Blessed Dina Bélanger

Dina Bélanger, RJM (30 April 1897 – 4 September 1929), also known as Marie of Saint Cecilia of Rome, was a Canadian member of the Religieuses de Jésus-Marie. Bélanger was a noted musician. She learned the piano in late childhood, and moreover taught the instrument later in life. Though successive bouts of poor health—and in particular, of tuberculosis—weakened her, her spiritual and musical aspirations remained forceful. An autobiographical account spanning from 1924 until just months prior to her death details her spiritual encounters with Jesus Christ, which took place throughout a series of visions. Bélanger's beatification was celebrated on 20 March 1993. Dina Bélanger was born on 30 April 1897 in Québec (in the Saint-Roch parish) to Olivier Octave Bélanger (April 21, 1871 – July 21, 1952) and Séraphia Matte (April 18, 1870 – August 18, 1951). Her baptism was celebrated just hours later; she was given the names "Marie-Marguerite-Dina-Adélaïde", the last in honor of her paternal grandmother. Her brother, Joseph-Simeon-Gustave, was born seventeen months after her, but died at just three months of age. Her mother instilled in her deep and long-lasting religious principles. The girl loved the Angelus, but did not understand Latin save for the Amen at the end. Upon hearing the ring of the bell announcing the beginning of the Angelus, she would run upstairs for it. In her childhood, her mother took her to Mass, to novenas, and to sermons. She found the latter boring, and so once brought along the stoneware doll she named Valeda. Her mother disliked this practice, and asked that it be left alone. When Dina used it nonetheless, her mother put it in her purse. Bélanger had a mischievous side and also a temper. In 1901 she threw a tantrum. Then her father arose from the table and joined in. She stopped upon seeing her father do that; she was mortified and never threw tantrums again. In 1903 she began her studies at the convent-school of Saint Roch.