Vie de la Bienheureuse Imelda Lambertini
Vierge de l'ordre de Saint-Dominique
Par le Vénérable Père Marie-Jean-Joseph Lataste
Lu et approuvé
le 14 octobre 1865,
Frère Auguste Martin O.P., Maître en Théologie Sacrée des Frères Précheurs.
Frère J.M. Monsabré O.P.
Imprimatur
Frère E.C. Minjard O.P.
Provincial de la Province de France.
Dédicace
C'est à vous que je dédie plus particulièrement ce petit livre, chers petits enfants, qui vous préparez à la première communion, vous que le Sauveur Jésus aimait tant! vous qu'il a tant honorés en la personne d'une de vos compagnes, la petite Imelda; vous enfin qu'il va honorer bientôt d'une grâce presque semblable, en se donnant à vous! Toute communion n'est-elle donc pas un miracle?.. Je n'ose vous souhaiter la mort de notre petite sainte, si belle et si heureuse qu'elle soit! Que diraient vos mères !.. Du moins, je vous souhaite sa vie. Vivez de telle sorte que le bon Sauveur puisse nous dire de vous ce qu'il disait à ses disciples au temps de son passage sur la terre. « Si vous ne devenez semblables à ces petits enfants, vous n'aurez point d'entrée au royaume des cieux ». C'est à vous que je dédie ce petit livre, mais c'est aussi à vos mères, à vos grandes sœurs, à tous vos parents enfin, à toutes les familles chrétiennes. Dieu veuille à cette lecture, retremper leurs âmes dans les souvenirs de leur première communion, elles exciter à vous accompagner bientôt à la sainte table, et y recevoir enfin du Dieu de l'Eucharistie le baiser de la réconciliation et de l'amour.
« Achevée en peu de jours, sa vie a rempli beaucoup d'années parce qu'elle a beaucoup aimé ».
Il n'est peut-être pas de vie plus angélique ni de mort plus sainte à la fois et plus merveilleuse que celle de la Bienheureuse Imelda, de l'ordre de Saint Dominique. Sa jeunesse, sa douce piété, sa pureté surtout et son amour pour l'Époux des Vierges auraient dû, semble-t-il, en faire la patronne obligée de toutes les congrégations de jeunes filles. Il en est ainsi, dit-on, en Italie et en Espagne; là on la propose pour modèle à toutes les jeunes personnes, particulièrement à l'époque de la première communion; mais dans notre patrie elle n'est pas connue; en dehors de l'ordre des Frères Prêcheurs, où elle est spécialement honorée (1) et où elle a toujours compté de fidèles dévots, il n'est peut-être pas en France un seul cœur qui se tourne quelquefois vers elle et recoure à son aimable intercession. Puissent les quelques lignes qui vont suivre la faire connaître et aimer d'un grand nombre d'âmes! Puissent-elles surtout les porter à l'imiter! Puisse enfin notre Bienheureuse obtenir à tous ceux qui les liront, comme à celui qui les a écrites, un peu de ce sublime amour qui consuma sa vie sitôt écoulée et si bien remplie!
I
Notre angélique docteur, saint Thomas, un des interprètes les plus éclairés des choses divines, nous enseigne dans ses écrits, que la perfection de la vie chrétienne est toute dans la charité, et il semble que Dieu ait voulu confirmer cette vérité dans les merveilles opérées par lui en la bienheureuse Imelda: une enfant de douze ans à peine, qui, par une charité tout exceptionnelle, est devenue une sainte et a mérité d'être mise sur nos autels! D'une pureté tout angélique, elle a beaucoup aimé, comme Madeleine(2)! Elle a beaucoup aimé! Voilà toute sa vie; voilà comment en peu de jours elle a vécu de longues années.
Issue de la noble famille des Lambertini de Bologne, Imelda donna dès sa jeunesse des signes d'une piété rare et d'une maturité précoce. Il est de ces enfants merveilleux qu'on croirait des Anges prêtés un instant à la terre pour l'édifier et la réjouir; ils inspirent à ceux qui les approchent un respect involontaire; ils attirent à eux tous les cœurs; mais leur vie est courte, et leur fin prématurée n'étonne pas. Chacun répète en versant des larmes et des fleurs sur leur tombe: « Cette âme était trop pure pour la terre, elle n'était pas faite pour nous! »
Telle fut notre Bienheureuse. Elle était encore tout enfant, et déjà Ton remarquait en elle quelque chose de surnaturel, une délicatesse extrême, une pudeur instinctive et gracieuse, qui jetaient dans l'admiration tous ceux qui avaient le bonheur de la voir de près. Venait-elle à pleurer, au lieu des contes dont on amuse d'ordinaire les enfants, on n'avait qu'à s'entretenir devant elle de choses pieuses, qu'à prononcer les Noms bénis de Jésus et de Marie pour ramener le sourire sur ses lèvres et sécher à l'instant tous ses pleurs. A peine sortie de l'enfance, elle s'était construit de ses propres mains un petit oratoire où, fuyant les jeux ordinaires de son âge, elle récitait gravement les psaumes de David et d'autres dévotes prières. Toutes les séductions du monde, toutes les splendeurs de la maison de son père n'inspirèrent que du dédain à notre jeune vierge; et, dès qu'elle eut commencé à les connaître, dès l'âge de dix ans, elle résolut de s'en séparer au plus vite et d'embrasser pour l'amour de Jésus la pauvreté, l'obéissance et la chasteté dans une maison religieuse où elle pût être toute à lui.
Elle obtint de ses pieux parents d'être placée au couvent de Sainte Marie Madeleine, à Valdipietra, près Bologne, et d'y revêtir, selon la coutume du temps, l'habit de notre saint Ordre, en attendant le jour où, plus capable de mesurer la portée de ses engagements, elle pourrait enfin être admise à prononcer solennellement des vœux qu'elle avait déjà prononcés irrévocablement dans son cœur.
La plus jeune et la plus inexpérimentée de toutes, elle fut bientôt pour toutes un sujet d'édification autant que d'étonnement. Il n'était pas de point si difficile dans la règle qu'elle n'accomplît avec une scrupuleuse exactitude, pas de si rudes combats à livrer à sa volonté et à ses affections personnelles qu'elle n'en sortît toujours victorieuse, pas de pénitence si austère qu'elle ne voulût l'infliger à son petit corps. S'il faut en croire la tradition, (elle si pure pourtant !) elle pratiqua la mortification corporelle à l'égal de ces femmes longtemps criminelles, célèbres depuis par leurs pénitences expiatoires. Eh! pourquoi donc? Parce que, dit un vieil auteur, quand on porte au cœur un ardent amour, il faut qu'il éclate et se fasse jour en quelque manière. Comme la jeune Agnès, elle eût été bien heureuse de donner sa vie pour l'amour de Dieu; ne le pouvant pas, du moins elle a voulu châtier son corps pour se consoler dans les souffrances de n'être pas, elle aussi, martyre de Jésus-Christ.
En peu de temps elle devint un type si accompli des vertus religieuses, que ses sœurs, les plus anciennes elles-mêmes, n'hésitèrent pas à la prendre pour leur modèle. Toutes l'aimaient de cet amour irrésistible qu'engendre dans les âmes pures une véritable vertu. Elle se faisait remarquer surtout par son assiduité à l'oraison, son amour filial pour la Reine des anges et sa dévotion extraordinaire envers la très-sainte Eucharistie. Elle n'avait pas de plus grand bonheur que de passer des heures entières auprès de l'adorable Sacrement de nos autels; elle y goûtait en son cœur la vérité de ces paroles du Prophète : Que vos tabernacles sont aimables, Seigneur, Dieu des vertus!.. Qu'ils sont doux vos autels, mon Seigneur et mon Dieu! Comme un seul jour passé dans votre sanctuaire vaut mieux que mille sous les tentes des pécheurs!.. Chaque jour, pendant le saint sacrifice, elle demeurait absorbée dans la méditation de ce mystère ineffable; son amour alors se trahissait par des larmes, et la violence de ses désirs arrachait à son âme virginale de chastes soupirs qu'elle essayait en vain d'étouffer. Mais c'était surtout au moment de la sainte communion, quand ses compagnes allaient s'asseoir au céleste banquet, intérieurement. Dans ses récréations, indifférente à tout ce qui se passait autour d'elle, une seule question la préoccupait, et elle ne cessait de la poser à ses compagnes, naïve enfant qu'elle était : Oh! je vous en prie, disait elle avec une ingénuité tout angélique, expliquez-moi comment on peut recevoir Jésus dans son cœur et ne pas mourir !..
Cependant les supérieurs, moins attentifs à la piété, à la modestie, à la sagesse précoce de la jeune vierge qu'à sa jeunesse même, ne jugèrent pas devoir l'admettre encore à la sainte Table, car c'était alors l'usage dans ces pays de ne pas faire la première communion avant l'âge de quatorze ans. Imelda dut se résigner et attendre.
