Chiara Badano

Chiara Badano (October 29, 1971 – October 7, 1990) was an Italian teenager who has been beatified by the Roman Catholic Church.

At age nine she joined the Focolare Movement and received the nickname "Luce" ("light") by the founder Chiara Lubich.

When she was 16, she was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma, a painful bone cancer.

Chiara Badano was born on October 29, 1971, to Ruggero and Maria Teresa Badano in the small village of Sassello, Italy.

The couple waited and prayed eleven years to have Chiara.

They considered her to be their greatest blessing.

While Ruggero worked as a truck driver, Maria Teresa stayed at home to raise their daughter.

Chiara grew up with a strong and healthy relationship with her parents, but she did not always obey them and would occasionally have fights with them.

One day, Chiara took an apple off a tree in a neighbour's orchard; her mother later recounted the event:

"One afternoon, Chiara came home with a beautiful red apple. I asked her where it came from. She replied that she had taken it from our neighbor's orchard without asking her permission. I explained to her that she always had to ask before taking anything and that she had to take it back and apologize to our neighbor. She was reluctant to do this because she was too embarrassed. I told her that it was far more important to own up than to eat an apple. So Chiara took the apple back to our neighbor and explained everything to her. That evening, the woman brought her a whole box of apples, saying that on that day Chiara had learnt something very important."

Chiara attended her first meeting of the Focolare Movement in September 1980; she was only 9 years old.

This group, especially its founder Chiara Lubich, had a profound impact on Chiara's life.

The group focused on the image of the forsaken Christ as a way to make it through difficult times.

Chiara later wrote that, "I discovered that Jesus forsaken is the key to unity with God, and I want to choose him as my only spouse. I want to be ready to welcome him when he comes. To prefer him above all else."

While Chiara was a conscientious student, she struggled in school and even failed her first year of high school.

She was often teased in school for her strong beliefs and was given the nickname "Sister."

Chiara made several good friends, however, often going out late to have coffee with them.

She enjoyed the normal teenage pastimes such as listening to pop music, dancing, and singing.

She was also an avid tennis player and enjoyed hiking and swimming.

During the summer of 1988, when she was 16 years old, Chiara had a life-changing experience in Rome with the Focolare Movement.

She wrote to her parents, "This is a very important moment for me: it is an encounter with Jesus Forsaken. It hasn't been easy to embrace this suffering, but this morning Chiara Lubich explained to the children that they have to be the spouse of Jesus Forsaken."

After this trip she started to correspond regularly with Lubich.

She then asked for her new name as this was going to be the start of a new life for her.

Lubich gave her the name Chiara Luce.

This was a kind of a play on words, since in Italian "Chiara" is a common girl's name, taken for example from the name of Clare of Assisi, but it is also an everyday word meaning "clear."

"Luce" is occasionally found as a girl's name in Italy, though it is mostly secular rather than religious; and it is also an everyday word meaning "light."

So "Chiara Luce" means "clear light."

Lubich wrote to Chiara,"Your luminous face shows your love for Jesus," which is why she gave her the name Luce.

In the summer of 1988, Chiara felt a sting of pain in her shoulder while playing tennis.

At first she thought nothing of it, but when the pain continued to be present she underwent a series of tests.

The doctors then discovered she had a rare and painful form of bone cancer, osteogenic sarcoma.

In response, Chiara simply declared, "It's for you, Jesus; if you want it, I want it, too."

Throughout the treatment process, Chira refused to take any morphine so she could stay aware.

She felt it was important to know her illness and pain so she could offer up her sufferings.

She said, "It reduces my lucidity and there's only one thing I can do now: to offer my suffering to Jesus because I want to share as much as possible in his sufferings on the cross."

During her stays in the hospital, she would take the time to go on walks with another patient who was struggling with depression.

These walks were beneficial to the other patient but caused Chiara great pain.

Chiara died from the cancer on October 7, 1990, after a two-year battle with the disease.

She was beatified on September 25, 2010, at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Divine Love in Rome.

Her feast day is celebrated on October 29.