December 24
Paula Isabel Cerioli (1816–1865)
Founding widow
Married from the age of twenty to the jealous and eccentric sexagenarian Count Buzecchi, she lived in the castle of Comone, Lombardy.
Biography
She endured his eccentricities and jealousy without a complaint for eighteen years, since she had to send her eldest son to a boarding school so that her husband would not resent the affection she gave him. When her three children died at an early age and she later became a widow, she began to adopt orphans who were sent to her, until she had so many that she decided to dedicate her life to them and founded the Congregation of the Holy Family of Bergamo. The new sister Paula Isabel always governed them with humility, intelligence and a good heart, seeking to make everyone around her feel loved.
Practical advice
By gathering your heart in silence, make someone's work more kind through concrete service, remembering that holiness is built in the ordinary.