Oh! qui pourra bien dire ce qu'elle a souffert! Quel tourment, s'écrie le vieil auteur espagnol que je citais tout à l'heure, quel tourment, quand on aime et quand on aime Dieu, de désirer l'union, et de ne voir jamais son désir assouvi!.. Aimer Dieu! soupirer après lui, aspirer à le recevoir dans son cœur, à l'étreindre des bras de son âme, et Favoir toujours sous les yeux, et ne l'avoir jamais à soi!.. Quel supplice! Et toutefois, heureux, ô mon Dieu, ceux qui ont ainsi votre amour pour bourreau, continue notre pieux auteur (3), et qu'il serait à désirer que tous les mortels, et moi avec eux, fussions torturés en cette manière. Il dit ailleurs: Sainte Thérèse appelle l'amour divin enfer, suivant ces paroles sacrées: L'amour est fort comme la mort, l'amour est dur comme l'enfer, Fortis est ut mors dilectio, dura sicut infernus œmulatio(C. C. VIII, 6.); mais mille fois heureux, Seigneur, celui qui recevrait ainsi de votre main le coup mortel, et se verrait précipité dans ce divin enfer doit il n'espérerait plus, ou pour mieux dire, d'où il ne craindrait plus de sortir jamais!
II
Imelda fut donc réduite à attendre. Mais on ne saurait voir longtemps ses espérances frustrées, quand une fois, ô mon Dieu, on s'est mis d'un cœur sincère à la recherche de votre amour; car il n'y a devant vous acception d'âge ni de personne, et l'amour seul est de quelque poids à vos yeux. C'est ce que vous nous avez déclaré vous-même par la bouche du Sage : Ceux qui m'aiment sont aimés de moi, avez-vous dit; et ceux qui me cherchent dès le matin me trouveront infailliblement. Cette parole divine ne pouvait faillir, et celui qui se plaît parmi les lis ne tarda pas de se rendre aux désirs de la pieuse enfant.
C'était le jour de l'Ascension, 12 mai 1333, notre petite sainte avait alors douze ans, presque l'âge de Marie quand elle reçut en son cœur la visite du Fils de Dieu. Ses compagnes, heureuses et recueillies, allaient, chacune à son tour, prendre leur place à la table des anges. Imelda seule ne s'y rendit pas. Agenouillée devant sa petite stalle, elle pleurait d'envie en songeant à leur bonheur. Jamais prières plus ferventes, ni larmes plus brûlantes et plus pressées n'avaient accompagné des désirs plus impatients. Les yeux levés au ciel, ses deux petites mains croisées sous son scapulaire blanc, et comprimant sa poitrine comme pour modérer la violence des battements de son cœur qui semblait près de se rompre, elle pressait entre ses doigts l'image de Jésus crucifié qui ne la quittait jamais, et lui disait doucement avec l'âme sainte des Cantiques: « Venez, ô le Bien-Aimé de mon âme! Descendez dans ce jardin qui est tout à vous, et cueillez-en les fruits. Ou cessez d'abaisser vers moi vos regards, ou laissez mon âme s'envoler sur vos traces. Entraînez-moi après-vous, que je coure à l'odeur de vos parfums! Vous m'êtes, ô mon Bien-Aimé, comme un bouquet de myrrhe; votre image bénie reposera toujours sur mon sein; mais que ne puis-je faire davantage et moi aussi vous donner asile aujourd'hui, et vous faire fête dans mon cœur! Venez, Seigneur Jésus, venez, car je languis d'amour et me meurs du désir de votre adorable présence!.. »
Mais Jésus ne venait pas; et sachant que tout est possible à une prière opiniâtre, elle ne cessait de l'importuner, pour ainsi dire, de ses cris; son cœur trop plein débordait en ces amoureuses plaintes, C'est ce même auteur pieux qui nous les a transmises; nous les traduirons dans toute leur naïve et aimable simplicité: « Eh quoi! vous plaît-il donc, ô mon Roi, que votre petite servante brûle et se consume toujours ainsi en d'inefficaces désirs? Pardonnez à ma hardiesse, Seigneur; mais je ne vois pas pourquoi, seule, je suis ainsi rejetée de vous? pourquoi, seule, privée de vous presser sur mes lèvres? pourquoi seule enfin, toujours éloignée de votre banquet nuptial! On me dit que je suis une enfant, que je suis trop petite; mais n'avez-vous pas dit à vos Apôtres: « Laissez venir à « moi les petits enfants et ne les empêchez pas d'approcher de moi? » Que je suis trop petite! Mais est-ce bien là une raison? C'est donc en vain que vous vous êtes fait petit vous-même, si leur âge vous est un motif pour vous refuser aux enfants comme moi, même quand ils vous aiment et vous désirent tant! On me dit encore ce que vous répondîtes autrefois à l'un de vos plus aimants serviteurs: « Croîs, et tu me mangeras(4)! Mais, Seigneur, je sais aussi ce que vous répondit la pauvre Cananéenne, que les petits chiens se nourrissent des miettes de pain qui tombent de la table de leur maître. Eh bien! quoique très indigne, n'obtiendrai-je pas comme eux, Seigneur, une miette de votre table somptueuse et royale? Une miette, une seule miette de votre Pain sacré suffirait à votre petite esclave pour rassasier la faim qui la dévore. Accordez-la-moi, Seigneur! Accordez-la-moi, ô le Roi de mon âme, ou bien... vous le voyez, je dépéris, je me meurs! Vous eûtes pitié de la foule qui vous suivait, et elle ne vous avait suivi que trois jours cependant, vous ne voulûtes pas la laisser partir affamée, de peur qu'elle ne tombât en défaillance le long du chemin; vous fîtes un nouveau miracle pour la rassasier; et vous n'auriez pas pitié, Seigneur, de cette pauvre enfant qui est à vous, à vous tout entière et sans réserve; elle qui depuis tant d'années court après vous, soupirant et se mourant du désir de s'asseoir à votre banquet sacré? Vous répandez vos biens à profusion sur toute créature; toutes attendent de vous leur nourriture, et vous la leur donnez à propos; vous ouvrez vos mains, et tous les êtres sont inondés de vos bienfaits: même aux petits des corbeaux vous donnez leur pâture; et moi, vous me laisseriez mourir de faim!.. Non, cela n'est pas possible; cela répugne à votre bonté. Non, vous avez promis d'accorder tout à la foi et à la persévérance, vous ne me refuserez pas aujourd'hui. Ou donnez-moi de ce Pain dont mon âme est affamée, ou bien laissez-moi mourir enfin; car j'ai hâte d'être unie à vous, et si ce n'est dans l'Eucharistie, que ce soit au moins dans la mort! Venez donc, venez donc, ô Jésus! ou donnez-moi les ailes de la colombe, que je m'envole et que j'aille enfin me reposer en vous! »
Ainsi gémissait la jeune vierge. Elle demandait l'une ou l'autre de ces grâces, elle les obtint toutes deux. Comme elle pleurait et priait encore, tout à coup, est-ce un rêve? une hostie miraculeuse se détache du saint ciboire, traverse la grille du chœur, et, voltigeant en l'air, s'arrête au niveau de son front. Les religieuses, émues d'un tel spectacle, n'osent d'abord en croire leurs yeux; mais l'illusion bientôt n'est plus possible: le miracle persévère; une clarté subite se répand dans l'église, accompagnée d'une suave odeur; et comme une main invisible et puissante retient le Pain mystique suspendu devant la jeune enfant. Triomphante et timide à la fois, elle demeure partagée entre la joie de se sentir si près de Celui qu'elle aime et la douleur de ne pouvoir s'unir à Lui. On eût dit un ange en adoration plutôt qu'une simple mortelle. Son confesseur, averti de ce prodige, accourt, et voyant dans ce fait une manifestation non équivoque de la volonté divine, recueille respectueusement la sainte Hostie sur une patène et en communie la trop heureuse enfant...
III
Enfin ses vœux sont accomplis! et, comme si elle n'eût pu dans un corps mortel supporter une telle joie, elle s'affaisse sur elle-même, abîmée dans une contemplation profonde : ainsi la fleur s'incline sous les gouttes de la rosée du ciel, trop frêle pour en soutenir le poids. Les mains toujours croisées sur la poitrine, les yeux doucement fermés, Imelda paraissait livrée à un délicieux sommeil. Comme les heures devaient s'écouler rapides dans cette extase de l'amour! A voir ses lèvres mi-closes, décolorées, mais éclairées d'un sourire tout céleste et comme agitées d'un frémissement léger, on eût cru les entendre murmurer ces paroles du Cantique: « Mon Bien-Aimé est à moi, et je suis à Lui! Il m'a introduite dans ses celliers, il m'a enivrée de son amour... J'ai trouvé Celui que mon cœur aime; je l'ai trouvé, je le tiens, et ne le laisserai pas aller! » Longtemps ses sœurs l'admirèrent en silence. Elles ne se lassaient pas de la regarder, de la voir, de la voir encore, ni de louer Dieu au fond de leur cœur, parce qu'il est bon, et que sa miséricorde s'étend à tous les siècles. Toutefois l'office achevé, la voyant toujours immobile et prosternée, elles ne peuvent se défendre d'une vague inquiétude. On l'appelle; on la prie, on la supplie, on lui commande de se relever; elle, toujours si prompte en obéissance, cette fois n'obéit pas; elle n'a pas entendu...; on la touche, elle n'a pas senti...; on la relève..., elle était morte!....
