Blessed Teresa Bracco

Teresa Bracco (24 February 1924 – 28 August 1944) was an Italian Catholic from Savona killed during World War II after refusing to submit to the sexual aggression of a Nazi soldier. Bracco was born to modest farmers and tilled in the fields while also attending Masses on a frequent basis. Bracco was beatified in 1998 on the occasion of Pope John Paul II's visit to Turin. Her beatification was approved after it was proven that she was killed in the defense of remaining a Christian virgin. Teresa Bracco was born in Dego – in Savona – in 1924 as the sixth of seven children to farmers Giacomo Bracco and Anna Pera. Her two brothers died within a week of each other. Her siblings were: The birth of her sister Anna was one of profound happiness for her parents though her father would have preferred a male in order to take possession of the farm when he was older. Bracco received her baptism in 1924 and had been named in honor of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. In the evenings her father presided over the recitation of rosaries. Bracco often recited several rosaries as she did her chores around the house. Father Natale Olivieri came to her hometown of Santa Giulia in 1930 and was impressed with Bracco; he instructed her in catechism and also provided her with a range of religious texts for her to broaden her faith and her knowledge. She made her First Communion in the spring of 1931 and received her Confirmation on 2 October 1933. Bracco often stared at the Eucharist in times of Eucharistic Adoration – or in the tabernacle – in deep contemplation in order to draw strength from it. To that end she often rose in the mornings to walk over a kilometer in order to attend Mass. In 1933 she saw an image of Saint Dominic Savio in the "Bollettino Salesiano" with the late saint's motto: "Death rather than sin" and upon seeing it she exclaimed: "That applies to me too!" She cut out the image and then pasted it onto a card before hanging it over her bed – it remained a prized possession.