CENACOLO FOUNDRESS, MOTHER ELVIRA, DIES AT 86
A beautiful voice has been silenced.
However, Mother Elvira’s work – her wonderful Cenacolo communities – will live on long beyond her death today at age 86. Cenaolo, founded in Saluzzo in northern Italy and now in 18 countries throughout the world, has helped thousands of people with addictions over the years.
The community announced her death today on its website (https://www.comunitacenacolo.it/eins/?page_id=178&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email).
One person who is mourning her death, and who visited her in Saluzzo in July, is retired Bishop Robert Baker of Birmingham, Alabama, He was a friend to Mother Elvira Petrozzi for many years, visiting her an the Saluzzo community many times in summer months. He established the Cenacolo community in the United States, in both Florida and Alabama. By the way, around the world it is known by its Italian name, Comunita Cenacolo.
On several occasions, I had the great honor of having Bishop Baker as a guide to three Cenacolo communities in St. Augustine, Florida and one near the shrine in Hanceville, Alabama. The young people I met in these small communities were some of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met in my life!
We just had dinner in Rome a week ago with some mutual friends from the U.S., and Bishop Baker spoke of his recent visit to Saluzzo, knowing he would never see his dear friend again.
Any time a day was not going the way I wanted it to or thought it should go, all I had to do was remember how the Cenacolo people I met handled adversity – the will, the desire to overcome problems like addictions, the tenacity in their struggle, how they grew interiorly. How a non-existent spiritual life, with a little practice, often became a welcome, daily routine and helped in their personal and spiritual growth.
A little aside: I think it is fascinating that both Mother Elvira (Rita Agnese) and Mother Angelica (Rita Antoinette) were baptized Rita! St. Rita, of course, is the patron saint of impossible causes and assuredly someone to whom they prayed over the years!
Luke Coppen, in Starting Seven, did an excellent, inspiring piece on Mother Elvira:
Mother Elvira’s vision The Cenacolo Community announced Thursday that its founder, Mother Elvira Petrozzi, had died at the age of 86.
The community, founded in 1983 and present in 18 countries, recalled that she often told its members not to be sad at her death.
- “When they say, ‘Elvira is dead!’ you must sing, dance, celebrate,” she insisted, “because I am alive!”
The birth of Cenacolo Rita Agnese Petrozzi was born into a poor family in the Italian town of Sora in 1937. Aged 19, she entered the convent of the Sisters of Charity of St. Jeanne Antide Thouret, taking the name Elvira.
She began to feel what she called “a fire, a strong inner drive,” to help the lost and disoriented young people she saw around her. On July 16, 1983, she established the Cenacolo Community in a dilapidated villa on a hill in Saluzzo, northwestern Italy.
- Recalling that day, she said: “Seeing the state of the house, those who had accompanied me put their hands in their hair: it was in ruins, without doors, without windows, the roof needed repairs, there were no beds, tables, chairs, pots, I had no money … Nothing! I looked at their bewildered faces but I already ‘saw’ everything that was to happen, I ‘saw’ the house already as it is today: rebuilt, beautiful, and full of young people. It’s amazing how the Lord sustained, consoled, and comforted me.”
She chose the name “Cenacolo” (Cenacle in English) because she wanted something connected with Mary.
- “So we asked ourselves: where is Mary in the Bible? One place was the Upper Room: Mary was there with the Apostles, shut in and full of fear after the death of Jesus, like today’s shy, fearful, and mute young people,” she said. “But her maternal presence gathers them and makes them pray, and then the Holy Spirit descends, the strength of God, and they are transformed into courageous witnesses. So we called it the Cenacolo Community, because we want this same transformation to happen today in the hearts of young people we welcome.”
A ‘school of life’ Cenacolo is focused principally on helping young people with addictions through a sense of communal belonging, as well as a rigorous schedule of work and prayer. The aim is to serve as a holistic “school of life,” rather than offer a specific rehabilitation program.
Youngsters are helped by volunteers known as “guardian angels,” who may themselves be recovering addicts. Some claim that the community’s success rate is as high as 94%, though the statistic’s source is unclear.
- Describing his experience in the community, Paolo, a 37-year-old Italian, said: “The rules gave structure and helped me to set my mind right. The prayer gave me peace and the will to move on in my daily life and finally I discovered the adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament. My encounter with Jesus helped me to start to heal the wounds from my past.”
‘It’s good that you exist’ Pope Francis visited a Cenacolo house in Rome in December 2021, when Mother Elvira was already confined to her bed through illness.
Amid reports that she was nearing death, the pope referred to her in an Angelus address on July 16 this year.
- “I send my heartfelt greeting to the Cenacolo Community, which has been a place of hospitality and human promotion for 40 years,” he said. “I bless Mother Elvira, the Bishop of Saluzzo, and all the fraternity and friends. What you do is good, and it is good that you exist! Thank you!”
The Italian bishops’ newspaper Avvenire described Mother Elvira today as one of “the last charismatic figures linked to the world of addictions,” praising her quality of perseverance.
Visitors will be able to view her body and pay their last respects in Saluzzo from Aug. 4 until the day of her funeral, which has not yet been announced. Each evening the rosary will be recited on the hill where she established the community.
(https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/starting-seven-august-3-2023)
Joan's Rome 