<---May: The Month of Mary.
It says- ‘Jesus and Mary, I love You. Save souls.’ It is very simple, but oh it carries a lot of weight.” -Mother M Angelica of EWTN.
Sister Consolata Betrone was born in Saluzzo, Italy on April 6, 1903, and was named Pierina Betrone.
She was the daughter of Pietro Betrone and Giuseppina Nirino, who were the owners of a bakery in Saluzzo, who later became managers of a restaurant in Airasco (Turin). Pierina was the second of six daughters born of her father's second marriage.
Nothing in the early life and background could foretell that this young girl would become one of Jesus’ beloved victim souls. She seemed to live a normal childhood up until the age of 13 when one remarkable day our Lord cast His loving gaze upon her. It so happened that while she was hurrying to do her errands in the village when, unexpectedly, an intense prayer suddenly came forth from her heart: "My God, I love you!" and a unusual spiritual fervor overcame her. It was the beginning of her extraordinary experiences with the Lord.
On December 8 1916, which was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Pierina dedicated herself to the Virgin.
After receiving Holy Communion, she distinctly heard within her the words "Do you want to be Mine?"
Deeply moved by this extraordinary grace, she wept with tears of emotion, and without understanding the extent of the question, she replied “Yes” to Jesus, entrusting herself to Him.
As the weeks and months progressed, Pierina began to feel God calling her to the religious life.
During the same time, and continuing for several years, she began a period of spiritual doubts, dryness and temptations, which were surely sent by the Lord to purify her soul. Our Lord first led her out into the spiritual desert in order to prepare her for her mission as victim soul.
She had three failed attempts at entering the religious life. It was not until she was age 21 before she was finally able to realise the religious vocation that God was calling her to.
"Nothing attracts me about the Capuchins", she said, after three failed attempts to take the veil in “open” religious orders [ie- not cloistered], It was her confessor, Don Accomasso, who, enlightened by God as all sincere confessors are, advised her to enter the Convent of the Poor Clares (Order of Franciscan Capuchins) in Turin, Italy.
This was an on April 17, 1929. After the normal period of preparation and discernment she gratefully received the Veil on February 28, 1930, taking the name of Sister Maria Consolata.
The new name, “Consolata”, chosen by young Pierina is indicative of the spiritual path and life that Jesus was calling her to, for the word “Consolata” means consoler, and it was she who soon became the consoler of the Heart of Jesus. On this very day of the Ceremony of taking the Veil, she received an inner locution from Jesus that indicated to her what His will was for her. Jesus said- "I do not call you for more than this: an act of continual love."
And for more than 16 years of enclosed Capuchin life this “act of continual love” would be the foundation on which she concentrated all her spiritual efforts.
On April 8 1934, she took her perpetual vows, working in the convent as a humble cook, doorkeeper and cobbler.
She was transferred on July 22 1939 to the new foundation of Moriondo, Moncalieri Turin, where she was also a nurse and secretary. Her exterior life was one lived out in daily sacrifices, penances and self denial, hidden to the world, in fulfilment of the tasks assigned her by her superiors.
Although her exterior life was similar to her fellow religious sisters, in her interior life she was receiving exceptional and extraordinary graces from God, which unfolded unnoticed in the intimacy of her spirit. She became the confidante of Jesus and His Sacred Heart.
THE CONFIDANTE OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
"Humble and great, active and contemplative, serene and tormented, suffering and full of joy, Consolata led a linear life reconciling each differing thing in herself and unifying everything in the ardent love of God.
Long and intensely tempted herself, she had a delicate understanding of sinners, especially for consecrated souls who had transgressed, and for their conversion she offered God all her suffering and pain and finished by offering life itself."
On November 9, 1934 Sister Consolata writes:
"Jesus reveals to me the intimate sufferings of His Heart caused by the faithlessness of souls consecrated to Him". After this, she began to have a burning desire to make reparation for the sins of the world, and to lead sinners to Jesus. And thus began the intense spiritual relationship, and intimacy between Jesus and Consolata: together in love, together in pain, together to deliver a countless number of souls to the Father, who seeks them in His infinite love, mercy and compassion. After all it was the Lord Himself who told her:
"Do not think of me as a harsh God, because I am foremost the God of love!".
Her ordinary life was always passed in daily penitence and self denial in the fulfilment of the tasks assigned her. The exceptional nature of her adventure, however, totally unfolded in the intimacy of her spirit. A true contemplative, the whole world and every creature in need of compassion was shared between God and her.
Through grace, rather with the love that joins than with the sensibility of the mystical gift, she became the confidante of the Sacred Heart that is perfectly human, as the Lord himself taught her: Love me, Consolata, your love make me much good.
Through Consolata God seemed to want to educate the heart of man anew in union with Him; between creature and Creator no longer servile subordination, rather intimacy. This is, in substance, the spiritual content of the supplication Jesus, Mary I love you, save souls, the characteristic of the Tiny Path of Love shown by the Lord to the humble Capuchin nun to bring back to grace and compassion, with a simple act of confidence, millions of souls tormented by sin.
