Venerable Carla Ronci

Carla Ronci (11 April 1936 – 2 April 1970) was an Italian consecrated lay woman who was declared Venerable by Pope John Paul II on 7 July 1997. Born in Rimini, Emilia-Romagna, Ronci spent most of her life in Torre Pedrera, one of the city's northern frazioni. Aged 14, she was drawn to the Ursuline Sisters of Verona, with whom she later discerned a vocation. In 1961, following a short spell in the Ursuline novitiate, Ronci joined the secular institute Ancelle Mater Misericordiae of Macerata. She was notable for her service in her parish church, the Church of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel, and was particularly active in the church's liturgy, youth ministry, and catechesis. Ronci died of cancer in Rimini on 2 April 1970, aged 33. Ronci is locally remembered as the "Vespa saint" (Italian: la santa della Vespa) for her use of the scooter, and often described as a "contemplative in action". Ronci was born on 11 April 1936 in the "Aiuto Materno" maternity hospital in Rimini, to parents Mario Ronci, a fisherman, and Jolanda Casalboni, a fruit vendor. She was baptised two days later in the same hospital. The eldest of three children, she grew up in Torre Pedrera, a coastal, suburban frazione north of Rimini, in the parish of the Church of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel. Ronci made her First Confession, First Communion, and Confirmation aged six years old. Her family's financial circumstances did not allow her to progress beyond elementary education: from her fifth grade, she learned to be a seamstress, and looked after a goat to procure fresh milk. In her spare time, Ronci was a babysitter and helped in the family shop. Ronci began frequenting the Ursuline Sisters of Verona in 1950, aged 14, during the holy year proclaimed by Pope Pius XII. She was struck by the nuns who ran the kindergarten in Torre Pedrera, and began her spiritual journey, guided by the nuns and her parish priest. She abandoned both cinemas and magazines, which she enjoyed.