Elena Raparelli

Elena's project received the approval and handwritten blessing of Pope Benedict XV. Before concretely launching the foundation, Father Nilo Borgia, sent to Albania, entrusted the two sisters to Saint Luigi Orione (Don Orione). In May 1919, Elena and Agnese went to Rome, to Monte Mario, to train for religious life within one of Don Orione's institutes. In 1921, the two sisters settled in Sicily, in Mezzojuso (province of Palermo), in the heart of the Italo-Albanian communities. Welcomed by the local archpriest, Papàs Onofrio Buccola, they began an apostolate there marked by great poverty and many sacrifices. They devoted themselves to assisting the sick, the elderly, and to the education of children and war orphans, for whom they organized sewing and embroidery workshops. In May 1925, during a pastoral visit to Mezzojuso, Cardinal Alessandro Lualdi, Archbishop of Palermo, was deeply touched by their missionary work. He blessed the community and gave it the official name of "Basilian Sisters, Daughters of Saint Macrina" (Suore Basiliane Figlie di Santa Macrina), designating Elena as superior. After the sudden death of Cardinal Lualdi, it was Monsignor Ernesto Filippi, Archbishop of Monreale and Apostolic Administrator of Palermo, who canonically erected the congregation of diocesan right on July 19, 1930, with the authorization of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. On July 30, 1930, Elena pronounced her first vows and took the name Sister Macrina (Mother Macrina). On July 19, 1933, she and her sister Agnese made their perpetual profession. On July 31, 1933, during the first General Chapter, Mother Macrina was elected Superior General of the institute, a position she would hold for her entire life, constantly re-elected by her sisters. Under her leadership, the congregation developed and founded numerous houses in Sicily, Calabria, and Lazio, but also abroad, notably in Albania, Kosovo, and India.

Mother Macrina Raparelli led her congregation with great strength of soul, combining gentleness, firmness, and humility. In January 1970, a serious illness manifested and quickly took her. She died holily on February 26, 1970, in Mezzojuso. Her funeral was celebrated in the presence of numerous priests and bishops of the Eastern and Roman rites, testifying to her role as a bridge between the East and the West. The cause for beatification and canonization was introduced in the Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi. The decree of validity for the diocesan (eparchial) inquiry was published on June 18, 2010. The Positio on her heroic virtues was subsequently studied by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

On March 23, 2017, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Macrina Raparelli, thus conferring upon her the title of Venerable. The cause is currently underway, awaiting the recognition of a miracle to pave the way for her beatification.

The spirituality of the venerable Macrina Raparelli rests upon a double spiritual lung: she knew how to harmoniously unite the expressions of Latin holiness (active charity, care for the poor and the sick) with the spiritual inspiration of the Christian East. Her work is deeply marked by a spiritual and practical ecumenism. Initiated into this ideal by the monks of Grottaferrata, she considered the unity of Christians not as a theory, but as a union of hearts in the love of Christ. Her legacy endures today through the Basilian Sisters, Daughters of Saint Macrina, who continue to live according to the rule of Saint Basil, to celebrate according to the Byzantine rite, and to work for ecumenical dialogue and assistance to the most destitute.