and joyful acceptance of the divine will through physical suffering. Far from withdrawing into herself, she transformed her agony into an active apostolate of intercession for the Church, sinners, and the souls in Purgatory. Her filial love for the Virgin Mary and her Eucharistic devotion constitute the two pillars of her mystical life. Her example remains particularly alive in the Archdiocese of L'Aquila, where she is presented to the younger generations as a model of early faith and courage in the face of trial. Each year, around March 13, the parish community of San Marco di Preturo celebrates her memory and prays for her future beatification.