Morte! Morte à douze ans!.. Morte d'amour, et d'amour pour son Dieu! au jour et à l'heure de sa première communion! O l'heureuse mort! Trop heureuse enfant! ) Avec des sens moins imparfaits et 'moins grossiers que les nôtres, on eût pu voir son âme, comme une légère vapeur, s'élever dans les airs à la suite du Sauveur, en ce jour de son Ascension glorieuse, et les Anges auxquels elle allait être à jamais réunie, accourir sur ses pas et, fêtant sa bienvenue, chanter comme autrefois à l'Assomption de leur Reine: « Quelle est celle-là qui s'élève à travers le désert comme un nuage d'encens? Elle s'avance comme l'aurore à son lever, belle et douce comme l'astre des nuits, radieuse comme le soleil... Quelle est celle-là qui s'élève ainsi du désert, tout environnée de délices, et appuyée sur son Bien-Aimé ?.. — C'est notre petite sœur, disaient les Anges (5). Venez, petite enfant, chère au cœur de Jésus, pure comme la colombe, douce comme le miel, quasi mel data, Imelda, petite sœur, venez! venez recevoir la couronne qui? vous est préparée! »
Comme Marie, elle avait rendu son dernier soupir dans un suprême élan d'amour. La charité, comme la mort, a ses victimes. L'amour est fort comme la mort. Oh! comment pouvons-nous si souvent recevoir Jésus dans nos cœurs et ne pas mourir! En 1566, les Dominicaines quittèrent leur couvent de Valdipietra pour s'établir à Bologne même. C'est dans leur église que reposent aujourd'hui les restes précieux de la bienheureuse Imelda Lambertini. Un des descendants de cette illustre famille, le cardinal Lambertini, depuis pape sous le nom de Benoît XIV, restaura et embellit de ses propres deniers l'église de nos Dominicaines de Bologne, alors qu'il occupait le siège archiépiscopal de cette ville; il y fit élever une chapelle et un autel en l'honneur de notre jeune sainte, sa parente; d'autres membres de sa famille, pour honorer sa mémoire, firent graver en 1591, sur la pierre de son sépulcre, le trait miraculeux qui termina sa vie et que nous venons de raconter.
Petite Sœur Imelda, priez pour nous!
Notes
(1) Sur l'examen des pièces du procès de béatification, le pape Léon XII, après avoir consulté la Sacrée Congrégation des Rites, a approuvé son culte et autorisé l'ordre des Frères-Prêcheurs à réciter son office et à célébrer la sainte messe en C son honneur. Sa fête a été fixée au 46 septembre.
(2) Il semble que Dieu l'ait prédestinée dès le berceau à cette vie toute d'amour. Madeleine fut son premier nom, celui qui lui fut donné au baptême et le seul sous lequel elle fut connue avant son entrée en religion. Dans le cloître on l'a nommée Imelda, sans doute à cause de sa douceur et de son extrême amabilité: Imelda, c'est-à-dire donnée au monde comme du miel, quasi mel data, ? suivant l'étymologie d'un pieux et savant religieux Ç f du Carmel, un de ses plus ardents dévots.
(3) Un de nos Pères espagnols, du couvent de Bénavarre (Aragon), auteur d'un « Abrégé de la Vie très-prodigieuse de la Bienheureuse Imelda de Lambertini, Vierge de l'Ordre de Saint-Dominique ».
(4) Cresce, et manducabis me. (Saint Augustin, Confessions.)
(5) Soror nostra parva. (Cant. C, vin, 8.)
SOURCE, et Neuvaine à la Bienheureuse Imelda Lambertini : http://imagessaintes.canalblog.com/archives/2011/08/04/21734081.html
Blessed Imelda
Lambertini, OP V (AC)
Born in Bologna, Italy, in 1322; died there on the Feast of the Ascension, May 13, 1333; cultus confirmed in 1826; named patron of first communicants by Pope Pius X.
One of the most charming legends in Dominican hagiography is that of little Imelda, who died of love on her first Communion day, and who is, by this happy circumstance, patroness of all first communicants.
Tradition says that Imelda was the daughter of Count Egano Lambertini of Bologna. Her family was famous for its many religious, including a Dominican preacher, a Franciscan mother foundress, and an aunt of Imelda's who had founded a convent of strict observance in Bologna.
Imelda was a delicate child, petted and favored by her family, and it was no surprise that she should be religious by nature. She learned to read from the Psalter, and early devoted herself to attending Mass and Compline at the Dominican church. Her mother taught her to sew and cook for the poor, and went with her on errands of charity. When Imelda was nine, she asked to be allowed to go to the Dominicans at Val di Pietra. She was the only child of a couple old enough not to hope for any more children; it was a wrench to let her go. However, they took her to the convent and gave her to God with willing, if sorrowing, hearts.
Imelda's status in the convent is hard to discern. She wore the habit, followed the exercises of the house as much as she was allowed to, and longed for the day when she would be old enough to join them in the two things she envied most--the midnight Office and the reception of Holy Eucharist. Her age barred her from both. She picked up the Divine Office from hearing the sisters chant, and meditated as well as she could.
It was a lonely life for the little girl of nine, and, like many another lonely child, she imagined playmates for herself--with this one difference--her playmates were saints. She was especially fond of Saint Agnes, the martyr, who was little older than Imelda herself. Often she read about her from the large illuminated books in the library, and one day Agnes came in a vision to see her. Imelda was delighted. Shut away from participation in adult devotions, she had found a contemporary who could tell her about the things she most wanted to know. Agnes came often after this, and they talked of heavenly things.
Her first Christmas in the convent brought only sorrow to Imelda. She had been hoping that the sisters would relent and allow her to receive Communion with them, but on the great day, when everyone except her could go receive Jesus in the Eucharist, Imelda remained in her place, gazing through tears at the waxen figure in the creche. Imelda began to pray even more earnestly that she might receive Communion.
When her prayer was answered, spring had come to Bologna, and the world was preparing for the Feast of the Ascension. No one paid much attention to the little girl as she knelt in prayer while the sisters prepared for the Mass. Even when she asked to remain in the chapel in vigil on the eve of the feast, it caused no comment; she was a devout child. The sisters did not know how insistently she was knocking at heaven's gate, reciting to herself, for assurance, the prayer that appeared in the Communion verse for the Rogation Days: "Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you."
The door was opened for Imelda on the morning of the Vigil of the Ascension. She had asked once more for the great privilege of receiving Communion, and, because of her persistence, the chaplain was called in on the case. He refused flatly; Imelda must wait until she was older. She went to her place in the chapel, giving no outward sign that she intended to take heaven by storm, and watched quietly enough while the other sister went to Communion.
After Mass, Imelda remained in her place in the choir. The sacristan busied herself putting out candles and removing the Mass vestments. A sound caused her to turn and look into the choir, and she saw a brilliant light shining above Imelda's head, and a Host suspended in the light. The sacristan hurried to get the chaplain.
The chaplain now had no choice; God had indicated that He wanted to be communicated to Imelda. Reverently, the chaplain took the Host and gave it to the rapt child, who knelt like a shining statue, unconscious of the nuns crowding into the chapel, or the laypeople pushing against the chapel grille to see what might be happening there.
After an interval for thanksgiving, the prioress went to call the little novice for breakfast. She found her still kneeling. There was a smile on her face, but she was dead.
The legend of Blessed Imelda is firmly entrenched in Dominican hearts, though it is difficult now to find records to substantiate it. She may have been eleven, rather than ten when she died. The convent where she lived has been gone for centuries and its records with it.
Several miracles have been worked through her intercession, and her cause for canonization has been under consideration for many years. As recently as 1928 a major cure was reported of a Spanish sister who was dying of meningitis. Other miracles are under consideration. The day may yet come when the lovable little patroness of first communicants can be enrolled in the calendar of the saints (Benedictines, Dominicans, Dorcy).
Blessed Imelda Lambertini
Does it seem strange, at a time when we are called to the weighty task of being “intensely Eucharistic,” that Dominicans should look back almost seven centuries to consider the example of a nine year old little girl? Not so strange, really; in fact, not at all! For wasn’t it Jesus Himself who loved to hold children up as the best example of what He was trying to teach us all to become?
And thus we aren’t embarrassed to consult a little girl in our Dominican family tree and seek from her the meaning of the call to be “intensely Eucharistic.” Little Imelda Lambertini wouldn’t have given us a theological treatise on devotion to the Holy Eucharist. She would simply have told us of Jesus’ love in the Sacrament, and then suggest that we learn to know Him there, as she did.
Dominican tradition tells us that Imelda Lambertini was born of a noble family in Bologna, Italy in 1322. Her parents raised her to love her Catholic faith, and through their influence she developed a love for prayer, especially for the Mass. Often she would attend Mass and Compline (Night Prayer of the Divine Office) at a nearby Dominican Church. Her mother also taught Imelda to cook and sew for the poor and cultivated in her child an eagerness to perform the corporal works of mercy. Even so, her mother and father, both of whom were getting on in years, were surprised when Imelda asked permission at the tender age of nine to go to live with the Dominican nuns at a neighboring monastery. As difficult a decision as this was, her parents evidently sensed the depth of their child’s desire and entrusted her spiritual formation to the Dominicans at Val di Pietra.
At this distance of centuries and culture it is not easy to determine precisely what little Imelda’s status was at the convent. It seems she was well loved by the sisters, who allowed her to wear the Dominican habit, to pray with them, and to follow their way of life to the extent that a little girl would be able to do while still remaining a child. Imelda, we are told, longed (and intensely, it seems) to be allowed to receive Holy Communion with the nuns, but in that day such a thing would have been unheard of for a child her age. Her pleading was again and again gently refused, with the explanation that she would need to wait until she was older and more prepared. For a time Imelda had to be content with this answer, meanwhile learning to chant Office from hearing the nuns in choir and developing her own interior prayer life in simple childlike ways. The saints, whose stories she had learned from her parents and from the nuns, became her “secret companions,” and probably had a hand in nurturing the longing she felt to receive Jesus intimately in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. In her private conversations with Jesus, with whom she was developing a deep friendship, we can imagine that she made known often her desire to be allowed to go to Communion. There is no evidence that He put up any opposition to the proposal—but neither did the sisters relent. And so Imelda continued, with the intensity of a child, to get to know Jesus more deeply, and to desire Him all the more.
