Home of the Mother

From June 13th-19th, the Sisters in Lumezzane organized a camp for girls in the parish. The campsite was in Villa di Lozio, a beautiful location in the mountains of Valcamonica, one of the main valleys here in Brescia. 15 girls took part in the camp, all of them between the ages of 10 and 13. Almost all of them were from our parish of Saint Apollonio, although there were a few from other parishes. We were accompanied by our best assistant ever, Antonella, who is always a great help with any activity we organize and the girls all love her.

On Sunday, May 2nd, which was Mother's Day in Spain, we had the great joy of beginning the Home of the Mother in its lay branch here in Lumezzane, thus being able to offer this gift to Our Mother.

After the HM Day celebration this past April, during which we were able to share more information on our spirituality, charism, and missions, a group of adults showed interest in forming part of this movement.

The weekend of April 17-18, we celebrated a day dedicated to the Home of the Mother in Lumezzane. The idea had come from the Pastor of our parish, Fr. Tino, who wanted to have a weekend dedicated to making the charism of the Home of the Mother and of the Servant Sisters better known. The Servant Sisters have been working there at the parish since September.
Many members of the Home came to Lumezzane for this celebration: Fr. Rafael, our founder, along with Mother Ana, Sr. Reme, Sr. Karen, Sr. Ana María LaPeña, Sr. Sara María Zambrano, and candidates Nathaly and Kristina came from Spain. The Sisters from Rome came, as did two Servant Brothers from Rome. There were also several families: Laura and Giovanni Tridente from Rome; Silvana, Marco, and Andrea Bertotto from Milan; Paolo Braghin from Milan. Fr. Bruno Baldiraghi, a very good friend of the Home of the Mother, also joined us.

On April 13, we had the grace of being able to travel to Turin on a pilgrimage to see the Holy Shroud, which is on display from April 1 – May 23. There were 3 buses that went from our parish, with a total of 160 people including our 3 parish priests, our Sacristan, and the four of us Sisters. So, there was no one left in the parish that day.

We left early in the morning, to get to Turin around 10am and make it to the Holy Shroud at the appointed time, which was 11am.

In the bus, after praying Lauds, we watched a movie on the Holy Shroud, to prepare us for the visit. Several days before the pilgrimage, we had called a specialist to come and explain what the Holy Shroud was and all that it reveals, as many people did not know much about it.

Here in Lumezzane, we Sisters held an encounter with young people at the parish during Holy Week. We had been thinking about the possibility of offering the parish a youth encounter during the Paschal Triduum. It was all an adventure and somewhat a challenge, as it is not customary to have get-togethers during this period of the Liturgical Year. The first to be surprised were the priests themselves, when we mentioned it. But, thanks be to God, they trusted us and had no problem with it; in fact, they were very supportive and helped us out in preparing it, although they were a bit hesitant of the success it would have. So, we got to work, preparing everything with great enthusiasm. The hardest part was trying to find people, as we hadn't had much contact with the youth in the parish. What's more, the young people always have so many activities that it is practically impossible to find a free spot in their day to have them participate in something else. Even so, we decided to try and entrust everything to the Lord, asking that it would bear much fruit.

On Sunday, March 28, Palm Sunday, we had a Passion Play in our Parish of “San Apollonio” in Lumezzane. The event began at 8pm, as there was a Mass at 6:30 and time was needed in order to prepare things in the Church. The Passion Play took place over the course of a procession held through the streets near the parish. The first scene, the Last Supper, began in the Church and from there, the procession went out with the band through the streets and various scenes were enacted along the way, at previously prepared stations.

On Friday, March 19, Solemnity of Saint Joseph, we were graced with a visit from Archbishop Lorenzo Voltolini of Portoviejo (Ecuador), who celebrated Mass here at our parish in Lumezzane. He is originally from this area of Brescia (Italy) and had been here a few days visiting his sister who is very ill.

Father Tino, our parish pastor, when he heard he was coming, asked him to celebrate the Mass on the feast of Saint Joseph. It just so happened that there were more Sisters here at the time, seven all together. After the Mass, we wanted to invite him over to our house, but he could not come as he had a meeting with the bishop and had to head off immediately.

Sister Blanca has been spending several days in Lumezzane recently, to work on a stained-glass window that will be fitted into the chapel door of the Sisters' house there and an icon for inside the chapel. She came on February 8 and immediately got to work. When she arrived, she wasn't really sure what image she would place in the stained-glass window, but while she was here she found inspiration.

_January 31 was the feast of Saint John Bosco and, therefore, was a great feast in the “Oratory” of our Parish of “San Apollonio” in Lumezzane. We also celebrated a Day for Peace, as it was the last day of the month dedicated to peace.

In the morning, there was a special Mass at 10:30am. After the Mass, there was a March for Peace through the local streets, in which the children carried balloons with messages for peace. When we reached Paul VI Square, which is just behind our house, we all prayed the Angelus, praying especially for peace and the children let their balloons go into the air.

We can finally announce that the Home of the Mother of the Youth has begun in Italy. On Saturday, February 6, First Saturday of the month, a group of 6 girls entered the Home, the first members of HMY in Italy.
Every Saturday we have encounters for girls and adolescents. Usually about 35-40 of them attend them. The week beforehand, we had told the girls about the Home and told them to think about whether they would like to enter or not. And on Saturday, February 6, there were 6 girls who wanted to. During the time for prayer that we always have in our chapel, we had the entrance ceremony. It was very simple, but very beautiful at the same time.

On Sunday, January 3, several families from our parish came to eat lunch at our house. They had been begging us, for some time now, to make them paella (a typical Spanish dish) as they have a special love for it. It was a beauiful day for all of us. They came over after the 9:30am Children's Mass, to help prepare the paella. A total of 10 couples came with their children, for a grand total of 40-45 people.

On January 6, we Sisters organized a live nativity scene and a “re-enactment” of the visit of the Three Kings in Lumezzane, Italy, with the adults of our parish. Fr. Tino, our Pastor, was very enthusiastic about the idea of bringing back this old tradition that had not taken place for the past several years. At first, it seemed that the parishioners were not too keen on the idea, but little by little their enthusiasm increased and in the end, there were about 80 participants, adults and children included.

Here we Sisters are again to give you an update on our activities. We are now very busy preparing things for Christmas.

We are giving religious instruction in kindergarten for children 4 and 5 years old. We enjoy going to this particular school because the principal and teachers are a delight. We give the class and then the teachers during the entire week remind them of all that we said and the children finish the homework we've given them. We are now preparing a small Christmas festival with the "Moo, Moo, Moo" song, which we translated into Italian. Now in Advent the director has asked us to have meetings once a week with the mothers of the children.

On 13 September 2009, a new community of Servant Sisters was founded in Lumezzane, a village in the province of Brescia, northern Italy.

Don Tino Bergamaschi, parish priest of St. Apollonius, in Lumezzane, had been looking for a religious community for his parish. For over one hundred years the presence of nuns had not been lacking and the previous sisters were at the point of retirement. Archbishop Lorenzo Voltolini, Archbishop of Portoviejo (Ecuador), native to Brescia and childhood friend of Fr Tino called us to ask whether our community would be willing to found there. And thanks to the providence of God, in less than a year, we have been able to complete this foundation.