1. The canonical norms concerning the procedure to be followed in the Causes of Saints are stated in the Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister promulgated by John Paul II on 25 January 1983 (AAS LXXV, 1983, 349-355).

2. To initiate a Cause it is necessary that at least five years pass after the death of the candidate. This is to allow for greater balance and objectivity in the evaluation of the case and to allow the emotions of the moment to decant. There must be a clear conviction among people about his/her sanctity (fama sanctitas) and about the efficacy of his/her intercession with the Lord (fama signorum).

Joseph Mazzanti was born in Imola, Bologna, (Italy) on June 3^rd, 1879.

A priest, born, raised and died in his beloved Imola, he lived passionately what was ordinary in his life and who could still say a word to those who today seek the way that leads to peace of heart and holiness in daily life. The secret of his constant goodness towards all was his intimate and filial union with God.

He lived every problem and every day with the wonderful reality of the supernatural living in him. He knew how to see things and events in the light of faith, and this also inculcated him in his convincing spiritual discourses. Too short for us were his incomparable catechism lessons from which we always came out with our souls flooded with joy. - Meeting with Fr Giuseppe Mazzanti was like bathing in serenity and rest.

The strength that attracted to him was his great spirit of charity: a cordial and sympathetic charity that he gave with sincere and total understanding; an intelligent charity that knew how to see, even in the weeds and in the desert of a heart, the positive note, the smouldering wick; an apostolic charity that he knew how to infuse into that army of generous souls – the Little Sisters of St. Teresa – who, consecrated to God in the spirit of little Thérèse of Lisieux, found in him the inexhaustible counsellor, the generous father, the wise director of the Work he founded.

He died on December 22, 1954.

The Diocesan Inquiry on his «life, virtue and reputation for holiness» was opened on 3^rd of June  2016 in the Imola diocese.

PLEASE NOTE

1) In order to be able to consult the Positio please fill in the request form on this page.

2) If your request is accepted, we will then send you the conditions and directions for consulting the document.

1. The canonical norms concerning the procedure to be followed in the Causes of Saints are stated in the Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister promulgated by John Paul II on 25 January 1983 (AAS LXXV, 1983, 349-355).

2. To initiate a Cause it is necessary that at least five years pass after the death of the candidate. This is to allow for greater balance and objectivity in the evaluation of the case and to allow the emotions of the moment to decant. There must be a clear conviction among people about his/her sanctity (fama sanctitas) and about the efficacy of his/her intercession with the Lord (fama signorum).

Antonietta Zanelli was born in Castel Guelfo (Italy) on June 17, 1887. Born into a wealthy family, her father was the pharmacist of the village and her mother, Countess Maria Acquaderni, was the sister of Count Giovanni Acquaderni, founder of the «Society of Italian Catholic Youth», the current Catholic Action (therefore Antonietta was the niece of Giovanni Acquaderni).

After the age of 15 she began to discern her vocation. Directly in her innermost being: in the generous and simple prayer in which she asked Jesus directly what he wanted from her after the illness that had prostrated her to the point of fearing the end of her life. On that occasion Antonietta had promised: «Jesus, if you heal me I will become a nun to quench your thirst for souls» and she was healed. Then, at the invitation of the parish priest of Castel Guelfo, she committed herself at the age of 20 to liturgical singing, catechesis to children and works of charity in the emerging Pious Association of the Little Apostles of the Sacred Heart.

In 1919 she lost both her parents, 3 months apart, after Antoinetta had lovingly cared for them. Her family ties were over and she devoted herself entirely to her life of consecration in the community and service.

But there were still obstacles to the realization of her vocation, as Don Giuseppe Mazzanti would later confide: «It was the will of Providence that the roads that Signorina Antonietta Zanelli tried to travel were constantly hindered by people». These were problems of relationship in the community, with jealousy and misunderstandings, and the same happened in the management of the «Abandoned Childhood» Institute of Imola, so Antonietta was transferred with her Sisters to Santa Caterina, where Don Bughetti received them with great joy and the collaboration lasted many years..

Meanwhile, upon arriving in Imola in 1920, Antonietta had sought a confessor and had been recommended to Don Giuseppe Mazzanti, who from 1911 to 1928 was confessor in the Cathedral. Antonietta always carried within her the world and the anxiety of the apostolate and with time she also learned to know the path of the «little way» of Sister Therese of the Child Jesus, precisely through her spiritual director Don Peppino.

Mother Maria Zanelli died in Imola, Bologna, on December 15, 1957.

The Diocesan Inquiry into her «life, virtue and reputation for holiness» was opened on 3 June 2016 at the diocese of Imola.

PLEASE NOTE

1) In order to be able to consult the Positio please fill in the request form on this page.

2) If your request is accepted, we will then send you the conditions and directions for consulting the document.

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1. The canonical norms concerning the procedure to be followed in the Causes of Saints are stated in the Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister promulgated by John Paul II on 25 January 1983 (AAS LXXV, 1983, 349-355).

2. To initiate a Cause it is necessary that at least five years pass after the death of the candidate. This is to allow for greater balance and objectivity in the evaluation of the case and to allow the emotions of the moment to decant. There must be a clear conviction among people about his/her sanctity (fama sanctitas) and about the efficacy of his/her intercession with the Lord (fama signorum).

Anna Maria was born in Arezzo into the noble Redi family on 15^th of July 1747.

Formed in a profound spirit of piety, at the age of six she could already be said to be a little contemplative, who asked anyone who was able to answer her: «Tell me, who is this God?».

Her inclination to recollection and prayer was accentuated during her years at the boarding school, spent in the Benedictine monastery of S. Apollonia in Florence, where she received a discreet liturgical instruction, while her spiritual life deepened in Eucharistic and Marian piety and devotion to the Sacred Heart. Returning to the family, she revealed her vocation to Carmel, a vocation of which she had been certain in the last months of boarding school and on September 1^st, 1764 she entered the monastery of «St Teresa» in Florence, where she put on the Carmelite habit on March 11, 1765, with the name of Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

At the age of twenty-two, peritonitis cut short her life on March 7, 1770.

The beatification ceremony was held on June 9, 1929. The solemn ceremony of canonization on March 13, 1934.