As spring approached, the sisters, who perhaps thought that they had succeeded in diverting Imelda’s “childish fancy” to go to Communion with the grown-ups, were a bit startled when she asked again, shortly before the feast of the Ascension, to receive her First Holy Communion. (“Asked,” in fact, is not the word. She begged them insistently, it seems.) When the chaplain was consulted, he agreed with the sisters and responded with no hesitation that Imelda was much too young. On the Vigil of the Ascension Imelda was in her place in the chapel, quietly praying as the sisters received Communion. Then Jesus did a little “insisting” of His own. After Mass, as one of the nuns was clearing the altar, she heard a noise and looked up to the choir to see Imelda, a glowing light shining above her head, with the Sacred Host suspended in the light. The chaplain was called at once, and he understood that Jesus Himself was making his desire known. "Let the little children come to Me and do not stop them." The priest gave Imelda her First Holy Communion.
We can well imagine that the nuns were amazed and thrilled both at the great blessing to their little one, and to their convent. The prioress allowed Imelda to remain for some time in thanksgiving, and then sent for her to come and have her breakfast. Imelda was still kneeling as they had left her, a smile on her face. Yet when called for, Imelda’s body was still. She had died of pure joy. Her thanksgiving had been well completed, and she had nothing left to desire.
Bl. Imelda’s story is so well entrenched in the collective memory of her Dominican brothers and sisters that it has remained firmly in the Order's history. She continues to offer the witness of a child with mature desires, and a faith unspoiled in its intensity.
Imelda understood instinctively what many of us have forgotten: that it is the single-hearted who are blessed and that unless we become like children we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven—or be uncomplicated enough to become “intensely Eucharistic.”
SOURCE : http://nashvilledominican.org/charism/our_dominican_heritage/our_saints_and_blesseds/Bl_Imelda_Lambertini
Blessed Imelda Lambertini
Imelda, daughter of Count Egano Lambertini and Castora Galuzzi, was born in the year 1322 at Bologna, Italy. At an early age Imelda’s heart was turned toward God. Even though she lived in the days when it was not permitted to receive the Holy Eucharist until the age of fourteen, young Imelda’s greatest desire was to receive Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Oh how she longed and longed to receive Our Lord! When Imelda was under ten years old, she begged her father to allow her to enter the Dominican convent; and after much pleading, he finally consented to her desire.
Once in the convent, she again began to plead to receive Communion. Time and time again she received the same disappointment. “No, Sister Imelda, you are too young…” At the convent she took on many odd jobs. She attended the gate for the poor, she scrubbed the floors, and she did all that was asked of her—all for the honor and glory of almighty God.
On the 12th of May in the year 1333, when attending Mass with all of her Sisters, Imelda had the strongest desire to receive Our Lord. At the end of Mass, when all of the Sisters were leaving, they noticed Sister Imelda lovingly gazing toward the locked tabernacle. Some of the nuns looked at Imelda and noticed something white hovering above her. It was a Host. The nuns immediately notified the priest, who hurriedly came and carefully took the Host out of the air and placed It on a paten. Then he had no choice but to give the Host to Imelda. It was obviously God’s Will that she receive her first holy Communion. This first reception also proved to be her last; the rapture with which she received Our Lord was so great that it burst her heart. Imelda sank to the ground, unconscious. And when loving hands upraised her, it was found that she was dead. Blessed Imelda is the Patroness of First Communicants; and her beautifully incorrupt body can be seen in the Church of St. Sigismund at Bologna, Italy.
SOURCE : http://www.catholicapologetics.info/library/gallery/incorrupt/incorrupt.htm#Lambertini
Today is the historical feast of Blessed Imelda Lambertini. The daughter of a noble family, Blessed Imelda was born in 1322 in Bologna, Italy. She was an only child and grew up going to Mass frequently with her family. When she was nine, Imelda entered the Dominican Convent in Val di Pietra. As the youngest one there, she prayed with the others and wore a modified Dominican habit, but was unable to receive Communion, which was not permitted by Church law until the age of twelve. This hurt her very deeply. She prayed that Jesus would grant her wish and allow her to receive Him sooner. She even asked the convent priest, but he refused to make an exception.To receive Jesus in Communion became the consuming desire of her heart. She would even sometimes exclaim: "Tell me, can anyone receive Jesus into his heart and not die? "
When Imelda was eleven years old, on the eve of the Ascension, she remained behind after Mass, praying silently in the chapel. As the other sisters began to leave the chapel, a great miracle occurred. Suddenly, a heavenly fragrance filled the air and a luminous host had emerged from the tabernacle and was hovering above Imelda’s head. The sisters told the the priest and upon seeing the host, he knelt in adoration and received the host on the paten. He immediately gave Communion to Imelda. Upon receiving Jesus, Imelda was so overcome with joy that she had died in a loving state of ecstasy.
Imelda was beatified in 1826. In 1910, Pope St. Pius X began to allow children to receive Holy Communion at age seven. He also named Imelda the patroness of First Communicants. Her body is incorrupt.
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, you received into heaven Blessed Imelda who loved you in the Eucharistic banquet. By her prayers may we learn to approach your holy table with that same fervent love and so fulfill our longing to be with you, who live and reign with the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
SOURCE : http://catholicfire.blogspot.ca/2013/03/blessed-imelda-lambertini.html
SOURCE : http://www.willingshepherds.org/Dominican%20Saints%20May.html#Blessed Imelda
Saint Imelda Lambertini
1321, Italy
May 13, 1333
Saint Imelda was born at Bologna in Italy, in the early 14th century. Still a child, she arranged a little oratory in her house, where she often would pray. She resolved to enter a monastery and make the vows of religion, and to give herself entirely to her Saviour. Her parents permitted her entry into a Dominican convent at Valdipietra, near Bologna. She practiced mortifications above her age, and manifested a very tender love for the Queen of Angels and the Holy Eucharist, though she could not yet receive Holy Communion. But God was soon to manifest that it is not age which wins His favor, but virtue.
On the day of the Ascension in 1333, when Imelda was twelve years old, she alone remained unable to advance to receive Holy Communion. She raised her eyes to heaven and prayed to her Lord: "Come, for I am languishing with love and dying with desire for Your adorable presence!" When He did not come, she continued to pray and weep. Suddenly, a miraculous Host came forth from the tabernacle, crossed the grill separating the choir, and stopped in the air before her. The nuns, amazed, hardly dared raise their eyes, but soon they realized there was no illusion: the miracle continued, a sudden brightness and a sweet fragrance filled the church, while an invisible hand continued to hold the mystical Bread in the air before the young girl. She herself seemed an Angel in adoration. Her confessor was told to come, and saw all that the Sisters were seeing. He placed the Sacred Host on a paten, and then gave it to the child. She seemed to lose consciousness. But soon the Sisters grew anxious; they called her by name, told her to rise, touched her, but Saint Imelda was no longer of this world; she had expired in an ecstasy of pure love.
SOURCE : http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=29992558
Beata Imelda Lambertini
Maria Maddalena, nasce a Bologna nel 1320, figlia del Podestà di Città di Castello, Egano Lambertini (1282-1348) e di Castora Galluzzi di nobile ed illustre famiglia bolognese, sposata in seconde nozze (1302) dopo la morte della prima moglie Tommasina di Villano Guastavillani ( °? - †1315 ) e dalla quale ebbe un figlio, Guido.
Il patrimonio dei Lambertini era costituito da alcune case nella città di Bologna, e da un'estesa proprietà immobiliare composta da case e terre intorno a Poggio Renatico, eredità della famiglia Guastavillani. Egano Lambertini capo del casato e cavaliere, ricevette agli inizi del 1300 il titolo di conte.
Maria Maddalena respirò fin dalla sua nascita la viva e profonda fede cristiana della madre. Fin da piccola ascoltava attentamente i salmi, le storie sacre, i racconti delle vite dei santi imparando a nutrire il gusto di “piacere al Signore” ed a tenersi lontana dalle vanità, mentre cresceva in lei il desiderio di offrire tutta se stessa al Signore; così tra i dodici o tredici anni come era consuetudine in quel tempo, scelse di entrare come novizia tra le suore domenicane nel monastero di S. Maria Maddalena di Val di Pietra (oggi sorge il convento dei Frati Cappuccini), col nome di Imelda. Il nome Imelda è un adattamento del tedesco Irmhild, derivato dal germanico Erminhilt, composto da ermen, "totale", "universale", e hild, "battaglia", col possibile significato di "battaglia universale" oppure "battaglia celeste". La piccola comunità di monache era composta dalle Canonichesse Regolari di Sant'Agostino le quali verso la fine del sec. XIII erano passate alla Regola Domenicana. Qui Imelda visse immersa nella spiritualità domenicana, fedele alla celebrazione della divina Liturgia diurna e notturna, all’amore per Gesù Eucaristia, penetrando sempre più nel mistero dell’amore di Dio per l’uomo. La formazione religiosa e la vita di preghiera alimentarono costantemente in Imelda, giovane novizia, il desiderio di ricevere Gesù nel sacramento dell’Eucarestia, in perfetta intima unione con Dio. A quell'epoca i sacramenti erano impartiti in ordine inverso rispetto a quello odierno, prima era somministrata la cresima poi la prima comunione. Imelda non aveva ancora l'età per comunicarsi, ma di lei la tradizione racconta che ardeva di devozione per Gesù e di desiderio per ricevere l’Ostia consacrata, tanto da farne continua richiesta, sempre rifiutata.
