Rosa Maria Benedetta Gattorno

Rosa felt the call to found a new religious family more and more, but she was torn by her duties as a mother. To enlighten her conscience, she sought the advice of several spiritual directors, including Saint Francis of Camporosso, as well as the Archbishop of Genoa. Finally, she was received in a private audience by Pope Pius IX on January 3, 1866. Secretly hoping to be dispensed from this work, she heard the Sovereign Pontiff say to her: "This Institute will spread rapidly like the flight of a dove to all parts of the world. God will take care of your children; you, think of God in His Work." Strengthened by this papal obedience, Rosa overcame the reluctance of her family and founded in Piacenza, on December 8, 1866, the congregation of the Daughters of Saint Anne, Mother of the Immaculate Virgin (Figlie di Sant'Anna). For the drafting of the institute's constitutions, she collaborated closely with the Lazarist Father Giovanni Battista Tornatore, a professor at the Alberoni College in Piacenza, who is considered the co-founder of the institute. On July 26, 1867 (the feast of Saint Anne), Rosa took the religious habit under the name of Sister Anna Rosa. On April 8, 1870, she made her religious profession with twelve companions. Under her direction, the institute dedicated itself to the assistance of the sick, the infirm, orphans, and abandoned children. In 1867, during a cholera epidemic in Piacenza, the sisters spent themselves without counting the cost for the sick, and Anna Rosa subsequently opened her house to welcome orphans. The institute received the decree of praise from Pius IX on April 8, 1876, and the definitive approval of the Holy See from Pope Leo XIII on July 26, 1892. Starting in 1873, she developed numerous works in Rome: schools, nurseries, assistance for working mothers, and shelters for former prostitutes. In 1886, she established the General House of the congregation there. She also collaborated with the Bishop of Piacenza, Msgr. Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, for the assistance and education of the deaf-mute. The international expansion was rapid: as early as 1878, the first missionaries left for Bolivia, then settled in Brazil (1884), Chile, Peru, Eritrea, France, and Spain.

In February 1900, Mother Anna Rosa was struck by a severe flu that rapidly weakened her strength. She passed away in holiness on the morning of May 6, 1900, at the General House in Rome, surrounded by the veneration of her sisters and the faithful. The beatification process: Twelve years after her death, on July 27, 1912, the informative diocesan process regarding her reputation for sanctity opened at the Vicariate of Rome. This process, extended by rogatory commission to the dioceses of Genoa, Piacenza, Naples, and Palermo, concluded on January 26, 1927. After obtaining the Nulla osta on April 3, 1979, the validity of the informative processes was recognized by decree on September 19, 1991. The Positio super virtutibus was then submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on November 21, 1991. Declaration of venerability: On May 22, 1998, the theological consultants recognized the heroicity of her virtues, a decision ratified by the cardinals and bishops on December 1, 1998. On December 21, 1998, Pope John Paul II promulgated the decree recognizing her heroic virtues, granting her the title of Venerable.

For her beatification, the Church recognized as miraculous the unexplained healing of Sister Ida Rosa Zanchetta (in religion Sister A. Angelina), a member of the congregation of the Daughters of Saint Anne. Suffering from a severe form of mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis with persistent proteinuria and hematuria, complicated by infected renal lithiasis, iron deficiency anemia, and atrophic gastritis, she was healed instantaneously and permanently after invoking the intercession of the foundress. The diocesan process regarding this miracle took place in Bologna from April 26, 1995, to June 26, 1996. Following the favorable opinion of the theological consultants on April 9, 1999, and of the cardinals and bishops on June 25, 1999, Pope John Paul II signed the decree recognizing the miracle on June 28, 1999. The beatification ceremony: Mother Anna Rosa Gattorno was solemnly proclaimed Blessed by Pope John Paul II on April 9, 2000, during a celebration in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican, in the course of the Holy Jubilee Year. Her liturgical feast was set for May 6, the day of her birth into heaven.

The spirituality of Anna Rosa Gattorno is deeply marked by the total offering of self and immolation out of love for Christ. She desired to be the "spokesperson for Jesus" to make his redemptive love known to the whole world, praying ceaselessly for the conversion of sinners and the sanctification of all men. Her relationship with Saint Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, was lived as a filial relationship and a model of maternal solicitude. She saw the face of the suffering and crucified Christ in the poor and the sick.