The process for the beatification of Chiara Corbella has moved forward with the collection of hundreds of reports and testimonies of her life after having died in 2012 of cancer at the age of 28.
Her parents, husband, Enrico, and son, Francesco attended a special ceremony to move the process forward.
Francesco was Chiara’s third pregnancy, after having lost two children shortly after they were born. It was when Chiara was pregnant with Francesco that she was diagnosed with cancer, and she decided to delay treatment until after the baby was born.
Francesco arrived in perfect health and was even brought to meet the pope. But a year later, Chiara passed away.
“I was thinking when I saw Chiara die like this, I said, ‘Lord, it’s not possible that a daughter of yours died like this. I think you also must have died so happy,'” her husband said.
“Because if love on the cross makes us happy, somehow Lord, you had to be happy there too, because love could not let you down.”
In 2018, the cause for her beatification was opened and the diocesan phase concluded with this ceremony at the Basilica of St John Lateran. It was presided over by the vicegerent of the Diocese of Rome. Also present were members of the tribunal that investigated Chiara’s life.
The Basilica was filled with people who knew Chiara’s story first hand, such as Fr Fabio Rosini. He is the parish priest who accompanied Chiara and her husband before they married and who accompanied them after the loss of their second child.
“We must always consider one thing,” he said. “The most important thing about Chiara is not the fact that she decided to delay certain treatments to protect her baby.
“That is the result. But the origin of all this is the fact that God is a father, that is, having the experience of having God for Father, of putting everything in his hands.”
The next step is to send all the documents to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. And the hope is that one day, the Servant of God known for her eye patch and endless smile will be declared a Blessed of the Catholic Church.