SPIRITUALITY
Our institution promotes spiritual development as an integral part of education. Students are guided to cultivate ethical values, discipline, and a sense of responsibility grounded in faith and service for humanity.
SAINT ELENA GUERRA – APOSTLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Early Life and Spiritual Formation.
Saint Elena Guerra was born in Lucca on June 23, 1835, into a deeply religious family. During a long illness, she dedicated herself to meditating on the Word of God and studying the Church Fathers. This period profoundly shaped her spiritual life and apostolic mission. She first expressed this mission through the association of the Spiritual Friends, which she founded to promote Christian friendship among young girls, and later extended her work among the Daughters of Mary.
Pilgrimage to Rome and Vocation
In April 1870, accompanied by her father Antonio Guerra, Elena made a pilgrimage to Rome. During this journey, she visited the Catacombs of the Martyrs, an experience that awakened in her the desire for consecrated life. On April 24, she attended the third public session of the First Vatican Council at St. Peter’s Basilica, where the Constitution Dei Filius on Faith was promulgated. The sight of Pope Pius IX deeply moved her, and shortly after returning to Lucca on June 23, she offered herself completely to God for the Pope.
Foundation of Religious Life and Educational Mission
In 1871, after enduring a long “dark night” followed by profound mystical graces, Elena, together with a group of Spiritual Friends and Daughters of Mary, began a new form of community religious life. This journey culminated in 1882 with the founding of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Zita, dedicated to the cultural and religious education of young people. During this period, Saint Gemma Galgani became one of her most beloved students.
Mission for the Holy Spirit
Around 1886, Elena Guerra felt a new and urgent calling: to promote devotion to the Holy Spirit within the Church. She wrote several letters in secret to Pope Leo XIII, urging him to encourage modern Christians to rediscover life in the Spirit. The Pope responded by publishing, in 1895, the apostolic brief Provida Matris Caritate, inviting the faithful to pray a novena to the Holy Spirit for the unity of Christians between the feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost. In 1897, he issued the encyclical Divinum Illud Munus, reaffirming the novena and establishing it as an annual practice, and in 1902, he addressed the bishops with the letter Ad fovendum in christiano populo.
Recognition and Development of Her Congregation
On October 18, 1897, during a special audience, Pope Leo XIII encouraged Elena to continue her apostolate for the Holy Spirit and authorized her Congregation to adopt the name Oblates of the Holy Spirit, which better reflected their specific charism within the Church.
For Elena, the Pope’s encouragement was a true mission. She devoted herself even more fervently to the cause of the Holy Spirit, striving to deepen, both for herself and for others, the true meaning of “returning to the Holy Spirit.” This would also become the enduring mission of her Congregation throughout the world
Spiritual Vision: The Cenacle and the Church
In her meditations on Scripture, Elena was deeply moved by the events of the Cenacle in the early Church. It was there that Jesus offered Himself to God for the salvation of humanity, instituted the Eucharist as the sacrament of love, appeared to His disciples after the Resurrection, and finally sent the Holy Spirit upon the Church. For Elena, the Church is a continuation of the Cenacle—a permanent spiritual Cenacle—constantly oriented toward the Paschal Mystery.
Within this spiritual Cenacle, the community of believers—priestly, royal, and prophetic in Christ—is united. Through Baptism and Confirmation, each believer is incorporated into this mystery and made capable of active participation in the Eucharist, forming a community similar to the first gathering in the Cenacle after the coming of the Holy Spirit. It was within this vision that Elena Guerra conceived and initiated the “Universal Cenacle,” a movement of prayer to the Holy Spirit.
Death and Spiritual Legacy
Elena Guerra passed away on April 11, 1914, Holy Saturday, with a profound desire in her heart: that modern Christians might become aware of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in their souls—an essential condition for a true “renewal of the face of the earth.”
Beatification and Recognition by the Church
In 1953, Pope John XXIII recognized the heroic nature of her virtues and declared her Venerable. Following the recognition of a miraculous healing attributed to her intercession, he beatified her on April 26, 1959, during a solemn Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. On that occasion, he described her as the “Apostle of the Holy Spirit.”
Canonization and Recognized Miracle
On April 13, 2024, Pope Francis recognized a second miracle attributed to her intercession, opening the way for her canonization. This miracle involved the complete and instantaneous healing of a man who had suffered a severe head injury in 2010, had fallen into a coma, and for whom doctors had decided to discontinue treatment. He recovered fully, without any lasting effects.
On October 20, 2024, Elena Guerra was solemnly proclaimed a Saint in Rome by Pope Francis.
A Call to Faith and Mission Today
This long-awaited day is one of great joy and celebration, but also a call to responsibility and commitment—for us and for the entire Church. We are invited to continue the charism of Saint Elena Guerra by embracing her message of love and living it fully. It is not we who bring light to her; rather, through her canonization, she ignites within us a living flame of faith and love. As she herself said: “What could be better for us than to be guided and sustained by Love?”
The Holy Spirit, whom Saint Elena Guerra invoked and proclaimed for the renewal of the earth, richly filled her life with charisms. Today, just as in her time, the Church and all humanity need the light of the Holy Spirit to dispel the darkness that increasingly surrounds the world. As she taught: “The Holy Spirit is the one who makes saints. To aspire to holiness and not be devoted to the Holy Spirit is a contradiction.”
Grateful for the gift of her canonization, we turn to the Holy Spirit with renewed fervor and confidence, trusting that the Lord will hear us—not because of our merits, but through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Cenacle, and through the prayers of Saint Elena Guerra and all the saints.
PRIERE A L’ESPRIT SAINT. Pour obtenir ses grâces par l’intercession De Sainte Elena Guerra
O adorable Esprit de Dieu, qui,
Dans l’abondance de tes dons,
Tu t’es communiqué à la Sainte Elena Guerra
Et tu lui as confié un message
D’un renouveau éternel de ta Pentecôte.
Par la docilité et la fidélité à la mission qui lui est confiée
Nous te prions de la rendre encore aujourd’hui
Le témoin de ton amour en exauçant nos prières…….
Ravive O Dieu Consolateur notre Foi et notre Esperance,
Afin que nous puissions cheminer avec courage
Vers la rencontre définitive Amen.
Sainte Elena Guerra priez pour nous !