Little Flowers in the Lord’s Garden: Lives of Everyday Holiness
As in every religious and spiritual experience, the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Lord is surrounded by figures of everyday holiness many sisters who, remaining faithful to the promise made to the Founder, have sought holiness in daily life.
Here we wish to remember some of them.
Sister Chiara Tuzzé was born in Bompensiere (CL) on 6 April 1875 to Salvatore and Anna Maria Diliberto, and was baptised the same day in the parish church of the Holy Crucifix with the name Lucia.
She was the fifth child of a humble family of farmers.
When her father fell ill and could no longer work, her mother went into the fields to gather ears of grain in order to bring home a little money.
The parish priest, seeing the family's needs and the intelligence of little Lucia, sent her to Caltanissetta in 1885, where she was welcomed into the newly founded Institute of the Lord of the City. The following year, her father passed away.
After the death of Sister Giuseppina Ruvolo, Lucia was one of the three girls who approached Father Angelico asking to be admitted to the novitiate. She was 17 years old, and the following year she made her profession, taking the name Sister Chiara and forming, along with Sister Veronica and Sister Angelica, the first stable nucleus of the Congregation.
Of gentle soul and spiritual strength, she was deemed suitable, especially because of her exemplary life, and in 1896 she was appointed novice mistress.
To them she did not speak of mere imitation, but of generous conformity to Christ: poor in Bethlehem, humble on the Cross, present yet abandoned in the Eucharist.
She was devout, kind, and prudent. She stood out for her modesty, gentleness, obedience, and every other virtue, earning the praise of the bishop for her mission among the novices.
She encouraged the girls with both words and example to devote themselves to contemplation and action, blending the two without ever forgetting Franciscan humility, which is lived out through the generous gift of oneself to the Lord and to others.
Like a sister and mother, she understood the novices and supported them in their difficulties, comforted them in weariness, sympathised with their weaknesses, and enlightened them with her life.
In mid-September 1898, an accident occurred in the Church of the Lord of the City during the Forty Hours Devotion: among the veils and paper flowers of the decorations, a fire broke out.
Sister Chiara, who had prepared everything, was shaken and fell ill perhaps due to smoke inhalation.
Her condition was delicate. The superior and Father Angelico advised her to remain in bed. A mild cough soon became persistent, and blood appeared.
Now confined to her bed of suffering, she told her sister who had come to announce her pregnancy and to ask her to be the child’s godmother that she would no longer be there when the baby was born and that Sister Angelica would take her place.
And so it was.
On the morning of 8 November 1898, after a month and a half of devastating illness, she closed her eyes to reopen them in the glory of the Lord.
She was buried in bare earth, poor among the poor.
Sister Chiara had dedicated her short life to the service of the Lord and neighbour, embracing the charism inspired by the Holy Spirit in Father Angelico, and fully and truly living her Christian and Franciscan vocation.
Her untimely death left a deep void in the Congregation and in Father Angelico, who had seen in her a bright hope of holiness.
Sister Margherita Indorato was born in Sommatino (CL) on 25 May 1880 to Liborio and Teresa Curcio, and was baptised with the name Maria Concetta.
After the death of her father in 1885, the family moved to Caltanissetta, and little Maria was welcomed by Father Angelico among the first orphans of the Institute.
At the age of 16, she expressed her desire to become a nun, but was strongly opposed by her brother Matteo.
It was Father Angelico, with his fatherly words, who helped the young man understand that his sister should not be hindered, for if it was the Lord’s will, it ought to be fulfilled. Matteo was convinced and began to question what the Lord's will might be for his own life.
While Maria was a novice, her mother, having received an excellent marriage proposal for her daughter, went to Father Angelico to ask whether she should inform the girl, who was already preparing for religious profession.
Father Angelico, without hesitation, replied that Maria should be told she was still in time to choose freely. But as soon as her mother spoke to her, Maria firmly answered:
“I have already decided, Mama. I won’t change. Not even if Victor Emmanuel himself came to propose to me. I have been chosen by someone greater than a king.”
On 9 December 1897, she donned the Franciscan habit, taking the name Sister Margherita.
A year later, she made her profession.
She was a highly skilled embroiderer, and the workshop became her domain until illness overtook her. Her work earned her both a diploma of honour and a gold medal.
She was a woman of deep prayer, respectful silence, and obedience to both superiors and fellow sisters.
