(ZENIT News / Rome, 07.09.2025) – Of the various Causes for Beatification presented to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, one of them is the life of a woman born with dwarfism caused by osteoporosis. She is a true apostle of the Gospel of Suffering, whom Pope Leo XIV has endorsed.
Anna Fulgida Bartolacelli was born on February 24, 1928, in the village of Rocca Santa Maria, in the municipality of Serramazzoni, in the Province of Modena, in northern Italy. She suffered from dwarfism and bone frailty, which kept her in a wheelchair throughout her life, just as her older sister.
She did not attend school; her parents taught her to read and write, she attended the parish church, and enrolled in Catholic Action. She helped her brother with his studies, along with her sister, through embroidery. In 1956, she met Blessed Luigi Novarese, who founded the Association of Silent Workers of the Cross, which she joined.
She participated in Spiritual Exercises and valued spiritual, physical, and supernatural suffering as a contribution of the sick to the common good. Each month, she donated her small disability pension to the Center for Volunteers of Suffering.
Pope Leo recognized her heroic virtues as the next step in her Cause for Canonization, pending miracles verified through her intercession.
She had a profound interior life, nourished by daily Eucharist, Adoration, and the Liturgy of the Hours. She was allowed a chapel in her home for personal prayer. She was noted for her great love for others and close connection with the Virgin Mary. She made several pilgrimages to Lourdes.
On December 8, 1964, she dedicated herself to the Association of Silent Workers of the Cross, living in her home because she was unable to join the community, which she was advised against so as not to leave her sister alone. She was generous to anyone in need of material and, especially, spiritual help, listening with patience and compassion to those who visited her and asked for advice.
She died on July 27, 1993. Anna is an inspiration to those born with medical conditions of chronic suffering, whose life’s mission is to enrich those close to them with service, love, and the donation of their own suffering for their spiritual growth.
