Parents of Blessed Chiara ‘Luce’ Badano to visit UK

Chiara ‘Luce’ Badano

The parents of Chiara Badano, beatified in 2010, are guest speakers at this year’s Bright Lights Festival, Aylesford, on Saturday, 28 June and in St George’s Cathedral Amigo Hall, London on Sunday, 29 June.

Bright Lights, the annual Youth Festival held in Aylesford, and the Focolare Movement have invited Ruggero and Maria Teresa Badano to England this month. They will share their extraordinary experience of being the parents of a person recognised by the Catholic Church for her holiness of life. Their daughter, Chiara, died of bone cancer in October 1990 and was beatified on 25 September 2010. The influence of her life has spread throughout the world and was a prominent feature at the World Youth Day in Rio last year.

Maria Teresa and Ruggero’s testimony is a captivating insight into their daughter’s life and also into that of their family and wider community. The couple lived in Sassello, a small village in Northern Italy. Ruggero was a lorry driver and their longed for child was born 10 years after their marriage. The Badano family met the Focolare Movement in 1980 at a Families Festival in Rome, when Chiara was 10 years old. It proved to be a turning point, finding a new way of letting God’s love enter more deeply into their lives and of putting the words of the Gospel into life on a daily basis.

When Chiara was seventeen years old she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, one of the most ruthless forms of cancer. After a profound inner struggle Chiara said her “yes” to God and never went back on it. Her constant words were: “For you, Jesus. If you want it, I want it too”, “I have nothing more, but I have heart with which I can love.” Chiara died on 7 October 1990. Her last words were. “Mum, be happy, because I am happy!”

Pope Benedict wrote of Chiara “her last two years were full of suffering (…) but always with a light that radiated from within… from a heart full of God.” To many she is known simply as Chiara Luce (= Light).

Chiara Badano’s parents will be speaking on Saturday as part of the Bright Lights Youth Festival: www.brightlights.org.uk

And on Sunday afternoon, Amigo Hall, St George’s Cathedral, Southwark, LONDON SE1 7HY Sunday 29th June 2 – 5pm.

A DVD of Chiara Badano’s life is available from Lesley Ellison, Focolare Centre for Unity, 69 Parkway, Welwyn Garden City, Herts AL8 6JG. Cost £5 including postage. Cheques payable to: Focolare Trust.