Sandra Sabattini

Venerable Sandra Sabattini
Laywoman
Born	(1961-08-19)19 August 1961 Riccione Hospital, Riccione, Rimini, Italy
Died	2 May 1984(1984-05-02) (aged 22) Bellaria Hospital, Bologna, Italy
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Feast	2 May
Patronage	Youth

Sandra Sabattini (19 August 1961 – 2 May 1984) was an Italian Roman Catholic and a member of the Associazione Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII.^[1][2] Sabattini first joined the association after meeting its founder Oreste Benzi in her late childhood and began to work alongside drug addicts and ill people with the dream of becoming part of the medical missions in Africa.^[3] It was later on that she became engaged but her life was cut short after being run over in a car accident while going to attend a meeting of the association near Rimini.^[2]

Don Benzi pushed and lobbied for her process for beatification to be launched and this permission was granted over two decades later not long before Benzi himself died. The cause opened and she became titled as a Servant of God. Pope Francis confirmed her heroic virtue and titled Sabattini as Venerable on 6 March 2018 while on 2 October 2019 confirming a miracle attributed to her intercession. Sabattini was meant to be beatified in Rimini on 14 June 2020 but the coronavirus pandemic forced the Rimini diocese to postpone it.^[3][1] It has been rescheduled for 24 October 2021.

Life[]

Sandra Sabattini was born on 19 August 1961 in Rimini at the Riccione Hospital as the first of two children to Giuseppe Sabattini and Agnese Bonini; her brother was Raffaele, now a medical doctor working at Ceccarini Hospital in Riccione.^[1] The Sabattini's lived in Misano Adriatico before relocating in Rimini in 1965 to the parish church of San Girolamo to live with her priest uncle Don Giuseppe Bonini who was the pastor of the parish.^[2]

Sabattini's pious nature as a child extended to keeping a journal since 27 January 1972 in order to record her spiritual thoughts. It was around 1973 that she first met the Servant of God Oreste Benzi at one of the several meetings of Benzi's Associazione Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII that her uncle organized in his parish.^[2] In summer 1974 she took part in a summer program for teenagers at the Madonna delle Vette house in Canazei (Trento) for people with disabilities. This experience left her with a profound spiritual enthusiasm that upon returning home she told her mother: "We worked till we dropped but these are people I'll never leave". In 1980 she completed her high school examinations in Rimini before beginning her education in medicine at the college in Bologna. Sandra Sabattini was known for having achieved excellent results in each of her examinations.^[2]

But within her was the desire to become part of the medical missions in Africa to work alongside the poor and ill. On the weekends and in the summer breaks of 1982 and 1983 she tended to drug addicts in the association's rehabilitation centers. Sabattini got up each morning to meditate in the church in the dark before the Eucharist and loved to do so on the floor to demonstrate her meek and humble nature; she sang in a choir and learned the piano.^[2] Sabattini later met Guido (who was a bit older than her) at a Carnivale event. The two started dating and were later engaged to be married though both decided to lead a chaste engagement. To their delight both wanted to become missionaries in Africa after getting married, but her father – who knew of the couple's dreams – advised his daughter to take things at a slow pace rather than to rush into things.^[3][1]

In late April 1984 the association prepared for their meeting in Igea Marina near Rimini. On 29 April at 9:30 am she arrived there via car alongside her fiancé and her friend Elio.^[3] Just as she got out of the car both she and Elio were struck by a passing car, placing her into a coma from which she never recovered. Less than a week later, on 2 May, Sabattini died from her injuries at Bellaria Hospital in Bologna. Her funeral was celebrated on 5 May in the San Girolamo church in Rimini and she was buried outside the S. Andrea church of Misano Adriatico.

In 1985 don Benzi edited the first edition of her journal and did so again in 2003 alongside notes on her life.^[2] Father Benzi once said that "Sandra should not be sought among the dead" alluding to potential exhumation. Father Benzi's musings proved correct for in 2009 (after don Benzi died) an exhumation took place but no remains were found. This was attributed to the fact that she wished to be buried in bare earth which meant corrosion of the casket was most probable following interment.^[1]

Beatification[]

The Emilia-Romagna Episcopal Conference expressed on 30 January 2006 their favorable opinion to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to initiate the proceedings for the cause of beatification for Sabattini. This was something that don Oreste Benzi lobbied for after she had died.^[1] The C.C.S. provided their assent on 11 July 2006 after declaring "nihil obstat" (no objections) and titling Sandra Sabattini as a Servant of God. The diocesan process of investigation was launched on 27 September 2006 and was closed on 6 December 2008.

The Positio dossier was submitted to the C.C.S. for evaluation; theologians confirmed the cause and C.C.S. members followed on 6 March 2018. It was also on 6 March that Pope Francis confirmed that Sabattini lived a model life of heroic virtue and named her as Venerable. On 2 October 2019 the pope confirmed a miracle attributed to her intercession which would allow for her beatification. The Rimini diocese announced on 1 November 2019 that the beatification would take place on 14 June 2020; the coronavirus pandemic forced the Rimini diocese on 6 April 2020 to announce that the beatification would be postponed until further notice. The event has been rescheduled for 24 October 2021.

The current postulator for this cause is Monsignor Fausto Lanfranchi.

See also[]

• Oreste Benzi

References[]

External links[]

• Hagiography Circle
• Associazione Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII
• Find a Grave