She had a special love for the Blessed Virgin of Pompeii, and she loved flowers and the garden.
In 1898, Sister Veronica entrusted her with the Novitiate, making Sister Margherita the second novice mistress, after Sister Chiara a role she held for thirty years.
She was decisive and firm in making decisions and correcting faults, yet she possessed the great humility to admit her own mistakes and to apologise.
In 1928, as the number of novices grew, it was decided to separate the Novitiate from the rest of the community, and the bishop appointed Sister Cecilia as novice mistress.
Sister Margherita received the decision with obedience and, edifying all, said to the superior:
“Mother, I have done what I could, and now I place myself in your hands.”
She returned to the embroidery workshop, where for another ten years she continued to create works of art and to teach that noble and delicate craft to young women.
Struck by paralysis, she was confined to bed or an armchair during the last ten years of her life.
She died on 13 March 1948.
Among the many spiritual meditations and prayers she left behind in her notebooks, we quote one dedicated to the Sacred Heart, written in 1932:
“I will love you forever! Thank you, my God, infinite thanks; I offer you a life of sacrifice in thanksgiving for the blessings you have granted me, and in heaven I will sing an eternal Magnificat.
And since in this life one is always at risk of losing you, even by a single sin, bind me to you, O Jesus.
Let me enter today into your loving Heart, to spend there the rest of my life.”.
Sister Teresa Cutaia was born in Delia on 17 September 1899 to Giuseppe and Calogera Borzellino, and was baptised with the name Giuseppa.
She was admitted to religious life on 1 August 1921, received the habit on 7 September 1922, made her temporary profession on 9 December 1923, and her perpetual profession on 27 September 1942.
Her apostolate took her to Sommatino, Delia, Assoro, Pietraperzia, Acquaviva, Sutera, Mussomeli, and finally Serradifalco.
With humility and trust, she would go out to collect alms, walking through the towns, knocking on the hearts of the just to ask for help something, anything for the children, the poor orphans cared for by the Institute.
Sister Teresa’s way of giving thanks was a smile and a prayer, an unceasing prayer that took the form of the rosary, which she recited bead by bead while “asking.”
She did this in both heat and cold, asking people, but always trusting in the Lord.
And the people, recognising the humility of the saints, never failed to help and offer support.
She was a humble soul, simple yet capable of reaching spiritual heights.
These elevations found expression in poems, the kind Sister Teresa wrote when she wanted to speak of God.
Sister Teresa was an example of Christian simplicity to all; for consecrated persons, she represented evangelical smallness; for her fellow sisters, Franciscan joy.
She died in Mussomeli on 7 April 1979.
Sister Vittoria Occhipinti was born in Scicli (RG) on 23 December 1906. Having surpassed the usual age limit, she entered as a lay sister, but on 31 December 1940 she consecrated herself in Caltanissetta. She received the habit on 13 December 1941, made her simple profession on 6 February 1943, and her perpetual profession on 26 February 1953.
Throughout her religious life, she served as portress, welcoming countless generations of students and friends at the Institute in Caltanissetta over fifty years.
Her entire life was a shining example of humility, service, and prayer.
She spent long hours in silent prayer before the Tabernacle, in a spirit of contemplation, wrapped in the mystery of God.
It was in this stillness that she found the secret of holiness, a holiness lived in union with the Crucified and Buried Christ, awaiting the glory of the Resurrection.
Her humble, ascetic action became a living witness of holiness when she would go to sit at her porter's post, in her little chair, with a piece of fabric in hand.
There she was, early in the morning, ready to welcome the pupils arriving for their lessons, and it was she who, first of all, became their teacher.
To the children, the young girls, and the adolescents, she taught by her example: just as she approached God and her fellow sisters with humility and reverence, so too did she teach these generations to approach Christ and the sisters with affection and devotion, grateful for the gift of love recalled by the Crucified Lord and for the mission carried out by the sisters in service of childhood and youth.
It was from Sister Vittoria’s voice in the porter's lodge that the little children of the nursery school learned the ancient greeting of praise: “Praised be Jesus Christ”, a greeting Sister Vittoria gave and taught.
That praise of Christ was the purpose of her life, and it was her constant invitation to others: “Make your life a praise to the Lord.”
She would then extend the Crucifix hanging from her rosary so that it might be kissed: “Love Him who is all Love.”
