Pierina Morosini, martyred worker (1931–1957)

Biography

He had a happy and helpful character. At the age of fifteen she was admitted as a worker at the Honneger cotton factory in the nearby town of Albino. Every day he covered the 6 kilometers on foot at all times of the year after having attended Holy Mass in the parish church. He used the time of the journey to give thanks after communion and on his return he prayed the Holy Rosary. Work was for her not only a means of obtaining financial help, but she wanted to unite her daily work with what Christ did as a worker in the workshop of Nazareth, putting into practice the doctrine on the sanctifying value of work that the Second Vatican Council would later formulate. One afternoon when she was returning from the factory through a small forest, she was attacked by a man who intended to abuse her. Pierina defended herself with good reasons but the man, obsessed and furious, hit her in the face, head and back of the neck. The murderer later confessed in court that before losing consciousness, Pierina still uttered words of forgiveness. She was beatified in 1987, along with two other martyrs: the young French worker Marcel Callo and the young Italian Antonia Mesina.