Letters of Blessed Maria Gabriella with the Notebooks of Mother Pia Gullini

Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagheddu was born in Dorgali, Sardegna (Italy), in 1914. At twenty years of age she entered the Trappist monastery of Grottaferrata. In 1938, she offered her life for the union of the Christian Churches and died of tuberculosis in 1939. She was beatified by John Paul II on January 25, 1983, in the basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls at the end of the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity.David P. Lavich, OCSO, entered the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance at Saint Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, in 1987, after completing twelve years of missionary work in Japan. After serving in Rome as a councilor to the abbot general of the Order from 2008 until 2017, he has returned to serve as chaplain to the Order’s women’s monasteries in Japan.   Mariella Carpinello, a scholar of history and monastic spirituality, is the editor of the Italian edition of the Letters of Blessed Maria Gabriella. She teaches at the Institute of Theology of Consecrated Life, Pontifical Lateran University-Claretianum and has published widely on monastic topics.

• Table of ContentsPreface   viiby David P. Lavich, OCSOPhotographs   xiiiIntroduction   1by Mariella CarpinelloThe Letters of Blessed Gabriella   47Autograph Notebooks of Mother Pia Gullini   143Mother M. Pia Gullini and Sister Maria Gabriella   167by Maria Paola Santachiara, OCSODoing Nothing, Achieving All: Blessed Maria Gabriella of Unity   193by Mark Scott, OCSOBibliography   209Contributors   215

"I am delighted by the opportunity to learn about Maria Gabriella and her remarkable life, so poignantly documented in her letters and in the notebooks of Mother Pia. Lavich's English translation flows smoothly, and I found myself easily caught up in the gripping events of her life. The book was difficult to put down, as I felt simultaneously dismayed yet joyful, but most of all compelled to continue forward on my own spiritual journey. As a researcher of Italian female saints, this book is a must-read. If you love saints, then you'll love this book."Molly Morrison, Associate Professor of Italian, Ohio University