And once the students had gone off to their classrooms to open their minds to learning, Sister Vittoria remained alone, continuing to pray the rosary.
She prayed for whom?
For everyone: for every person who entered or exited that door, for the near and the far.
She prayed for all, just as the little Crucifix reminded her.
She offered herself out of love for others.
This was Sister Vittoria: a simple, humble soul small, with the kind of littleness that is great before God.
After bearing illness with patience, she died in Caltanissetta on 19 November 1999.
Sister Felicina De Summa was born in Curinga (CZ) on 1 January 1913 and was baptised with the name Clorinda.
In 1931, she entered the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Lord and moved to Caltanissetta, where, on 15 August, she was admitted as a postulant.
On 18 October 1933, she received the religious habit, expressing the spiritual intention that her youth would be: "Like a candle lit before the altar, always burning and consumed for the Lord".
On 29 October 1935, she was admitted to religious profession and continued her studies at the Motherhouse, earning a diploma as a kindergarten teacher.
From 1937, she taught in various towns throughout Sicily.
In 1942, she was appointed superior of the house in Sommatino; in 1943, assistant to the novices at the Motherhouse; and in 1944, superior in Mussomeli.
She later served as superior in Assoro (1946), Montauro (1951), Villalba (1953), Sommatino (1959), Albaneto (1965), Serradifalco (1966), and Sutera (1967).
In 1971, she resumed teaching, but seven years later, she became ill and was transferred to Palermo. From there, in 1980, she returned to Caltanissetta, where she died on 5 June 1983.
Sister Felicina was a great soul. Her writings reveal a fervent desire to offer her entire life as a hymn of praise to the Lord in service to others.
On 12 June 1941, she composed an act of consecration to Jesus in the Eucharist, which expresses the depth of her spirituality: "I consecrate myself to your love, O my Jesus, and I beg you to let me live united to you, to give me the grace to love you always, to grant me, through your infinite goodness, the virtue of holy humility and the bloodless martyrdom of the heart, and, if it be for your glory, even that of the body.
Grant me the grace to be humbled and forgotten by all for love of you, that your Eucharistic consolations may still be merited and lived by me, and that your martyrdom of love may be mine as well.
Most Holy Trinity, receive the humble homage of me, a miserable creature, and by your infinite mercy kindle within me the fire of divine love.
Most Holy Sorrowful Mary, imprint your sorrows upon me; grant, O my Queen, that I may always preserve during my brief time on earth a throne of glory at the right hand of your Most Holy Son, and may I contemplate you on Golgotha with Jesus Crucified.
Into your most holy hands I entrust my offering.
Offer it to your divine Son Jesus, my beloved Spouse.
I invoke my holy advocates, my angelic protector St Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, so that by their example I may live in love and service to my Spouse Jesus and then sing the new song with them in Paradise."
Suor Umilde Scerbo was born in Amato (CZ) on 29 November 1919.
She entered the postulancy on 9 January 1938 and received the religious habit on 2 February 1939.
She was exemplary: devout, kind, and good.
She suffered greatly, but knew how to offer everything to the Lord in silence.
Her journey was a constant ascent in virtue.
Three months before her religious profession, she fell ill with pleurisy and was hospitalised.
Stomach fluid led to tubercular peritonitis, and the illness became incurable. The doctors advised her to return to her native air.
Before leaving for Amato, she attended the profession of her fellow novices with great sorrow, but she joyfully offered that further sacrifice for their sanctification.
One day, during a visit to the novitiate, the Mother General spoke of a young seminarian, Serafino Falvo, who was about to be ordained but had entered into a deep spiritual crisis. She asked who would be willing to pray and offer their life for him.
Sister Umilde immediately responded, “I will.”
A few days later, while speaking with Mother Annina, she collapsed and fainted.
God had accepted her offering, and Serafino overcame his crisis, feeling moved by an interior and mysterious strength, as he later recounted in the book An Angel Passed By.
Sister Umilde Scerbo of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Lord left the Congregation on 4 January 1941 to return home. The Mother General allowed her to keep her religious habit, recognising the sanctity of the young sister’s desire.
Later that same year, the Mother General visited the houses in Calabria, and Sister Umilde went to meet her in Curinga.
Though she was frail and emaciated, she presented herself with great spiritual strength and Franciscan joy.
