Venerable Consolata Betrone

Maria Consolata Betrone (6 April 1903 – 18 July 1946), baptised as Pierina Maria Betrone, commonly known as Consolata Betrone, was an Italian Catholic mystic and nun of the Franciscan Capuchin order. Consolata Betrone was known for the intense propagation of the rosary, along with reputed apparitions by the Sacred Heart of Jesus and her guardian angel in 1916 during the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The reputed messages asked for the recitation of: "Jesus, Mary, I love you! Save Souls!", in reparation for blasphemies against the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The pious devotion is very popular among Filipino and Portuguese Catholics, who include invocations in their recitation of the rosary along with the Fatima Prayer. Pierina Lorenzina Giovanna Betrone was the daughter of Pietro Betrone and Giuseppina Nirino, the owners of a bakery in Saluzzo (Cuneo) and then managers of a restaurant in Airasco (Turin). Pierina was the second of six daughters born of her father's second marriage. She joined the association of the Company of the Daughters of Mary in the parish of San Massimo in Turin. After a visit to the tomb of Don Bosco in Valsalice, Pierina decided it was time to embark on a religious vocation. Her reading of The Story of a Soul attracted her to Thérèse of Lisieux's "little way". On 26 January 1925, Betrone joined the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, but after a little over a year, she became convinced that this was not her calling. She then enrolled in the Italian League of Teaching and became involved in the local Catholic Action group. She tried a community founded by Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo, but returned to her family in August 1928 and continued her work with "Catholic Action". The superior of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd of Angers suggested that she might join the Franciscans. On 28 February 1930, Betrone joined the Capuchin Poor Clares in Turin, taking the name Maria Consolata.