Saint Geltrude Comensoli

Geltrude Caterina Comensoli, also known as Mother Geltrude (January 18, 1847 – February 18, 1903) is the Patroness of Youth, Val Camonica and Relic Custodians. Her first attempt at religious life was curtailed by illness, and she took up work as a domestic. In 1882, with the encouragement of the Bishop of Bergamo, she founded the Institute of the Sacramentine Sisters. Geltrude Comensoli was born in Bienno, Italy on January 18, 1847, the fifth of ten children, to Carlo and Anna Maria Milesi Comensoli, seven of whom died in infancy. Her father was a forge worker in the local ironworks and her mother was a seamstress. Comensoli left her family in 1862 and joined the convent of the Sisters of Charity, founded by St. Bartolomea Capitanio in Lovere, Bergamo. She became seriously ill and was released from the Institute. After her recovery, she left her village due to the financial situation of her family and entered into domestic service, first with G. B. Rota, parish priest of Chiari, who a few years later was to become the Bishop of Lodi. Later she worked for the Countess Fé-Vitali. On the Feast of Corpus Christi of 1878, with the permission of her confessor, she made a vow of chastity. Without neglecting her duties as a domestic servant, Caterina decided to educate the children of San Gervasio, Bergamo, guiding them towards an honest life of Christian and social virtues. Freed from family responsibilities after her parents’ death, the young woman sought a way to live a religious life. Comensoli opened her heart to the Bishop of Bergamo, Pietro Luigi Speranza, who was, at that time, in Bienno as a guest of the Fé-Vitali's. He encouraged her. In 1880, while in Rome with the Fé-Vitali's, Comensoli succeeded in speaking with Pope Leo XIII about her plans to establish a religious institute devoted to the adoration of the Eucharist. The Pope suggested she include the education of young female factory workers as well.