Life Story - Mother Clelia

Life, work and spirituality of Mother Clelia Merloni

Life Story

Life Story

“Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies,
it produces much fruit.”

– John 12:24

Life of Mother Clelia

Mother Clelia Merloni: Apostle of Love

Mother Clelia Merloni, foundress of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, was born in Forli, Italy on March 10, 1861. When she was only three years old, her mother, Teresa Brandinelli, died. Her father, Joachim Merloni, a wealthy industrialist, then married Maria Giovanna Boeri, who together with Clelia’s grandmother gave the child a solid Christian formation and helped her develop a strong and confident personality. In 1876 Clelia began her studies with the Daughters of Our Lady of the Purification in Savona. After only one year, she had to leave school due to fragile health. Her father immediately acquired teachers to give Clelia lessons in foreign languages and piano. He dreamed of a luxurious marriage for his beloved daughter. But what truly moved Clelia’s heart was the deep desire to consecrate herself to God in religious life. In 1883 she entered the Congregation of the Daughters of our Lady of the Snows in Savona. She was given the name of Sr. Albina. However, because of sickness she had to return home after four years. In 1892 Clelia entered the Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of Providence in Como, where she dedicated herself to religious life with zeal and joy. There, at the end of a novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, she obtained an unexpected cure from tuberculosis,. Restored to perfect health, Clelia realized that God’s plan for her was to found a religious Congregation of sisters consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who would dedicate themselves to the wellbeing of the poor, orphaned and abandoned, offering all their good works and their lives for the conversion of sinners. (In Clelia’s heart there was, above all, the fervent desire to obtain the salvation of the soul of her father, an atheist and Mason).

On May 30, 1894, in the Church of St. Francis in Viareggio, Clelia and her two companions were presented as the first “Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.” A new Congregation was born. The foundation grew rapidly. Clelia soon opened a school, a nursery for younger children, an orphanage and a home for the elderly, all thanks to the generous financial support of her father. As the number of sisters grew, so too did the works increase, even outside of Viareggio. In addition to God’s many blessings on the new congregation, with her father’s death in San Remo on June 27, 1895, Clelia became the sole beneficiary of his sizable inheritance., His deathbed conversion was the fruit of the prayers and sacrifices which his daughter had offered for this intention for many years. Unfortunately, the expansion of the ministries ended abruptly after only three years, because the priest administrator, having squandered most of her inheritance through risky financial maneuvers, escaped to France with the rest of her money.

In 1898 Divine Providence enabled Mother Clelia to meet Bishop Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, Bishop of Piacenza. He accepted the little group of sisters into his diocese, and helped the congregation to find their way out of the painful situation created by the financial disaster. In 1900, the Bishop sent some of the sisters as missionaries to help the Italian immigrants who had settled in Brazil. Two years later. other Apostles left to minister in Boston (USA). On June 11, 1900 Mother Clelia and 18 other sisters professed religious vows in the Noviziate in Castelnuovo Fogliani, on the outskirts of Alseno, the province of Piacenza. Nine of them, including the Foundress, also made their profession of vows. Even with the joy of consecration, as well as the apostolic success that came from collaboration with Bishop Scalabrini, internal tensions arose among the sisters. Two distinct groups were being formed within the same Congregation: those who wanted to remain faithful to the founding charism and those who were more inclined to follow the directives and spirituality of the Scalabrinian Congregation, Moreover, soon after the economic failure and corresponding legal issues, Mother Clelia became a victim of slander. Not wanting to publicly accuse the priest who had mismanaged and stolen the money of the Congregation, she took the blame upon herself, leading to serious misunderstandings and accusations.

On February 28, 1904 a decree was promulgated, dismissing Mother Clelia from the office of Superior General. Mother Marcellina Viganò was appointed Superior General. A year later, Mother Clelia was returned to office. Three apostolic visitations of the Congregation followed, at the end of which, by a decree from the Sacred Congretation for Religious, dated September 13, 1911, Mother Clelia was once more removed from the office of Superior General. She was no longer consulted on matters relating to the government of the Congregation, the name of the institute was changed, and new Constitutions were drafted, which the sisters were ordered to obey by the visitators approved by the Congregation of Religious. Mother repeatedly asked for her case to be reviewed, but she never received any answer. Meanwhile discord grew in the Congregation and the sisters who were faithful to Mother Clelia were ousted from the Institute. Alone and thinking herself to be the obstacle to the peace of the communities, Clelia decided to leave the Institute she had founded, rather than see it destroyed by discord.

Exile and Return

1916-1928

The trying period of exile began for Mother Clelia in June 1916: Turin, Roccagiovine, Marcellina were the stops on her long road to Calvary.

Exile and Return

This was a time of a great deepening in Mother Clelia’s spiritual life of prayer and of strengthening her spirituality.

The trying period of exile began for Mother Clelia in June 1916: Turin, Roccagiovine, Marcellina were the stops on her long road to Calvary. This was, however, also a time of great spiritual growth, deep prayer and the strengthening of Mother Clelia’s spirituality. The sisters were forbidden to correspond with her or send her any assistance. Her name was unknown to later generations of Apostles.

On August 16, 1920, Mother Clelia wrote to the Pope, begging for his permission to return to the Congregation she had founded. It was only on March 7, 1928 that Mother Clelia was allowed to return to the Institute. Elderly and very weak, she spent the last two years of her life in a room far from the community, but connected to a small choir loft that overlooked the altar of the chapel. These years were marked by intense prayer and tender charity for all those whom she knew, and a full and total offering of herself to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus for the salvation of souls.

The most evident sign of her exquisite charity was her spirit of forgiveness, purified by the fire of love, shining like a pearl of extraordinary beauty, especially when she was the object of grave injustices and unfounded slander.

Death of Mother Clelia

November 21, 1930

Mother Clelia died in Rome on November 21, 1930 and was buried in the Campo Verano cemetery.

Death

Mother Clelia died in Rome on November 21, 1930, and was buried in Campo Verano Cemetery. On July 18, 1943 during the Second World War, the Allied Forces dropped bombs near the railway station of San Lorenzo, also affecting the Verano Cemetery. There was heavy damage and many tombs were destroyed. It was only in 1945, at the War’s end, that the search could begin for the remains of the Foundress. After a few days of searching, workers found Mother Clelia’s casket still sealed. It was opened in the presence of the Superior General. The body of the Foundress was intact.

On May 20, 1945, the Solemnity of Pentecost, the body of Mother Clelia was transferred in a solemn funeral procession from the Verano cemetery to the Generalate chapel which is dedicated to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.

The mortal remains of the Foundress were placed in the right wall of the Chapel. The following inscription was placed on the marble plaque: “Mother Clelia Merloni, Foundress of the Institute of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Divine Heart of Jesus was the light of her existence. her most tender heartbeats were for the poor and the oppressed. she lived in purity, simplicity, charity.”

During the process of her beatification, her remains were exhumed and transferred to an urn. This act marked another important moment in the veneration of the Foundress, consolidating her memory and inspiring even greater devotion among the faithful.