Bertilla Antoniazzi

Although bedridden, Bertilla did not consider her condition a fatality, but a true ecclesial mission. To those who asked her about her future, she replied with assurance: "My vocation is to be a sick person and I do not have time to think about other things!" She was actively involved in several Church movements, notably Catholic Action (Azione Cattolica), UNITALSI (Italian National Union for Transport of the Sick to Lourdes and International Shrines), and the Center for Volunteers of Suffering (Centro Volontari della Sofferenza - CVS). From her room, she carried out a true apostolate through correspondence, writing numerous letters to other sick people to encourage them to offer their sufferings to Jesus for the salvation of souls and the conversion of sinners. She also wrote articles for the missions and donated her first communion dress to support missionary work. At the age of 16, she read the biography of her patron saint and namesake, Saint Maria Bertilla Boscardin (an Italian nun and nurse canonized in 1961 by Pope John XXIII). This figure became her model of hidden holiness and her closest spiritual friend.

Bertilla lived her sufferings in intimate union with the crucified Christ. During the last two years of her life, her state of health deteriorated severely: she suffered from painful bedsores, valvular heart disease, and pulmonary edema. On September 25, 1963, she participated in the UNITALSI diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes. Before the Virgin Mary, she did not ask for her physical healing, but for the grace of holiness. Eight days before her death, she confided to a religious her fear of having one day offended God by imploring her healing, but she was reassured by the thought of Jesus' agony in Gethsemane. She received her last communion on October 22, 1964, and passed away peacefully that same evening at 8:00 PM at the civil hospital of Vicenza, surrounded by her family and the nursing staff, at the very moment the Eucharistic benediction was concluding in the establishment's chapel.

The cause for the beatification and canonization of Bertilla Antoniazzi was introduced in the Diocese of Vicenza. The diocesan inquiry was officially opened on February 8, 2014, by the Bishop of Vicenza, Msgr. Beniamino Pizziol, and concluded on March 25, 2015. On January 19, 2023, Pope Francis authorized the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of Bertilla Antoniazzi, thereby conferring upon her the title of Venerable. To pave the way for her beatification, the official recognition of a miracle attributed to her intercession is now required.

Bertilla's spirituality rests on the transformation of the bed of pain into an altar of offering and intercession. She teaches that suffering is not sterile when it is united with the Passion of Christ. To perpetuate her memory and spread her message, the association "Amici di Bertilla Antoniazzi" was founded on October 1, 2012. It strives to make her spiritual experience known, to publish her writings, and to actively support her cause for canonization. Her mortal remains rest in the Major Cemetery of Vicenza (Cimitero Maggiore di Vicenza).