Nel corso della Messa per la Vigilia dell’Ascensione Imelda si trovava in Cappella partecipando con le suore e le altre educande alla celebrazione della Messa, giunto il momento della Comunione Imelda inginocchiata al suo posto prega fervidamente desiderando nel suo intimo di ricevere Gesù. Al termine della Santa Messa e della recita dei Salmi le Suore si ritirarono dal Coro, il Sacerdote rimase in Sacrestia come di consueto ed Imelda in preghiera sola davanti all’altare. Ad un tratto apparve dall’alto un’ostia circonfusa di luce, un odore fragrante di pane si diffuse per tutto il monastero. Accorsero le suore e il sacerdote, il quale, raccolta l’ostia in una patena, comunicò Imelda mentre era raccolta in fervente preghiera, trasfigurata di gioia per l'ottenimento della tanto desiderata unione col divino, ed ancora inginocchiata, Imelda spirò in un’estasi d’amore e si accasciò al suolo passando alla vita di gloria nella comunione eterna con il suo Signore insieme al Padre, allo Spirito Santo e all’immensa schiera degli Angeli e dei Santi.
Era il 12 maggio 1333.
La giovane Imelda compiva tredici anni.
Le sue spoglie furono racchiuse in un artistico sepolcro di marmo con l’iscrizione in Memoria di Imelda Lambertini e custodite dalle monache e dalla famiglia.
Nel 1582 il nome della Beata Imelda Lambertini fu inserito nel Catalogo dei Santi e Beati della Chiesa Bolognese.
O Beata Imelda,
segno d’amore per Gesù eucaristico,
ottieni anche a me di desiderare sempre ardentemente, come tu desiderasti,
l’incontro gioioso con Gesù nell’Eucaristia.
Quando Egli viene in me,
fa che si trasfiguri la mia vita:
sia essa azione di grazie e di amore,
sia ogni giorno serena e luminosa testimonianza
della mia amorosa ricerca
della verità
nella comunione permanente con Lui.
Amen !
Invocazione alla Beata imelde riportata sul retro del "Santino".Dopo il pontificato di Benedetto XIV (nato Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, 1675-1758) la famiglia Lambertini affidò la custodia delle spoglie ai marchesi Malvezzi, i quali verso il 1798, con il beneplacito dell’Arcivescovo, traslarono alla chiesa di San Sigismondo che godeva del loro patronato dei Malvezzi, le reliquie e la loro venerazione.
Sotto il pontificato di Benedetto XIV (1740-1758), il quale la ricordò in una sua opera sulla canonizzazione dei Servi di Dio, furono avviate le pratiche di conferma del culto della beata bolognese, che però avvenne solo con papa Leone XII (nato Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiorre Girolamo Nicola Sermattei della Genga, 1760-1829), il 20 dicembre 1826. La pratica di canonizzazione fu ripresa nel 1921 proseguendo fino al 1942, arenandosi poi per difficoltà di carattere storico. Il culto per la beata Imelda Lambertini, papa Pio X (nato Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto 1835-1914), nel 1908 la indicò come protettrice dei bambini che si accostano alla Prima Comunione. In Francia nel monastero di Prouilles sorse in suo onore una Confraternita, approvata dai Sommi Pontefici e sotto la guida dell’Ordine Domenicano. Infine il Servo di Dio padre domenicano Giocondo Pio Lorgna (1870-1928), mise sotto la protezione della Beata la Congregazione da lui fondata, le Suore Domenicane della Beata Imelda, presenti in Italia, Brasile, Albania, Filippine, Camerum, Bolivia.
In cruce latebat sola Deitas,
at hic latet simul et humanitas: ambo tamen credens atque confitens peto quod petivit latro poenitens.
O memoriale mortis Domini,
Panis vivus vitam paestans homini, presta meae menti de te vivere et te illi sempre dulce sapere.
Iesu, quem velatum nunc auspicio,
oro fiat illud quod tam sitio, ut te rivelata cernens facie visu sim beatus tuae gloriae
San Tommaso, Adoro Te devote
A cura di Debora Menozzi.
SOURCE : http://smell.ilcannocchiale.it/2012/05/12/beata_imelda_lambertini.html
Beata Imelda Lambertini
Su padre fue Egano de Lambertini, hombre de gran caridad para con los pobres y religiosos, y su madre, Castora de Galluzzi. De familias nobles (ambos eran condes) y modelos de piedad y virtudes cristianas. De esta familia salieron insignes personajes eclesiásticos, como Próspero Lambertini, futuro papa Benedicto XIV. Egano, de fe robusta, y Castora, de tierna piedad. En este ambiente nace Imelda dei Lambetini, en 1322 en Bolonia. El nombre "I-mel-da" significa en latín Ve-da-miel.
El Señor concede a ciertas almas predestinadas una mayor gracia desde el principio. Al profeta Jeremías y a Juan Bautista los santificó antes de nacer. Lo mismo se afirma de Santo Domingo de Guzmán y de San Vicente Ferrer. El Señor derramó en el corazón de Imelda bendiciones y virtudes desde su infancia, lo que a todos llenaba de asombro. De gran candor, humildad, obediencia y piedad, sus cercanos notaban que era todo amor para Dios y para los que la trataban.
Era ferviente devota de Santa Inés de Roma, una niña que murió mártir a los 13 años de edad en Roma el año 304, y tuvo varias visiones con ella. Igual que a Inés, a solo Jesús amaba y era habitual verla en una especie de éxtasis que daba a su rostro un destello angelical.
A los 9 años de edad fue recibida en el monasterio de las Hermanas Dominicas en Valdipietra, cerca de Bolonia, como religiosa. A causa de su edad no había hecho la primera comunión, pero su deseo más ferviente era recibirla. Al año siguiente, vigilia de la Ascensión, Dios obró un prodigio especial. Mientras las religiosas daban gracias a Dios después de la comunión, apareció entre resplandores en el aire, una hostia consagrada que fue descendiendo y se fijó delante de la santa a la altura de su frente y allí permaneció. Las religiosas, testigos del milagro, llaman al sacerdote, quien reconociendo la voluntad de Dios, toma reverente la hostia y la coloca en la lengua de aquella niña. Apenas comulgó, Imelda cruzó sobre su corazón las manos como abrazando al Señor, cerró sus ojos y quedó como dormida en los brazos de Jesús. Mucho rato después, cuando la priora fue a buscarla la encontró muerta pero aún arrodillada ante el altar. Era el 12 de mayo de 1333. Fue sepultada en el mismo convento donde murió.
La fama de este prodigio se extendió por todos lados y su culto se fue extendiendo. Muchos milagros se cuentan desde entonces. Años después, Próspero Lambertini, siendo Arzobispo de Bolonia, embelleció el convento de las Dominicas y en su más bello altar colocó el cuerpo de su santa pariente.
Debido a posteriores invasiones en Italia, con saqueos de iglesias y conventos, el cuerpo de la santa fue trasladado a la iglesia de San Segismundo, donde se halla expuesto a la veneración de los fieles.
Su culto público fue aprobado por León XII el 20 de diciembre de 1826. Por voluntad de San Pío X, Imelda es Patrona y modelo de los niños de Primera Comunión. También se le ha nombrado "Abogada de la Infancia".
(Cf. Santos, Bienaventurados, Venerables de la Orden de Predicadores, Vol. 1
M.R.P.Fr. Paulino Alvarez OP.
Tip. de "El SAntísimo Rosario", Vergara, 1920, pp.399-406)
SOURCE : http://www.dominicos.net/santos/beata_imelda_lambertini/imelda_index.html
Born in Bologna, Italy, in 1322; died there on the Feast of the Ascension, May 13, 1333; cultus confirmed in 1826; named patron of first communicants by Pope Pius X.
One of the most charming legends in Dominican hagiography is that of little Imelda, who died of love on her first Communion day, and who is, by this happy circumstance, patroness of all first communicants.
Tradition says that Imelda was the daughter of Count Egano Lambertini of Bologna. Her family was famous for its many religious, including a Dominican preacher, a Franciscan mother foundress, and an aunt of Imelda's who had founded a convent of strict observance in Bologna.
Imelda was a delicate child, petted and favored by her family, and it was no surprise that she should be religious by nature. She learned to read from the Psalter, and early devoted herself to attending Mass and Compline at the Dominican church. Her mother taught her to sew and cook for the poor, and went with her on errands of charity. When Imelda was nine, she asked to be allowed to go to the Dominicans at Val di Pietra. She was the only child of a couple old enough not to hope for any more children; it was a wrench to let her go. However, they took her to the convent and gave her to God with willing, if sorrowing, hearts.
Imelda's status in the convent is hard to discern. She wore the habit, followed the exercises of the house as much as she was allowed to, and longed for the day when she would be old enough to join them in the two things she envied most--the midnight Office and the reception of Holy Eucharist. Her age barred her from both. She picked up the Divine Office from hearing the sisters chant, and meditated as well as she could.
