While our international community is engaged in the process of revising the Constitutions and discerning for the European Province, we want to entrust ourselves to the intercession of Sister Clemente and all our novice mistresses.
Their unstinting dedication to the education of the younger generations leaves us a great legacy – theological-spiritual, charismatic, ecclesial – to cultivate, nourish and spread, starting with Mother Thouret, passing through Sister Marguerite Paillot in Besançon and Sister Geneviève Boucon in Naples. We wish we could name them all.
They hand us the mantle of prophecy, like the prophet Elijah to Elisha!
In grateful memory of each of them, we remember here the passing of Sister Clemente Alimenti to God.
One of her novices, who has been a missionary in Africa for decades, wrote:
“Dearest Sister Clemente, yes, today I am still on the path of Jesus, despite the trials, sufferings and joys. And it is thanks to your patient, attentive and merciful support during my time as a novice and junior sister.
Sister Clemente was always actively present in the various difficult moments of her daughters, the novices, with prayer and with some small gesture. Thank you very much, Sister Clemente, continue to follow us so that we may be faithful to the call with joy and hope and know how to bear witness to the love of Jesus for all men”.
One of her novices, now an educator:
“The Bride went to meet the Groom with a lighted lamp: Sister Clemente, thank you for everything you gave us, your teachings and your witness will live on forever. May Mary and Jesus welcome you into Paradise.”
One of your novices, now a Provincial Councillor:
“You taught us – in the broadest, deepest, most vital sense – to give ourselves completely to God and to the poor, without borders. It was one of your favorite songs: Our heart has no borders, it is the true song of freedom, it is the hope of a new world, it bears the image of unity”.
One of your novices, now serving the poor in the suburbs:
“As Provincial Superior, you very strongly wanted a community to serve women who were victims of trafficking for the purpose of prostitution. Those were years when there was still very little talk about it and we felt inadequate. Your courage and your support accompanied us to specific training, to collaboration, to welcoming many foreign women, victims of violence and reduced to slavery, into our community. And that community was even a place of experience for the postulants and of initial training for the juniors.
Your courage and determination are ours. Thank you!”.
And so, Sister Clemente was remembered by her family:
“Seeing her pray was already a prayer. Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.” Among the many Gospel phrases that could have illuminated the life of Sister Clemente, it seems to us that this one, more than any other, tells us what Aunt Maria was for us, her grandchildren.
When she returned to Pergola, her hometown, it was a celebration for us children, pure joy, because she gave attention to each one of us, she talked to us children, she also involved us in grown-up conversations, she never left us out, she taught us to pray. And seeing her pray was almost a prayer in itself and above all she played with us.
I remember on one of these visits, on a walk to the cemetery, she told us about Grandma Annetta, about when she went to mass with her in Pergola starting from Serraspinosa; she told us about death, about this mystery that always frightens us but – she said – in reality those who die go to meet God, those who suffer are only those who remain. She made each of us feel special. As we grew up, the game gave way to dialogues with her, intense dialogues that were never banal, sometimes even a little severe, sometimes even too severe, but which always left room for the love of God, for the invitation to love everyone and everything around us.
Meeting her has also always been meeting her large extended family, the congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Jeanne Antide, a family that we have all gradually become part of, starting from Pergola, then Rome, Piacenza, Sora, Gorgonzola, Sarzana, again Rome, Romania, Reggio Calabria, Terracina, and in recent years Civitavecchia: as grandchildren, grandnieces, great-grandnephews, we want to express our gratitude to all of you for the way you loved, cared for and welcomed her. And you didn’t just welcome her, you always made us feel part of this family. Thank you so much – you were a true image of God’s love for us. We embrace you like Auntie embraces us in the beautiful photo that Sister Merina sent us yesterday.
In today’s Liturgy the generation of that time asks Jesus for a sign: Jesus doesn’t lend himself to spectacular demonstrations but – the Gospel says – He left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side. We of this generation, on the other hand, have been lucky enough, through our meeting with Sister Clemente, to have an evident sign of the Love of God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The relationship of love that, through God, was expressed in the men and women that Sister Clemente met in her life: this is the true jubilee of Hope that we celebrate here today with you in our lives.
Sister Clemente’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren, for us Aunt Maria
