Bosatta, Chiara (Clare) Dina, Bl.

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BOSATTA, CHIARA (CLARE) DINA, BL.

Baptized Dina, also known as Chiara de Pianello, religious of the Daughters of St. Mary of Providence; b. Pianello Lario near Como, Lombardy, Italy, May 27, 1858; d. Pianello Lario, April 20, 1887. Dina and her sister Marcellina Bosatta were among the first to support the work of Blessed Luigi guanella. Living as a religious at home, Dina served the poor of her parish, from whom she contracted a disease that afflicted her the rest of her life. In 1886, she formally joined the congregation Guanella had founded, taking the name Chiara (Clare), and she served as superior of the community for a time. A contemplative, she offered God her own life to protect, raise, and educate children and young people in difficulty. Chiara died at the age of twenty-nine and was beatified by John Paul II, April 21, 1991.

Feast: April 20.

Bibliography: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 83 (1991): 36971. L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, no. 16 (April 22, 1991): 10.

[k. i. rabenstein]