"Remember that the Heart of Jesus accompanies you…"
– Mother Clelia Merloni
In the footsteps of Mother Clelia, Apostle of Love!
March 10, 1861
Clelia Merloni is born and baptized
Clelia Cleopatra Maria Merloni, the third daughter of Maria Teresa Brandinelli and Gioacchino Merloni, was born in Forlì in the home of the Count Fabrizio and Countess Clelia Merenda at Via Carlo Matteucci 18, for whom Mr. Merloni worked as a servant. Clelia was baptized in the Cathedral of Forli the same day. The first two daughters of the Merloni family had died in infancy.
July 2, 1864
Her mother dies
Maria Teresa Brandinelli Merloni, Clelia’s mother, died, leaving her small child in the care of her father and maternal grandmother.
July 9, 1866
Her father remarries
Gioacchino Merloni moved to San Remo, where he married a widow, Maria Giovanna Boeri. She accepted young Clelia as her own daughter, giving her the care and affection she needed at that tender age. Mr. Merloni had greatly improved his socio-economic status and was now a rich industrialist and a Freemason.
1872 - 1876
First Holy Communion, Confirmation and Boarding School
A very intelligent child. Clelia was registered at a boarding school of the Visitation nuns in San Remo, where she was educated and received First Holy Communion and Confirmation. She was not only known for her lively and sometimes impulsive character, but also for her deep capacity for reflection, keen intuition, and great love for prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. On June 23, 1872, she received the sacrament of Confirmation in the Basilica of San Siro, in San Remo. In 1876 she entered as a boarding student the Institute of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Purification. She left after only a few months because of ill health
September 3, 1883
Her stepmother dies
Maria Giovanna Boeri, Clelia’s stepmother, died shortly after she was driven from the Merloni household due to tensions brought about by a mistress of Mr. Merloni. Clelia’s grandmother had already been sent away after a dispute with Mr. Merloni. Young Clelia lost all three of the good women in her life who taught her about God. This was a great sorrow for Clelia, who continued to pray fervently for the salvation of her father’s soul.
November 19, 1883
Clelia enters the Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Snows
Clelia entered the Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Snows in Savona. The following September, she made her Vestition and was given the name Sr. Albina. In February of 1887, an earthquake destroyed the convent. Clelia was miraculously unharmed, even after returning to the infirmary reduced to rubble, in order to save a sick Sister. But she soon fell ill and her father came to take her home.
August 1888
Clelia opens an orphanage in Nervi (Genoa)
Clelia opened an orphanage in Nervi (Genoa) to teach and care for poor children, but closed it the following year amidst legal difficulties. These ended in two legal processes, at the end of which she was exonerated of any wrongdoing.
August 14, 1892
Clelia enters the Congregation of Daughters of St. Mary of Divine Providence
Clelia entered the Little House of Divine Providence in Como (now the Daughters of Saint Mary of Divine Providence), founded by St. Luigi Guanella, who recognized Clelia as an exceptional soul. The two developed a relationship of deep respect and mutual trust. Clelia was given the care of the orphans, for whom she had a tender solicitude, giving special attention to the weakest of them.
1893
Clelia is miraculously cured of tuberculosis
Near the end of 1893, while at the Divine Providence convent, 32-year old Clelia again fell ill to tuberculosis for which the doctors agreed there was no possibility of a cure. She confided to her confessor her desire to found a religious congregation dedicated to the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He advised her to pray, along with a group of orphans, a novena to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. If the Blessed Mother would restore her health, it would be the confirmation that the founding of a new work was the Will of God. At the end of the novena, Clelia was miraculously cured.
May 30, 1894
Foundation of the Congregation
Clelia founded the Congregation of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Viareggio, Italy. The pastor, Fr. Serafino Bigongiari, OFM, officially welcomed Sr. Clelia and Sr. Elisa to the parish of St. Antonio in Viareggio and offered them temporary lodging on Via Garibaldi. Clelia, soon joined in her endeavor by other young women, rented a second house on Via di Mezzo to expand the nursery school, and then a third house. She was grateful to be able to count on her father’s financial backing for her charitable works
June 27, 1895
Death of Mr. Merloni in Sanremo
Clelia’s years of prayer and sacrifice were answered when, five months before his death, her father asked to receive the Sacraments. Clelia, deeply grateful that her father has made peace with God considered it a special grace that her father’s death occured during the month of June, dedicated to the Sacred Heart. Gioacchino Merloni’s will stated that the sole heir to his entire estate was his only child, Clelia. She inherited three villas and other property in Sanremo, as well as various substantial bank accounts.