It was a lonely life for the little girl of nine, and, like many another lonely child, she imagined playmates for herself--with this one difference--her playmates were saints. She was especially fond of Saint Agnes, the martyr, who was little older than Imelda herself. Often she read about her from the large illuminated books in the library, and one day Agnes came in a vision to see her. Imelda was delighted. Shut away from participation in adult devotions, she had found a contemporary who could tell her about the things she most wanted to know. Agnes came often after this, and they talked of heavenly things.
Her first Christmas in the convent brought only sorrow to Imelda. She had been hoping that the sisters would relent and allow her to receive Communion with them, but on the great day, when everyone except her could go receive Jesus in the Eucharist, Imelda remained in her place, gazing through tears at the waxen figure in the creche. Imelda began to pray even more earnestly that she might receive Communion.
When her prayer was answered, spring had come to Bologna, and the world was preparing for the Feast of the Ascension. No one paid much attention to the little girl as she knelt in prayer while the sisters prepared for the Mass. Even when she asked to remain in the chapel in vigil on the eve of the feast, it caused no comment; she was a devout child. The sisters did not know how insistently she was knocking at heaven's gate, reciting to herself, for assurance, the prayer that appeared in the Communion verse for the Rogation Days: "Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you."
The door was opened for Imelda on the morning of the Vigil of the Ascension. She had asked once more for the great privilege of receiving Communion, and, because of her persistence, the chaplain was called in on the case. He refused flatly; Imelda must wait until she was older. She went to her place in the chapel, giving no outward sign that she intended to take heaven by storm, and watched quietly enough while the other sister went to Communion.
After Mass, Imelda remained in her place in the choir. The sacristan busied herself putting out candles and removing the Mass vestments. A sound caused her to turn and look into the choir, and she saw a brilliant light shining above Imelda's head, and a Host suspended in the light. The sacristan hurried to get the chaplain.
The chaplain now had no choice; God had indicated that He wanted to be communicated to Imelda. Reverently, the chaplain took the Host and gave it to the rapt child, who knelt like a shining statue, unconscious of the nuns crowding into the chapel, or the laypeople pushing against the chapel grille to see what might be happening there.
After an interval for thanksgiving, the prioress went to call the little novice for breakfast. She found her still kneeling. There was a smile on her face, but she was dead.
The legend of Blessed Imelda is firmly entrenched in Dominican hearts, though it is difficult now to find records to substantiate it. She may have been eleven, rather than ten when she died. The convent where she lived has been gone for centuries and its records with it.
Several miracles have been worked through her intercession, and her cause for canonization has been under consideration for many years. As recently as 1928 a major cure was reported of a Spanish sister who was dying of meningitis. Other miracles are under consideration. The day may yet come when the lovable little patroness of first communicants can be enrolled in the calendar of the saints (Benedictines, Dominicans, Dorcy).
In
art, Imelda is a very young Dominican novice, kneeling before the altar with a
sacred Host appearing above her. She is venerated at Bologna and Valdipietra
(Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0512.shtmlBlessed Imelda Lambertini
Does it seem strange, at a time when we are called to the weighty task of being “intensely Eucharistic,” that Dominicans should look back almost seven centuries to consider the example of a nine year old little girl? Not so strange, really; in fact, not at all! For wasn’t it Jesus Himself who loved to hold children up as the best example of what He was trying to teach us all to become?
And thus we aren’t embarrassed to consult a little girl in our Dominican family tree and seek from her the meaning of the call to be “intensely Eucharistic.” Little Imelda Lambertini wouldn’t have given us a theological treatise on devotion to the Holy Eucharist. She would simply have told us of Jesus’ love in the Sacrament, and then suggest that we learn to know Him there, as she did.
Dominican tradition tells us that Imelda Lambertini was born of a noble family in Bologna, Italy in 1322. Her parents raised her to love her Catholic faith, and through their influence she developed a love for prayer, especially for the Mass. Often she would attend Mass and Compline (Night Prayer of the Divine Office) at a nearby Dominican Church. Her mother also taught Imelda to cook and sew for the poor and cultivated in her child an eagerness to perform the corporal works of mercy. Even so, her mother and father, both of whom were getting on in years, were surprised when Imelda asked permission at the tender age of nine to go to live with the Dominican nuns at a neighboring monastery. As difficult a decision as this was, her parents evidently sensed the depth of their child’s desire and entrusted her spiritual formation to the Dominicans at Val di Pietra.
At this distance of centuries and culture it is not easy to determine precisely what little Imelda’s status was at the convent. It seems she was well loved by the sisters, who allowed her to wear the Dominican habit, to pray with them, and to follow their way of life to the extent that a little girl would be able to do while still remaining a child. Imelda, we are told, longed (and intensely, it seems) to be allowed to receive Holy Communion with the nuns, but in that day such a thing would have been unheard of for a child her age. Her pleading was again and again gently refused, with the explanation that she would need to wait until she was older and more prepared. For a time Imelda had to be content with this answer, meanwhile learning to chant Office from hearing the nuns in choir and developing her own interior prayer life in simple childlike ways. The saints, whose stories she had learned from her parents and from the nuns, became her “secret companions,” and probably had a hand in nurturing the longing she felt to receive Jesus intimately in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. In her private conversations with Jesus, with whom she was developing a deep friendship, we can imagine that she made known often her desire to be allowed to go to Communion. There is no evidence that He put up any opposition to the proposal—but neither did the sisters relent. And so Imelda continued, with the intensity of a child, to get to know Jesus more deeply, and to desire Him all the more.
As spring approached, the sisters, who perhaps thought that they had succeeded in diverting Imelda’s “childish fancy” to go to Communion with the grown-ups, were a bit startled when she asked again, shortly before the feast of the Ascension, to receive her First Holy Communion. (“Asked,” in fact, is not the word. She begged them insistently, it seems.) When the chaplain was consulted, he agreed with the sisters and responded with no hesitation that Imelda was much too young. On the Vigil of the Ascension Imelda was in her place in the chapel, quietly praying as the sisters received Communion. Then Jesus did a little “insisting” of His own. After Mass, as one of the nuns was clearing the altar, she heard a noise and looked up to the choir to see Imelda, a glowing light shining above her head, with the Sacred Host suspended in the light. The chaplain was called at once, and he understood that Jesus Himself was making his desire known. "Let the little children come to Me and do not stop them." The priest gave Imelda her First Holy Communion.
We can well imagine that the nuns were amazed and thrilled both at the great blessing to their little one, and to their convent. The prioress allowed Imelda to remain for some time in thanksgiving, and then sent for her to come and have her breakfast. Imelda was still kneeling as they had left her, a smile on her face. Yet when called for, Imelda’s body was still. She had died of pure joy. Her thanksgiving had been well completed, and she had nothing left to desire.
Bl. Imelda’s story is so well entrenched in the collective memory of her Dominican brothers and sisters that it has remained firmly in the Order's history. She continues to offer the witness of a child with mature desires, and a faith unspoiled in its intensity.
Imelda understood instinctively what many of us have forgotten: that it is the single-hearted who are blessed and that unless we become like children we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven—or be uncomplicated enough to become “intensely Eucharistic.”
SOURCE : http://nashvilledominican.org/charism/our_dominican_heritage/our_saints_and_blesseds/Bl_Imelda_Lambertini
Blessed Imelda Lambertini
Imelda, daughter of Count Egano Lambertini and Castora Galuzzi, was born in the year 1322 at Bologna, Italy. At an early age Imelda’s heart was turned toward God. Even though she lived in the days when it was not permitted to receive the Holy Eucharist until the age of fourteen, young Imelda’s greatest desire was to receive Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Oh how she longed and longed to receive Our Lord! When Imelda was under ten years old, she begged her father to allow her to enter the Dominican convent; and after much pleading, he finally consented to her desire.
Once in the convent, she again began to plead to receive Communion. Time and time again she received the same disappointment. “No, Sister Imelda, you are too young…” At the convent she took on many odd jobs. She attended the gate for the poor, she scrubbed the floors, and she did all that was asked of her—all for the honor and glory of almighty God.
On the 12th of May in the year 1333, when attending Mass with all of her Sisters, Imelda had the strongest desire to receive Our Lord. At the end of Mass, when all of the Sisters were leaving, they noticed Sister Imelda lovingly gazing toward the locked tabernacle. Some of the nuns looked at Imelda and noticed something white hovering above her. It was a Host. The nuns immediately notified the priest, who hurriedly came and carefully took the Host out of the air and placed It on a paten. Then he had no choice but to give the Host to Imelda. It was obviously God’s Will that she receive her first holy Communion. This first reception also proved to be her last; the rapture with which she received Our Lord was so great that it burst her heart. Imelda sank to the ground, unconscious. And when loving hands upraised her, it was found that she was dead. Blessed Imelda is the Patroness of First Communicants; and her beautifully incorrupt body can be seen in the Church of St. Sigismund at Bologna, Italy.
