Mesina, Antonia, Bl.

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MESINA, ANTONIA, BL.

Lay virgin martyr, member of Catholic Action; b. June 21, 1919, Orgosolo (near Nuora), Sardina, Italy; d. there May 17, 1935. Antonia Mesina, born into a poor and pious family in a small village, joined Catholic Action in 1934. While gathering wood with a companion near her home in May 1935, Antonia was assaulted by

a youth, Giovanni-Ignacio Catgui. Her friend ran for help as Catgui tried to rape Antonia. Enraged he attacked her with stones, brutally killing her. Pope John Paul II beatified her (Oct. 4, 1987) for her fidelity to purity and piety.

Feast: May 17.

Bibliography: v. schauber, Pattloch Namenstagskalender, ed. h. m. schindler (Augsburg 1994): 127. Acta Apostolicae Sedis (1987): 983. L'Osservatore Romano, English. edition, no. 40 (1987): 20.

[k. i. rabenstein]