Venerable Maria Orsola Bussone

Maria Orsola Bussone (2 October 1954 – 10 July 1970) was an Italian Roman Catholic and a member from the Focolare Movement. Bussone's involvement in her adolescence in parish activities led her to Catholic Action as well as to other movements that she served as an active participant; she learnt the guitar and liked sports and music which she engaged in with her close friends. But those who knew her attested to her deep spiritual desires which she found sated in the Focolore Movement that she first came into contact with in the late 1960s. Bussone desired to act as a vessel for the goodness of God and desired that He would "…use me as He wants". Bussone died in an accident in 1970 and there were immediate calls to launch a process for beatification due to the impact she had made on local communities. On 18 March 2015 Pope Francis declared her to be Venerable . Maria Orsola Bussone was born on 2 October 1954 in Vallo Torinese in Turin in the home of her maternal grandmother at 10:30pm as the first of two children to Umberto and Luigina; her brother Giorgio (b. 7.5.1957) followed. Her father owned a car repair office and her mother was a basic tailor (a "sarta"). Father Giuseppe Michelotti baptized her on 10 October. Bussone attended kindergarten under the Cottolengo Sisters at Monasterolo Casotto and was at school in Vallo from 1 October 1960 until 21 June 1965. Bussone made her First Communion on 23 April 1961 and received her Confirmation on 11 July 1965. In this time she loved the pop music of the 1960s and served as an active participant in the Catholic Action movement and the Maria Goretti Youth Group at the San Secondo Martire parish; she was also interested in peaceful student protests and viewed them as a democratic tool. Her love for sports and nature (activities such as skiing and skating) was also noted and she and her friends often spent time doing various sporting activities.