SOURCE : http://www.catholicapologetics.info/library/gallery/incorrupt/incorrupt.htm#Lambertini
Today is the historical feast of Blessed Imelda Lambertini. The daughter of a noble family, Blessed Imelda was born in 1322 in Bologna, Italy. She was an only child and grew up going to Mass frequently with her family. When she was nine, Imelda entered the Dominican Convent in Val di Pietra. As the youngest one there, she prayed with the others and wore a modified Dominican habit, but was unable to receive Communion, which was not permitted by Church law until the age of twelve. This hurt her very deeply. She prayed that Jesus would grant her wish and allow her to receive Him sooner. She even asked the convent priest, but he refused to make an exception.To receive Jesus in Communion became the consuming desire of her heart. She would even sometimes exclaim: "Tell me, can anyone receive Jesus into his heart and not die? "
When Imelda was eleven years old, on the eve of the Ascension, she remained behind after Mass, praying silently in the chapel. As the other sisters began to leave the chapel, a great miracle occurred. Suddenly, a heavenly fragrance filled the air and a luminous host had emerged from the tabernacle and was hovering above Imelda’s head. The sisters told the the priest and upon seeing the host, he knelt in adoration and received the host on the paten. He immediately gave Communion to Imelda. Upon receiving Jesus, Imelda was so overcome with joy that she had died in a loving state of ecstasy.
Imelda was beatified in 1826. In 1910, Pope St. Pius X began to allow children to receive Holy Communion at age seven. He also named Imelda the patroness of First Communicants. Her body is incorrupt.
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, you received into heaven Blessed Imelda who loved you in the Eucharistic banquet. By her prayers may we learn to approach your holy table with that same fervent love and so fulfill our longing to be with you, who live and reign with the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
SOURCE : http://catholicfire.blogspot.ca/2013/03/blessed-imelda-lambertini.html
Blessed Imelda Lambertini,
V.O.P.
Memorial Day: May 13th
Profile
One of the most charming legends in Dominican
hagiography is that of little Imelda, who died of love on her first Communion
day, and who is, by this happy circumstance, patroness of all first
communicants.
Tradition says that Imelda was the daughter of Count
Egano Lambertini of Bologna. Her family was famous for its many religious,
including a Dominican preacher, a Franciscan mother foundress, and an aunt of
Imelda's who had founded a convent of strict observance in Bologna.
Imelda was a delicate child, petted and favored by
her family, and it was no surprise that she should be religious by nature. She
learned to read from the Psalter, and early devoted herself to attending Mass
and Compline at the Dominican church. Her mother taught her to sew and cook for
the poor, and went with her on errands of charity. When Imelda was nine, she
asked to be allowed to go to the Dominicans at Val di Pietra. She was the only
child of a couple old enough not to hope for any more children; it was a wrench
to let her go. However, they took her to the convent and gave her to God with
willing, if sorrowing, hearts.
Imelda's status in the convent is hard to discern. She
wore the habit, followed the exercises of the house as much as she was allowed
to, and longed for the day when she would be old enough to join them in the two
things she envied most--the midnight Office and the reception of Holy
Eucharist. Her age barred her from both. She picked up the Divine Office from
hearing the sisters chant, and meditated as well as she could.
It was a lonely life for the little girl of nine,
and, like many another lonely child, she imagined playmates for herself--with
this one difference--her playmates were saints. She was especially fond of
Saint Agnes, the martyr, who was little older than Imelda herself. Often she
read about her from the large illuminated books in the library, and one day
Agnes came in a vision to see her. Imelda was delighted. Shut away from
participation in adult devotions, she had found a contemporary who could tell
her about the things she most wanted to know. Agnes came often after this, and
they talked of heavenly things.
Her first Christmas in the convent brought only
sorrow to Imelda. She had been hoping that the sisters would relent and allow
her to receive Communion with them, but on the great day, when everyone except
her could go receive Jesus in the Eucharist, Imelda remained in her place,
gazing through tears at the waxen figure in the creche. Imelda began to pray
even more earnestly that she might receive Communion.
When her prayer was answered, spring had come to
Bologna, and the world was preparing for the Feast of the Ascension. No one
paid much attention to the little girl as she knelt in prayer while the sisters
prepared for the Mass. Even when she asked to remain in the chapel in vigil on
the eve of the feast, it caused no comment; she was a devout child. The sisters
did not know how insistently she was knocking at heaven's gate, reciting to
herself, for assurance, the prayer that appeared in the Communion verse for the
Rogation Days: "Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find,
knock and it shall be opened to you."
The door was opened for Imelda on the morning of the
Vigil of the Ascension. She had asked once more for the great privilege of
receiving Communion, and, because of her persistence, the chaplain was called
in on the case. He refused flatly; Imelda must wait until she was older. She
went to her place in the chapel, giving no outward sign that she intended to
take heaven by storm, and watched quietly enough while the other sister went to
Communion.
After Mass, Imelda remained in her place in the choir.
The sacristan busied herself putting out candles and removing the Mass
vestments. A sound caused her to turn and look into the choir, and she saw a
brilliant light shining above Imelda's head, and a Host suspended in the light.
The sacristan hurried to get the chaplain.
The chaplain now had no choice; God had indicated
that He wanted to be communicated to Imelda. Reverently, the chaplain took the
Host and gave it to the rapt child, who knelt like a shining statue,
unconscious of the nuns crowding into the chapel, or the laypeople pushing
against the chapel grille to see what might be happening there.
After an interval for thanksgiving, the prioress went to call the little
novice for breakfast. She found her still kneeling. There was a smile on her
face, but she was dead.
The legend of Blessed Imelda is firmly entrenched in
Dominican hearts, though it is difficult now to find records to substantiate
it. She may have been eleven, rather than ten when she died. The convent where
she lived has been gone for centuries and its records with it.
Several miracles have been worked through her
intercession, and her cause for canonization has been under consideration for
many years. As recently as 1928 a major cure was reported of a Spanish sister
who was dying of meningitis. Other miracles are under consideration. The day
may yet come when the lovable little patroness of first communicants can be
enrolled in the calendar of the saints (Benedictines, Dominicans, Dorcy).
Born: Born in Bologna, Italy, in 1322
Died: died on the Feast of the Ascension, May 13,
1333
Beatified: cultus confirmed in 1826
by Pope Leo VII
Patronage: named patron of first
communicants by Pope Pius X.
Representation: In art, Imelda is a very
young Dominican novice, kneeling before the altar with a sacred Host appearing
above her. She is venerated at Bologna and Valdipietra (Roeder).
Commemorations
First Vespers:
Ant. This is a wise Virgin whom the Lord found watching, who took her
lamp and oil, and when the Lord came she entered with Him into the marriage
feast, alleluia.
V. Pray for us Blessed Imelda, alleluia.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ, alleluia.
Lauds:
Ant. Come, O my chosen one, and I will place my throne in thee, for the
King hath exceedingly desired thy beauty, alleluia.
V. Virgins shall be led to the King after her, alleluia.
R. Her companions shall be presented to Thee, alleluia.
Second Vespers:
Ant. She has girded her loins with courage and hath strengthened her
arm; therefore shall her lamp not be put out forever, alleluia
V. Pray for us Blessed Imelda, alleluia
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ, alleluia
Prayer:
Let us Pray: O Lord Jesus Christ, who
didst receive into heaven the blessed virgin Imelda, wounded with the burning
love of Thy charity, and wonderfully sustained by an immaculate host, grant us
through her intercession to approach the holy table with a like fervor of
charity, that we may long to be dissolved, and to be with Thee. Who livest and
reignest world without end. Amen.
SOURCE : http://www.willingshepherds.org/Dominican%20Saints%20May.html#Blessed Imelda
Saint Imelda Lambertini
1321, Italy
May 13, 1333
Saint Imelda was born at Bologna in Italy, in the early 14th century. Still a child, she arranged a little oratory in her house, where she often would pray. She resolved to enter a monastery and make the vows of religion, and to give herself entirely to her Saviour. Her parents permitted her entry into a Dominican convent at Valdipietra, near Bologna. She practiced mortifications above her age, and manifested a very tender love for the Queen of Angels and the Holy Eucharist, though she could not yet receive Holy Communion. But God was soon to manifest that it is not age which wins His favor, but virtue.
On the day of the Ascension in 1333, when Imelda was twelve years old, she alone remained unable to advance to receive Holy Communion. She raised her eyes to heaven and prayed to her Lord: "Come, for I am languishing with love and dying with desire for Your adorable presence!" When He did not come, she continued to pray and weep. Suddenly, a miraculous Host came forth from the tabernacle, crossed the grill separating the choir, and stopped in the air before her. The nuns, amazed, hardly dared raise their eyes, but soon they realized there was no illusion: the miracle continued, a sudden brightness and a sweet fragrance filled the church, while an invisible hand continued to hold the mystical Bread in the air before the young girl. She herself seemed an Angel in adoration. Her confessor was told to come, and saw all that the Sisters were seeing. He placed the Sacred Host on a paten, and then gave it to the child. She seemed to lose consciousness. But soon the Sisters grew anxious; they called her by name, told her to rise, touched her, but Saint Imelda was no longer of this world; she had expired in an ecstasy of pure love.
SOURCE : http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=29992558
Beata Imelda Lambertini
Maria Maddalena, nasce a Bologna nel 1320, figlia del Podestà di Città di Castello, Egano Lambertini (1282-1348) e di Castora Galluzzi di nobile ed illustre famiglia bolognese, sposata in seconde nozze (1302) dopo la morte della prima moglie Tommasina di Villano Guastavillani ( °? - †1315 ) e dalla quale ebbe un figlio, Guido.
Il patrimonio dei Lambertini era costituito da alcune case nella città di Bologna, e da un'estesa proprietà immobiliare composta da case e terre intorno a Poggio Renatico, eredità della famiglia Guastavillani. Egano Lambertini capo del casato e cavaliere, ricevette agli inizi del 1300 il titolo di conte.
