Mission Blog: Rome to L'Aquila

February 22, 2014

The elders in L'Aquila were having a baptism for the first time in a very long time. They were so excited and wanted us to come. We love going to baptisms but usually aren't around when they occur. This time we were actually in Rome and L'Aquila is only an hour and a half away so we decided to go. We invited another couple serving in Rome to go with us since they had never been out of Rome. We left a little early so we could stop by a couple of little hilltop towns on the way. L'Aquila is in the mountains and is much colder than Rome. It's not unusual for them to have a considerable amount of snow in the winter, but they didn't have any snow now and it's the middle of February. I often refer to L'Aquila as the Park City of Italy.

POZZAGLIA SABINA

The church was closed when we got there, but Michael struck up a conversation with this lady and she rang a bell and the priest let us in.

Church of Saint Agostina

Agostina Pietrantoni was killed by a mentally disturbed patient while she was working as a nurse. She was born in 1864 in Pozzaglia Sabina and was the second child out of eleven children. Her family was very poor and she completed only an elementary education before deciding to go to work and help out the family financially. At one time she even worked carrying pebbles and gravel as ballast for road building. She entered a monastery where she could dedicate herself to charity towards the smallest, most ill, and those who had been deserted. At the age of 22 she became a Sister of Charity nurse for the incurably sick and called them "My Poor". Most of her patients were difficult to communicate with and unpredictable in their actions. She considered her task as the challenge given to her by God During this time, she became infected with tuberculosis while working in the TBC ward. She said "In attending the deathly and bed-ridden sick, I am serving Jesus Christ . . . I am burning with love for all and I am ready to undergo any sacrifice, even to die, because of my love." At the age of 30, a mentally challenged man who was 67 years old sneaked into the hospital and fatally attacked the Sister of Charity nurse with a knife and stabbed her six times. With her dying breath, Agostina said she forgave him. The man then cried out "Santa Maria aiuta me" which means "Saint Mary help me!" Nurse Agostina was one of the martyrs who is dearest to the people of Rome because she had a double crown: the crown of a virgin and the crown of a martyr. In 1999 she was canonized and just recently was made a saint.