Cloelia was ahead of her time

	St. Cloelia Barbieri When: died 1870 Where: Northern Italy What: Catechist and founder of religious community Feast: July 13 Canonized: 1989

Adults often talk about how young people are the hope for the future. That can serve both as a statement of confidence in a better tomorrow and a reminder that young people should wait many years before they try to bring about change.

St. Cloelia Barbieri didn't wait. In her short -- 23-year -- life, this 19th century saint became the youngest founder of a religious order in church history. Despite that, she is virtually unknown to most Catholics.

St. Cloelia was born in Budrie, near Bologna, in northern Italy, to Joseph and Hyacinthia (Nanetti) Barbieri, a pious couple of modest means. After the death of her father when she was only eight, Cloelia had to go to work to help provide for the family. She was confirmed at age nine, and made her First Communion two years later, both of which strengthened her faith.

These were hard years in Italy that included battles to unify the country under native rule and attacks on the Papal States, which during this era shrank from an area that included most of Central Italy, to an area around Rome, then to the 109 acres of the Vatican.

Despite the tumult, Cloelia became a catechist in her parish. Soon, her pastor, Fr. Gaetano Guidi, encouraged Cloelia and her friend, Teodora Baraldi, to pray for and serve the poor by educating poor girls in the parish.

On May 1, 1868, Cloelia, along with Teodora and Orsola Donati, moved into a house and began the Little Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows. Cloelia was only 21.

From the start, Card. Lucida Maria Parocchi, Archbishop of Bologna, supported the women's efforts and even provided the name "of Our Lady of Sorrows" (the Seven Dolors) in honor of the Marian devotions popular in that part of Italy. Card. Parocchi also suggested that the congregation take as its patron St. Francis of Paola, founder of the Minim Friars.

St. Cloelia was well-known for her devotion to Christ in the Eucharist, her contemplative prayer, humility, simplicity, bodily mortifications and her ability to read people's hearts.

Shortly after she founded the congregation, Cloelia became ill, but then had a miraculous recovery. She died two years later.

When Pope John Paul canonized her, he said she showed how Christian faith was to be nurtured in the family, then in the parish.