Maria Maddalena respirò fin dalla sua nascita la viva e profonda fede cristiana della madre. Fin da piccola ascoltava attentamente i salmi, le storie sacre, i racconti delle vite dei santi imparando a nutrire il gusto di “piacere al Signore” ed a tenersi lontana dalle vanità, mentre cresceva in lei il desiderio di offrire tutta se stessa al Signore; così tra i dodici o tredici anni come era consuetudine in quel tempo, scelse di entrare come novizia tra le suore domenicane nel monastero di S. Maria Maddalena di Val di Pietra (oggi sorge il convento dei Frati Cappuccini), col nome di Imelda. Il nome Imelda è un adattamento del tedesco Irmhild, derivato dal germanico Erminhilt, composto da ermen, "totale", "universale", e hild, "battaglia", col possibile significato di "battaglia universale" oppure "battaglia celeste". La piccola comunità di monache era composta dalle Canonichesse Regolari di Sant'Agostino le quali verso la fine del sec. XIII erano passate alla Regola Domenicana. Qui Imelda visse immersa nella spiritualità domenicana, fedele alla celebrazione della divina Liturgia diurna e notturna, all’amore per Gesù Eucaristia, penetrando sempre più nel mistero dell’amore di Dio per l’uomo. La formazione religiosa e la vita di preghiera alimentarono costantemente in Imelda, giovane novizia, il desiderio di ricevere Gesù nel sacramento dell’Eucarestia, in perfetta intima unione con Dio. A quell'epoca i sacramenti erano impartiti in ordine inverso rispetto a quello odierno, prima era somministrata la cresima poi la prima comunione. Imelda non aveva ancora l'età per comunicarsi, ma di lei la tradizione racconta che ardeva di devozione per Gesù e di desiderio per ricevere l’Ostia consacrata, tanto da farne continua richiesta, sempre rifiutata.
Nel corso della Messa per la Vigilia dell’Ascensione Imelda si trovava in Cappella partecipando con le suore e le altre educande alla celebrazione della Messa, giunto il momento della Comunione Imelda inginocchiata al suo posto prega fervidamente desiderando nel suo intimo di ricevere Gesù. Al termine della Santa Messa e della recita dei Salmi le Suore si ritirarono dal Coro, il Sacerdote rimase in Sacrestia come di consueto ed Imelda in preghiera sola davanti all’altare. Ad un tratto apparve dall’alto un’ostia circonfusa di luce, un odore fragrante di pane si diffuse per tutto il monastero. Accorsero le suore e il sacerdote, il quale, raccolta l’ostia in una patena, comunicò Imelda mentre era raccolta in fervente preghiera, trasfigurata di gioia per l'ottenimento della tanto desiderata unione col divino, ed ancora inginocchiata, Imelda spirò in un’estasi d’amore e si accasciò al suolo passando alla vita di gloria nella comunione eterna con il suo Signore insieme al Padre, allo Spirito Santo e all’immensa schiera degli Angeli e dei Santi.
Era il 12 maggio 1333.
La giovane Imelda compiva tredici anni.
Le sue spoglie furono racchiuse in un artistico sepolcro di marmo con l’iscrizione in Memoria di Imelda Lambertini e custodite dalle monache e dalla famiglia.
Nel 1582 il nome della Beata Imelda Lambertini fu inserito nel Catalogo dei Santi e Beati della Chiesa Bolognese.
O Beata Imelda,
segno d’amore per Gesù eucaristico,
ottieni anche a me di desiderare sempre ardentemente, come tu desiderasti,
l’incontro gioioso con Gesù nell’Eucaristia.
Quando Egli viene in me,
fa che si trasfiguri la mia vita:
sia essa azione di grazie e di amore,
sia ogni giorno serena e luminosa testimonianza
della mia amorosa ricerca
della verità
nella comunione permanente con Lui.
Amen !
Invocazione alla Beata imelde riportata sul retro del "Santino".Dopo il pontificato di Benedetto XIV (nato Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, 1675-1758) la famiglia Lambertini affidò la custodia delle spoglie ai marchesi Malvezzi, i quali verso il 1798, con il beneplacito dell’Arcivescovo, traslarono alla chiesa di San Sigismondo che godeva del loro patronato dei Malvezzi, le reliquie e la loro venerazione.
Sotto il pontificato di Benedetto XIV (1740-1758), il quale la ricordò in una sua opera sulla canonizzazione dei Servi di Dio, furono avviate le pratiche di conferma del culto della beata bolognese, che però avvenne solo con papa Leone XII (nato Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiorre Girolamo Nicola Sermattei della Genga, 1760-1829), il 20 dicembre 1826. La pratica di canonizzazione fu ripresa nel 1921 proseguendo fino al 1942, arenandosi poi per difficoltà di carattere storico. Il culto per la beata Imelda Lambertini, papa Pio X (nato Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto 1835-1914), nel 1908 la indicò come protettrice dei bambini che si accostano alla Prima Comunione. In Francia nel monastero di Prouilles sorse in suo onore una Confraternita, approvata dai Sommi Pontefici e sotto la guida dell’Ordine Domenicano. Infine il Servo di Dio padre domenicano Giocondo Pio Lorgna (1870-1928), mise sotto la protezione della Beata la Congregazione da lui fondata, le Suore Domenicane della Beata Imelda, presenti in Italia, Brasile, Albania, Filippine, Camerum, Bolivia.
In cruce latebat sola Deitas,
at hic latet simul et humanitas: ambo tamen credens atque confitens peto quod petivit latro poenitens.
O memoriale mortis Domini,
Panis vivus vitam paestans homini, presta meae menti de te vivere et te illi sempre dulce sapere.
Iesu, quem velatum nunc auspicio,
oro fiat illud quod tam sitio, ut te rivelata cernens facie visu sim beatus tuae gloriae
San Tommaso, Adoro Te devote
A cura di Debora Menozzi.
SOURCE : http://smell.ilcannocchiale.it/2012/05/12/beata_imelda_lambertini.html
Beata Imelda Lambertini
Su padre fue Egano de Lambertini, hombre de gran caridad para con los pobres y religiosos, y su madre, Castora de Galluzzi. De familias nobles (ambos eran condes) y modelos de piedad y virtudes cristianas. De esta familia salieron insignes personajes eclesiásticos, como Próspero Lambertini, futuro papa Benedicto XIV. Egano, de fe robusta, y Castora, de tierna piedad. En este ambiente nace Imelda dei Lambetini, en 1322 en Bolonia. El nombre "I-mel-da" significa en latín Ve-da-miel.
El Señor concede a ciertas almas predestinadas una mayor gracia desde el principio. Al profeta Jeremías y a Juan Bautista los santificó antes de nacer. Lo mismo se afirma de Santo Domingo de Guzmán y de San Vicente Ferrer. El Señor derramó en el corazón de Imelda bendiciones y virtudes desde su infancia, lo que a todos llenaba de asombro. De gran candor, humildad, obediencia y piedad, sus cercanos notaban que era todo amor para Dios y para los que la trataban.
Era ferviente devota de Santa Inés de Roma, una niña que murió mártir a los 13 años de edad en Roma el año 304, y tuvo varias visiones con ella. Igual que a Inés, a solo Jesús amaba y era habitual verla en una especie de éxtasis que daba a su rostro un destello angelical.
A los 9 años de edad fue recibida en el monasterio de las Hermanas Dominicas en Valdipietra, cerca de Bolonia, como religiosa. A causa de su edad no había hecho la primera comunión, pero su deseo más ferviente era recibirla. Al año siguiente, vigilia de la Ascensión, Dios obró un prodigio especial. Mientras las religiosas daban gracias a Dios después de la comunión, apareció entre resplandores en el aire, una hostia consagrada que fue descendiendo y se fijó delante de la santa a la altura de su frente y allí permaneció. Las religiosas, testigos del milagro, llaman al sacerdote, quien reconociendo la voluntad de Dios, toma reverente la hostia y la coloca en la lengua de aquella niña. Apenas comulgó, Imelda cruzó sobre su corazón las manos como abrazando al Señor, cerró sus ojos y quedó como dormida en los brazos de Jesús. Mucho rato después, cuando la priora fue a buscarla la encontró muerta pero aún arrodillada ante el altar. Era el 12 de mayo de 1333. Fue sepultada en el mismo convento donde murió.
La fama de este prodigio se extendió por todos lados y su culto se fue extendiendo. Muchos milagros se cuentan desde entonces. Años después, Próspero Lambertini, siendo Arzobispo de Bolonia, embelleció el convento de las Dominicas y en su más bello altar colocó el cuerpo de su santa pariente.
Debido a posteriores invasiones en Italia, con saqueos de iglesias y conventos, el cuerpo de la santa fue trasladado a la iglesia de San Segismundo, donde se halla expuesto a la veneración de los fieles.
Su culto público fue aprobado por León XII el 20 de diciembre de 1826. Por voluntad de San Pío X, Imelda es Patrona y modelo de los niños de Primera Comunión. También se le ha nombrado "Abogada de la Infancia".
(Cf. Santos, Bienaventurados, Venerables de la Orden de Predicadores, Vol. 1
M.R.P.Fr. Paulino Alvarez OP.
Tip. de "El SAntísimo Rosario", Vergara, 1920, pp.399-406)
SOURCE : http://www.dominicos.net/santos/beata_imelda_lambertini/imelda_index.html
