Clelia Merloni

On May 30, 1894, Clelia Merloni founded the Institute of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Viareggio to propagate devotion to the Sacred Heart through works of charity and education. After the death and conversion of her father in 1895, she inherited his fortune, but the institute went bankrupt in 1897 due to the flight of a priest administrator. Thanks to the support of Bishop Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, the motherhouse was transferred to Piacenza in 1900, and missionaries were sent to Brazil and the United States as early as 1902. However, falsely accused of the financial ruin due to her charitable silence, Clelia was removed from her office as superior general in 1911 and obtained a dispensation from her vows in 1916, beginning a long exile.

After twelve years of exile, Clelia Merloni was authorized to return to the institute on March 7, 1928, in Rome. She spent her final two years in seclusion, dedicated to prayer and Eucharistic adoration. She died on November 21, 1930, in Rome. In 1945, her body was discovered intact and transferred to the chapel of the generalate house. Her cause for beatification was opened in Rome in 1988 under the pontificate of Saint John Paul II, and she was declared venerable by Pope Francis on December 21, 2016.

On January 26, 2018, Pope Francis recognized a miracle attributed to her intercession: the scientifically inexplicable healing of a seriously ill man in Brazil, after he had swallowed water containing a relic thread of the foundress. Clelia Merloni was solemnly beatified on November 3, 2018, in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome, during a mass presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu.

The spirituality of Clelia Merloni is based on the contemplation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and her motto "God alone" (Dio solo), lived through the acceptance of suffering, humility, and forgiveness. Today, the Institute of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus continues its work in about fifteen countries (including Italy, Brazil, the United States, Benin, and the Philippines) in the fields of education, health, and social assistance.