January 23: Blessed Benedetta Bianchi Porro
United with the suffering of Christ for the salvation of her brothers and sisters
Benedetta Bianchi Porro was born on August 8, 1936, in Dovadola, in the province of Forlì, the firstborn child of engineer Guido Bianchi Porro and homemaker Elsa Giammarchi. Although the delivery was normal, it involved severe hemorrhaging that led her mother to have her baptized immediately, giving her the name Benedetta.
In the following days, the baptismal rite was officially confirmed in church by the parish priest, Father Luigi Lasi. Benedetta’s earliest childhood was marked by frequent illnesses, including episodes of bronchitis, otitis, and skin rashes; in November of that same year she was struck by poliomyelitis, which left her right leg shorter and thinner, forcing her to wear orthopedic shoes.
Raised between Milan and various places such as Cesenatico and Rimini, Benedetta experienced family life expanding with the birth of her siblings Gabriele, Emanuela, Corrado, and Carmen. Despite illness and physical difficulties, her precocious intelligence and curiosity for learning were always evident: she skipped the second grade and distinguished herself academically, also showing a strong religious sensitivity, as attested by the diary she began writing at the age of eight.
During the Second World War, the family faced bombings and displacement, but Benedetta continued to excel in her studies and to cultivate her spiritual life, receiving her First Communion and Confirmation. From childhood onward, faith became a constant presence for her, a support in moments of physical and psychological suffering. Her adolescent years were characterized by frequent hospitalizations, orthopedic surgeries, and health difficulties that failed to extinguish her enthusiasm for study and for life: she completed middle and high school with distinction, always achieving excellent grades.
In 1953, after earning her classical high school diploma, Benedetta enrolled at the University of Milan, initially in the Faculty of Physics, but soon changed her course to Medicine, drawn by a strong desire to help others. Her university years were marked by brilliant academic results, but also by the onset of more serious symptoms: dizziness, pain, hearing and visual problems. In 1956, at only twenty years of age, Benedetta herself—thanks to the knowledge she had acquired and her careful reading of medical texts—diagnosed her illness: neurofibromatosis, which would progressively lead her to total paralysis.
Despite the severity of her condition, Benedetta faced painful surgical procedures with extraordinary courage and serene acceptance. Between hospital stays in Milan and Sirmione, her life was characterized by intense spiritual activity, study, the writing of reflections and letters, and artistic pursuits: she painted, played the piano, and produced drawings even as her mobility gradually diminished. The pilgrimages to Lourdes in 1962 and 1963 were pivotal moments in her spiritual life, during which Benedetta deeply grasped the meaning of her suffering and discovered the “inner richness” that flowed from faith, declaring that the grace she had received outweighed every physical loss.
The final years of her life were marked by the total loss of sight, paralysis of the lower limbs, and impairment of other bodily functions, yet Benedetta continued to communicate with friends and family through a tactile alphabet, sharing spiritual reflections of great depth. Her serenity and inner joy never waned, as testified by the words written in her diary: she found in God constant comfort and meaning in pain.
Benedetta died in Sirmione on January 23, 1964, at only 27 years of age, speaking her final words of gratitude. She was initially buried in Dovadola, and on March 22, 1969, her remains were transferred to the Abbey of Sant’Andrea. Her beatification took place in the Cathedral of Forlì on September 14, 2019.