Filomena D'Urso

Filomena began her postulancy in Rome, then completed her novitiate in Perugia. She became deeply imbued with the charism of reparation and reconciliation of the institute's founder, the Frenchwoman Victorine Le Dieu (in religion Sister Marie-Joseph de Jésus). On December 22, 1929, she made her first religious profession and took the name Sister Ambrogina di San Carlo.

At the beginning of 1930, she was sent to the house in Varlungo, on the southern outskirts of Florence. This community was dedicated to welcoming and educating young girls and poor children, orphans, or those in difficult situations. Despite fragile health, Sister Ambrogina gave herself without counting the cost to this educational and charitable mission. However, her physical strength declined rapidly. After an accidental fall down the stairs, her condition worsened considerably. From the spring of 1948, she was confined to total and permanent immobility in the convent infirmary. From her cell, located near the choir, she continued to associate herself through prayer and the offering of her sufferings with the life of her community and the salvation of the world. She passed away in Florence on March 26, 1954, at the age of 45.

The reputation for holiness of Sister Ambrogina di San Carlo, already vivid during her lifetime among those who came to seek her counsel and spiritual comfort, spread rapidly after her death. In 1966, the diocesan process for her beatification was officially opened.

On August 11, 2004, her mortal remains were exhumed from the Florence cemetery to be brought back to her native village of Maranola. On October 1, 2006, they were solemnly placed in an urn within the church of the Annunziata (Santissima Annunziata), the very place where she prayed during her childhood. An exhibition room (museum) there also gathers her personal mementos.

The canonical process reached a major milestone under the pontificate of Pope Francis. On December 21, 2018, during an audience granted to Cardinal Angelo Becciu, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Sovereign Pontiff authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues. Filomena D'Urso was then officially declared Venerable. For her beatification to be pronounced, the official recognition of a miracle attributed to her intercession is required.

The spirituality of the Venerable Ambrogina di San Carlo is centered on Eucharistic love, the spirit of reparation, and the mystical acceptance of suffering in union with Christ the Redeemer. She expressed her ardent desire for holiness with this formula: 'I want to become a saint, at any cost and quickly!'.

Her spiritual diary bears witness to an intimate union with Jesus-Eucharist, whom she contemplated as Love incarnate. She writes in it, notably: 'I would like to shout to all the creatures of the earth: Love has become Bread. I would like to shout to the whole world to love Love' and 'I always want to look upward, seeking only one thing: Love'. Her spiritual legacy remains alive within the Congregation of the Sisters of Jesus the Redeemer and her original community in Maranola, which continues to celebrate her memory through various local initiatives.