Especial merit lies with Father Lorenzo Sales (1889-1972), her confessor and spiritual director from September 1935, to have helped with wisdom and discernment the Work of God written more in the life of Sister Consolata than in the notes of her diary. In this Work of charity she was firstly subjected to every trial that requires in man pure faith in He who can do all. Consolata would come to moan: "I feel all the passions of capital sins are rioting in me".
But the Divine Bridegroom, in this martyrdom "until the last drop of blood" to save the world, also assured her:
"Since I am the Most Holy it is my thirst to communicate it to souls ... You only love.
Jesus, Mary, I love You! Save souls!
It was then that our Lord also inspired Sister Consolata with this important universal prayer, "Jesus, Mary, I love you! Save souls!"
Remembering what Jesus had told her on the day that she took the Veil- "I do not call you for more than this: act of continual love”, Sister Consolata began to thus repeat this one prayer, over and over again, during all her waking hours, in every form of work as she went about her daily duties.
For it was Christ himself, who instructed her in the practice of what He called the “unceasing act of love” expressed in the words- "Jesus, Mary, I love you! Save souls!"
Concerning this prayer, our Lord said:
"Tell me, what more beautiful prayer do you want to offer me? ---'Jesus, Mary, I love you! Save souls!'
--- Love and souls! What more beautiful prayer could you desire?’"
Her littleness and humility was of a person in sanctity. Though Sister Consolata was blessed with these extraordinary interior enlightenment's by God, she remained very humble and still felt small, and she saw herself as the “even smaller one” which Saint Therese of Lisieux had referred to in her diary.
This feeling of littleness that Consolata felt within her soul was confirmed by our Lord in the following words:
"I have found that still weaker soul who has abandoned herself with complete faith to My infinite mercy: it is you, Consolata, and through you I will perform marvels which will far exceed your fondest desires."
And later Jesus tells her: -‘You are to love. You are too small to climb to the summit: I will carry you on My shoulders'
HERE ARE SOME OF THE REVELATIONS GIVEN TO HER BY JESUS
‘Write this down Consolata, for I demand it of you under obedience, that for one act of love from you, I would create heaven.’
‘The soul that is dearest to Me is the one who loves me the most.’
‘Transform everything that is disagreeable to you into little roses, and gather them with love, and then offer them to Me with love”
‘See Consolata, the enemy will make every effort to shake your blind faith in me. But you must never forget that I am and love to be always kind and merciful. Understand my heart Consolata; understand my love, and never permit the enemy to gain entrance into your soul, even for an instant, with a thought of a lack of confidence in Me.
Believe Me, I am solely and always kind; I am solely an always like a parent to you!
So, imitate the children who at every little scratch of the finger, run at once to mother to have it bandaged.
You should always do the same and remember that I will always cancel out and repair your imperfections and faults, just as a mother will always bandage the child's finger, whether it is really hurt or only seems so in his imagination.
And if the child were to really hurt his arm, or his head, how tenderly and affectionately would he be cared for and bandaged by the mother! Well, I do this very same thing with regard to your soul when you fall, even though I may do so in silence. Do You understand Consolata?
Therefore, never, never, never have even a shadow of doubt; a lack of confidence hurts My heart deeply, and makes Me suffer so much.
“Love Me and you will be happy, and the more you love Me the happier you will be. Even when you will find yourself in utter darkness, love will produce light; love will produce strength, and love will produce joy.”
“I prefer an act of love, and a Communion of love to any other gift. I thirst for love”
"I delight to work in a soul. You see, I love to do everything Myself; and from this soul I ask only that she love Me."
"You see, even in good thoughts which creep in, there is always a bit of self-love, of complacency; and it is easy to see how they will spoil the act of love. But if you will complete trust in Me, that I am attending to everything and will continue to do so, and if you will not permit even one other thought to enter, then your act of love will possess a virginal purity."
"You see, Consolata, sanctity means self-forgetfulness in everything, in thoughts, desires, words....Allow Me to do it all! I will do everything; but you should, at every moment, give Me what I ask for with much love!"
"Consolata, place no limits on your confidence in Me, then I will place no limits on My graces for you!"
"Trust always in Jesus! If you only knew how much pleasure that gives Me! Grant Me this solace to trust in Me even in the shadow of death."
When suffering is accepted with love, it is no longer suffering, but is changed into joy.”
"If you are in Me and we are one then you will bring forth much fruit and will become strong, for you will disappear like a drop of water in the ocean; My silence will pass into you, and My humility, My purity, My charity, My gentleness, My patience, My thirst for suffering, and My zeal for souls whom I wish to save at all costs!"
"You must think only of loving Me! I will think of everything else, even to the smallest details!"