Before leaving, the Mother General had her examined by a reputable local doctor, who, noting that the peritonitis had stabilised, assured her that if Sister Umilde remained in Curinga, he would attempt to treat her.
Sister Umilde was welcomed into the house in Curinga, but feeling her death approaching, she said goodbye to Mother Annina with the words:
“We shall not see each other again on this earth.”
She returned to her family and died on 23 December 1941.
Shortly afterward, Don Serafino Falvo was ordained a priest and served the Lord for the rest of his life, thanks to the offering of Sister Umilde.
Suor Beniamina Palermo was born in San Cataldo (CL) on 18 March 1922.
She entered the Congregation on 1 October 1942, made her temporary profession on 10 February 1945, and her perpetual profession on 5 April 1959.
Her life was not that of a teacher or a superior, but of a humble cook who spent her days between the church and the kitchen.
Devout and prayerful, she loved to sacrifice herself for others.
She dedicated her life to lovingly and diligently preparing food for the sisters, as well as for the children and elderly cared for by the Institute.
She was eager to please everyone and loved to surprise the sisters with special touches in their meals.
She always carried out her duties with precision, love, responsibility, and dedication.
She loved to pray and was deeply devoted to the Virgin Mary.
Charitable towards her fellow sisters, she always excused the faults of others, but never her own.
Her goodness shone through the smile she constantly wore for everyone.
She never said “no” to anyone; even when it required sacrifice, she was always available.
Respectful towards her superiors, maternal towards the children in the various houses, and especially affectionate towards priests and seminarians, she showed them particular care, both in preparing their meals in colleges and seminaries, and in encouraging them with her maternal sensitivity and smile.
In 1974, she was transferred to the spirituality house in Juculia, where she continued her mission in the kitchen.
She spent the final years of her life in a wheelchair.
Paralysed, she lay in bed most of the time, spending her days in prayer, always with her rosary in hand, serene and smiling.
She edified everyone who came to visit her, often saying: “I want to do the Lord’s will.”
She passed away in Juculia on 21 December 1994.
Suor Immacolata Genova was born in Delia (CL) on 8 October 1932.
During the years in which she served the Church within the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Lord, she became known for her humility, kindness, intelligence, and ability to handle difficult situations.
She was a mathematics teacher, school principal, counsellor, general secretary, and general bursar.
During the diocesan phase of the canonisation process for Father Angelico Lipani, she was appointed by the bishop as assistant notary.
Sister Immacolata had a great heart, a mother’s heart: one that listens, understands, knows how to correct with love, and loves without becoming overly sentimental.
She always had the right word at the right time.
She knew how to console tears and how to speak to young people. Over the years of her teaching, she offered her students not only cultural knowledge but also life lessons, teachings that helped shape true men and women.
With the gentleness of her ways, she could say things that many before and after her did not even dare to hint at.
She was a mother and a teacher to many.
She accepted the sufferings of illness with faith and patience and never let herself be discouraged, always offering a kind word and a smile, even to those who hadn’t asked for them but perhaps unknowingly needed them.
After many years of suffering, she died in Caltanissetta on 30 September 2005.
Suor Maria Zarbo was born in Palma di Montechiaro (AG) on 8 February 1935 to Luigi and Gaetana Ferone, and was baptised with the name Calogera.
She entered religious life on 24 February 1957, received the habit on 22 August of the same year, made her temporary profession on 23 August 1959, and her perpetual profession on 12 September 1965.
From the very beginning, she showed herself to be fervent, humble, prayerful, and devoted to sacrifice.
She had a deep love for the Most Holy Eucharist and the Virgin Mary.
She felt drawn to corporal penance and practised it to a heroic degree.
She offered herself as a victim soul for the Congregation she so deeply loved, for her family, and implored to suffer in order to save all humanity.
In October 1959, she was transferred to Assoro, and later served in Serradifalco, Sutera, Milena, and Palermo until 1967.
She distinguished herself for her simplicity, prayerfulness, and dedication.
Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini, Archbishop of Palermo, even praised her in her presence, though he knew it did not please her, and that she would never be puffed up by such praise.
He spoke of her with great enthusiasm for her humility and sincerity, and held her up as a model for the Social Assistants, an order of sisters he had founded.
In March 1971, she was struck by a terrible and incurable illness, deforming arthritis, which for eight years kept her confined to bed or walking with difficulty using a cane.
