In my book Never Alone, I recall my first meeting with Mariangela in Rome, after her life-changing pilgrimage to Lourdes. I was immediately drawn to her personality, and I asked her to take on the role of coordinator for Faith and Light in Italy.
"Our first decision in Rome was to choose a coordinator for Faith and Light in Italy, someone who would also oversee the pilgrimage planning (in Rome for the Holy Year, ed. note).
In February 1974, Jean Vanier and I were invited to lunch by Sister Ida Maria, who wanted to introduce us to her volunteer group and friends. That day we absolutely had to name a national coordinator. It happened that my neighbor at the table was a woman named Mariangela, invited at the last minute by the sister.
She was the young mother of a little girl, Maria Francesca, called Chicca, who was severely disabled [...] At Lourdes she had received what she called the "small great miracle"—discovering the hidden beauty in her daughter. At the end of lunch, struck by Mariangela's personality, I asked Sister Ida Maria right away why she hadn't mentioned her before as a possible coordinator. "Actually, she would be the right person," the sister replied, "but there's no chance she'll accept. She's already overwhelmed with commitments, and she has two other children, one only four months old." Jean, who had joined us, asked her: "May I speak to her?" "Of course, she'll be flattered," Sister Ida said, "but don't get your hopes up."
After a long conversation with Jean, Mariangela burst out laughing and said: "Jean has dismantled all my objections. I give up. Well, I'll give it a try! It's pure madness, but I have to admit that so far God has given me, day by day, one drop at a time, the grace I needed—and Faith and Light has become a light of hope in my life and in my family's."
From that day on, Mariangela, with her husband's help and the support of Sister Ida Maria, the volunteers, and many others, took on two tasks: to develop Faith and Light in Italy and to lead the team organizing the pilgrimage. Within a short time, four groups formed in Rome, meeting once a month in a spirit of joy and friendship. Each group took responsibility for a different aspect of the pilgrimage. Meanwhile, Mariangela sparked the creation of new communities in Vercelli, Milan, Cuneo, Parma, and Abano.
Later she managed to spread Faith and Light to other countries in southern Europe, just as Sister Ida Maria and Father Renzo had foreseen."
(from "Never Alone" by Marie Hélène Mathieu, pp. 145-146)
"Mariangela looks at her wounded child. She had never thought about it before, but suddenly she recognizes in Chicca the face of the living Jesus. The child becomes God's presence, a source of life—like a doorway into God's kingdom, the kingdom of the Beatitudes.
It was on the feast of the Visitation, the feast of the Magnificat of the Virgin Mary, that the Mass for Mariangela's funeral was celebrated. Surely she was welcomed in heaven by Chicca, in a meeting beyond imagination where both trembled with joy."
Marie Hélène Mathieu, O&L n.200