December, 1898
Financial Disaster
The early successes of the Congregation were interrupted after only three years, when Mother Clelia was defrauded of her patrimony. The priest who administered her father’s estate, lost the sizeable fortune through risky financial maneuvers, and then fled to France. Creditors protested, threats and lies spread. Mother Clelia tried to keep her Congregation alive.
January and February, 1899
Mother Clelia accepts the help of Bishop Giovanni Battista Scalabrini of Piacenza
Two Sisters ventured into the diocese of Piacenza to ask permission to beg there. Bishop Giovanni Battista Scalabrin listened to their story with great interest, since he himself had been wanting to form a woman’s branch of his Missionaries of St. Charles to aid in their ministry to Italian emigrants in the Americas. He immediately asked to speak with the Foundress. Mother Clelia accepted Bishop Scalabrini’s offer to take the Congregation under his ecclesial protection and assume financial responsibility, thus satisfying the creditors. She also agreed to expand the aim of her Congregation to include a missionary spirit and to eventually send her Sisters to the Americas to help the priests in their ministries there. The name of the Congregation was changed to “Apostle Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”
May 10, 1899
Mother Clelia defends the founding charism of the Apostles
In a letter to Bishop Scalabrini, the Foundress protested vehemently upon learning that he intended to change the title of her congregation to that of “Missionaries of St. Charles,” seeing this as an attempt to destroy her charism and her work, and to further divide the Sisters.
June 10, 1900
Approval of the Constitutions
Bishop Scalabrini’s response was filled with criticism, calling her disobedient and disloyal. He denied such a plan but, at the same time, noted that because the sisters had not yet entered the novitiate, they could not call themselves sisters nor could she call herself Foundress, since the group was not yet recognized by a competent authority. Bishop Scalabrini eventually established the Congregation of the Apostle Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the diocese of Piacenza and approved the Rule “ad experimentum” for a ten-year period.
June 11, 1900
Religious profession
Mother Clelia and eighteen sisters received the religious habit in Castelnuovo Fogliani, a portion of Alseno, in the province of Piacenza. Nine of them, including the Foundress, Sr. Elisa and Sr. Marcellina professed their vows as well. Bishop Scalabrini modified the Apostles’ habit. Piacenza was officially designated as the central headquarters of the Institute.
August 10, 1900
The first missionaries to Brazil
The first six Apostle Missionaries set sail from Genoa for San Paulo, Brazil on the steamship “Piedmont.” They begin their mission at the “Christopher Columbus” Orphanage that housed both girls and boys.
June 15, 1902
First missionaries to the United States
The first six Apostle Missionaries set sail to the United States of America on the “Vancouver” to work with the Scalabrini Fathers who were servomg Italian emigrants in Boston’s North End.
February 28, 1904
Mother Clelia resigns from the office of Superior General
Bishop Scalabrini issued a decree to honor Mother Clelia’s request to remove her from her duties as Superior General of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus so she could devote more time to the compilation of the Constitutions and the Prayer Manual. He also cited that another reason was her poor health. The governance and title of Superior General passed provisionally to Sr. Marcellina Viganò, previously appointed Vicaress General by Bishop Scalabrini. Mother Clelia returned to Alessandria for the next year.
June 1, 1905
Death of Bishop Scalabrini
Bishop Scalabrini died unexpectedly.
1909-1911
Three Apostolic Visitations
The Holy See conducted three Apostolic Visitations to the Congregation. The visitations were instigated by a Sister who accused Mother Clelia of moral, disciplinary, and economic improprieties. The final reports were unjustly negative toward the Foundress.
September 13, 1911
Mother Clelia is removed from the office of Superior General
As a result of the Apostolic Visitations, Mother Clelia, by a decree of the Sacred Congregation for Religious, was removed from the office of Mother General, citing reasons of poor health (NB: no Apostolic Visitator ever spoke with Mother Clelia herself). Mother Marcellina was appointed Superior General and a new General Council was formed.
1911-1916
In Alessandria
Mother Clelia continued to live in the Motherhouse at Alessandria, but was forbidden to have any contact with the community. The Sisters were prohibited from showing any kind of support for her. Many Apostles who had expressed loyalty to Mother Clelia were obliged to seek refuge in other Congregations or return home to their families.
November 28, 1912
Title of the Congregation is changed
The title of the Congregation was changed from “Apostles” to “Zelatrices” of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in an attempt to alter the charism and obscure the influence of the Foundress.