“Jesus, Mary, I love You. Save souls’ encompasses everything, the souls in Purgatory and the souls in the Militant Church; the innocent soul and the guilty soul; the dying, the atheist, etc… Do not lose time; remember that every act of love is a soul. Of all the gifts, the best gift you can offer me is a day full of love. I desire an uninterrupted Jesus, Mary I love You, save souls! from when you get up in the morning till when you go to bed at night, repeat it all the time.”
SHE SUFFERED BY CONVERSION OF PRIESTS
Sr. Consolata Betrone: Entrusted by Jesus to Lead Priests Back to God: "Jesus reveals to me the intimate sufferings of His Heart caused by the faithlessness of souls consecrated to Him." ~ Sr. Consolata Betrone, Nov. 9, 1934 ~
The sacrifices and prayers of a spiritual mother for priests benefit especially those who have strayed or abandoned their vocations. Jesus has called countless women in his Church to this vocation of prayer, such as Sister Consolata Betrone, a Capuchin nun from Turin. Jesus said to her, “Your life-long task is for your brothers. Consolata, you too, shall be a good shepherdess and go in search of your brothers and bring them back to me.”
Consolata offered everything for “her brother” priests and others consecrated to God who were in spiritual need. While working in the kitchen, she prayed continuously in her heart, “Jesus, Mary, I love you, save souls!” She consciously made every little service and duty into a sacrifice. Jesus said in this regard, “Your duties may be insignificant, but because you bring them to me with such love, I give them immeasurable value and shower them on the discontented brothers as grace for conversion.”
Very grave and difficult cases were often entrusted to the prayers of the convent. Consolata would take the corresponding suffering upon herself. For weeks or months on end she sometimes endured dryness of spirit, abandonment, meaninglessness, inner darkness, loneliness, doubt, and the sinful state of the priests.
She once wrote to her spiritual director during these struggles, “How much the brothers cost me!” Yet Jesus made her a magnificent promise, “Consolata, it is not only one brother that you will lead back to God, but all of them. I promise you, you will give me the brothers, one after another.” And so it was! She brought back all of the priests entrusted to her to a fulfilling priesthood. There are recorded testimonies of many of these cases. (Source)
One does not need to be a nun to offer every aspect of one’s life for the sanctification of God’s anointed ones. Anyone can pray and sacrifice for priests, which is why we began our prayer associations to allow those outside our cloister to join us in spirit before Our Lord in the Monstrance praying for His priests.
INVITATION TO JOIN THE HANDMAIDS OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD IN STRENGTHENING PRIESTS
Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest,
Mother of all priests and our Mother,
help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request,
through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.
HER HOLY DEATH
In June 1939 she wrote "It is my fate to die in little pieces". In November 1944 she noted:
"For many days my soul has halted on this divine phrase - 'sacrificial victim for the Sacrificial Victim'".
It is in this way that, for the peace of the world [for World War II was raging], for the dying and for the conversion of souls she many times repeated the offer of herself as the sacrifice of expiation for the sins of humanity.
In the winter of 1944 her corpse-like color betrayed her. In obedience to her Superior she subjected herself to a visit from the doctor. The doctor's reply was : "This sister is not ill, she is destroyed".
On September 24 1945 Sister Consolata asked for half a day of rest and she laid down. The Mother Abbess took her temperature --39° C (102.2 F)!.
‘How long has she been carrying on like this?’ it was asked. On October 25, 1945 and X-ray was taken revealing damage to her lungs; thus she was officially diagnosed with tuberculosis. On November 4, 1945 she left for the sanatorium. She remained there until July 3 1946, when an ambulance returned her, in the last stages of consumption, to the Convent of Moriondo.
Now, "everything was finished", except to begin a new and eternal life forever united with God in Heaven.
Sister Consolata died at dawn on July 18, 1946 in the Convent of the Sacred Heart of Moriondo Moncalieri Turin, Italy.
~Servant of God Sr. Consolata Betrone, pray for us!
~ From Statement introducing the beatification process of Sr. Consolata Betrone ~
Consolata Betrone
(1903-1946)
HER AFTERLIFE
“The life of the Saints is a example of life for others"----It was with these words that on on February 8, 1995, Archbishop Cardinal Giovanni Saldarini in started the canonical process for five causes of beatification, one of these being the Capuchin Poor Clare nun, Sister Maria Consolata Betrone, in Turin Italy, in the Sanctuary of Our Lady Help of Christians.
For more information about the heroic and holy life of the Servant of God, Sister Consolata Betrone, there is an excellent book entitled “Jesus Appeals to the World” written by Sister Consolata’s spiritual Director, Father Lorenzo Sales, IMC.
In fact, special merit lies with Father Lorenzo Sales (1889-1972), who was Sr. Consolata’s confessor and spiritual director from September 1935, for all his help with wisdom, discernment and guidance for the Work of God in the life of Sister Consolata.
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