She was admitted to various hospitals, Rome, Palermo, and Albano Laziale, where she died on 12 October 1978.
Suor Felicita Dultra was born in Manay, in the Philippine Islands, on 19 February 1968.
Fascinated by the Sisters working in her homeland, she entered the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Lord and was sent to the Motherhouse in Caltanissetta, where she immediately won everyone over with her radiant smile and contagious joy.
Those who knew her cannot help but remember her singing and playfully miming the song “I have a friend who loves me.”
Sister Felicita was joy made flesh, an affectionate friend, a sister, and a mother to the children and students of the Institute.
She embodied the kind of sister that Father Angelico so deeply desired.
She dedicated herself above all to teaching and to the spiritual formation of children and young people, never failing to offer a smile to anyone she met.
Struck by an incurable illness, she bore her suffering with patience, never losing that Franciscan joy which, in her, reached sublime heights, even as she consoled her fellow sisters.
After all treatments proved ineffective and the doctors gave their prognosis, the Lord granted her the grace to return to the Philippines to say farewell to her loved ones.
Defying all expectations, she even managed to return to Italy, and asked with all her heart to go back to Caltanissetta, so she could die beneath the gaze of the Crucifix, the Lord of the City, in that House founded by Father Angelico.
The Lord granted her that too.
Once back in Caltanissetta, gravely ill, she was able to offer her final devotion to the Crucifix and passed away just a few days later, on 28 November 2013, with a smile on her lips.
She had chosen the name Felicita, after the ancient Roman martyr, but a more fitting name for her might have been Happiness itself!
Suor Loreta Dibilio was born in Sommatino and, from a young age, discovered her vocation to be a “mother” by caring for her younger siblings and giving them love and faith.
After entering the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Lord, she spent nearly her entire life as a kindergarten teacher, caring for the many children entrusted to her, generation after generation.
She carried out her mission admirably, always demonstrating the joy of serving Christ in those little ones, whom He Himself praised as heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven.
And it was towards that Kingdom that Sister Loreta always looked, with love and deep anticipation, aware that one day the Lord would call her and ask what she had done to help build His Kingdom on earth.
For this reason, she devoted her life with tireless dedication to prayer, to the gentle instruction of children, and to her Congregation, right up to her final moments.
She spent her last years of teaching at the Motherhouse in Caltanissetta, where no one could help but become attached to her gentle heart.
We all remember her with deep affection and sorrow for losing her earthly embrace.
After a serious fall while caring for the children, her health began to deteriorate.
She left kindergarten work and took up a quieter role, answering the telephone, exchanging the sweet laughter of children for the repeated ringing of the switchboard.
Even there, she never forgot her children; through prayer and thought, she continued to accompany them as they grew into young men and women, always trying to stay in touch or at least informed about the paths they had taken.
When her condition worsened, she was transferred to the care home in Mussomeli, where she spent her final years, offering up the suffering of being bedridden to the Lord.
And the Lord, in His faithfulness, did not fail to draw near to her, she who had so lovingly devoted herself to her Divine Spouse.
He granted her the consolation of hearing His gentle voice, whispering words of courage and tenderness.
She was deeply devoted to the Virgin Mary, whom she looked to as a model of humble, charitable living.
She never stopped praying, and when her illness left her unable to remember the words of her prayers, she was pained, but in those final days, that very suffering became her prayer.
She prayed for sinners, begging the Lord to grant them conversion.
She was distressed to see loved ones living far from God and pleaded for them to receive the light of faith.
One such example was her brother, who had rejected Christianity. Sister Loreta prayed for him her entire life, and in the end, her prayer was answered, as he converted before his death.
She also prayed for the souls in Purgatory, for whom she had particular compassion.
In her final days, when even small movements became difficult, she would offer up the sacrifice of bending down to pick something up from the floor, saying:
“In that moment, it’s as if I were helping a soul out of Purgatory.”
Sister Loreta was one of those saints who pass through our lives quietly.
Delicate and silent, she entered our hearts, and just as delicately and silently, she departed to be united with her eternal Love, Christ Jesus, leaving behind a shining example of holiness lived in daily life.
On 29 April 2015, in Mussomeli (CL), she returned her soul to the Lord and received that crown of glory she had earned, after having borne the crown of suffering.