June 2, 1916
Mother Clelia is dispensed from her religious vows
Seeing herself as an obstacle to the growth of the Congregation, and saddened that so many good Sisters were being dismissed from the Congregation because of their loyalty to her, Mother Clelia requested and obtained dispensation from her religious vows, in preparation for leaving the Institute. From the beginning she intended her exile to be temporary, never losing hope that the situation would be resolved and she would be able to once again live among her spiritual daughters.
1916-1928
Exile in Genoa, Turin, Roccagiovine, Marcellina
Mother Clelia left Alessandria for Genoa, her first place of exile. She also lived for a time in Turin, Roccagiovine, and Marcellina. Only her deep faith and great hope kept her from despairing during the twelve long and painful years of separation from her daughters.
November 22, 1920
Mother Clelia writes to Padre Pio of Petrelcina
Mother Clelia wrote a letter to Padre Pio to ask counsel: should she return to the cloister where she was for a short time many years before, should she wait again to be re-admitted to the Congregation she founded, or should she accept an invitation to found a new Congregation?
July 4, 1927
Permission to return to the Congregation
In response to Mother Clelia’s official request to be re-admitted to the Congregation (dated June 20, 1927), the Sacred Congregation for Religious informed the Pope’s Cardinal Vicar that he could give permission to re-admit Mother Clelia and her Sister companions to the Congregation.
March 7, 1928
Returns to the Institute
Sr. Clelia Merloni is re-admitted to the Institute
November 21, 1930
Mother Clelia dies in Rome
Mother Clelia dies a holy and serene death in Rome, pronouncing the name of Jesus. Since the Congregation did not have its own tomb, the sisters found a place for her in the Chapel of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Agony, in Verano Cemetery in Rome. They placed a small headstone with her photograph and an inscription indicating her identity.
March 24, 1931
Congregation is approved by the Holy See
Only four months after the death of Mother Clelia, the Holy See gave the decree of approval to the Congregation of the Sister Missionary Zelatrices of the Sacred Heart. The Foundress had said more than once that she would have given her life to obtain the approval of the Institute.
May 17, 1945
Recovery of Mother Clelia’s body from Verano Cemetery
During World War II, in the late morning hours of July 19, 1943, the section of Campo Verano Cemetery where Mother Clelia was buried was heavily bombed. Because of this, Mother Hildegarde, Superior General at the time, obtained permission on August 24,1943 to retrieve the mortal remains of the Foundress.
It was necessary, however, to await the end of the war to begin the research. On May 17, 1945, after a strenuous search, the body of Mother Clelia was found, incorrupt. Three days later, on Pentecost Sunday, the body was transferred in solemn procession to the Generalate Chapel and interred in a side wall. Her epitaph read: “The Divine Heart of Jesus was the light of her existence. The poor, the oppressed, the unfortunate, her most tender heartbeat. She lived in purity, simplicity, and charity.”
April 19, 1951
Miracle attributed to the intercession of Mother Clelia
Pedro de Oliveira Filho in Brazil is said to have been cured of a type of Landry paralysis (Guillain-Barré syndrome) through the intercession of Mother Clelia, after he swallowed a few drops of water and a tiny piece of thread, that was a relic of Mother Clelia’s veil.
February 2, 1967
The Congregation returns to its original title
As a result of Vatican Council II, the Congregation returns to its original title given by the Foundress in 1894: Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
June 18, 1990
Opening of the Cause for Beatification
The Vicariate of Rome, at the request of the Congregation, opens the cause for beatification of Mother Clelia.
April 1, 1998
Closing of the Diocesan Phase of the Cause
After the presentation of a detailed report of the Historical Commission, the diocesan phase of the Cause was concluded. Mother Clelia was given the title “Servant of God”. The Roman Phase of the Cause was begun, and the documentation was turned over to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints.
2013-2016
Mother Clelia receives the title of Venerable
The Positio, a 1385-page study of Mother Clelia’s life, her heroic virtue and her reputation for holiness, was written. It includes testimonies, documents, and evidence in her defense, regarding some of the more critical moments of Mother Clelia’s life and work. After the Positio had been thoroughly studied, her heroic virtue was affirmed by a Decree of Heroic Virtue signed by Pope Francis on December 21, 2016, bestowing on her the title of Venerable.
January 26, 2018
Approval of a Miracle
On January 26, 2018, the signature of the Holy Father on the Decree of Recognition of a Miracle completed the process for beatification.
November 3, 2018
Clelia Merloni is beatified
On November 3, 2018, in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, in Rome, the Mass of Beatification of Mother Clelia Merloni took place.
