26 June 2023 – Liturgical feast of Blessed Nemesia Valle

At the service of the poor and youth in Piedmont in the second half of the 19th century.

Born in the mountains of Val d’Aosta, Sister Nemesia Valle spent her life as a Sister of Charity in Piedmont, first in Tortona, a populous town not far from the borders of Lombardy, and finally in Borgaro Torinese

If the societies of the Old Regime were built on stability and tradition, the second half of the 19th century was characterised by the possibility of finally changing one’s social condition for the better. To the girls of the orphanage in Tortona and especially to the educating girls of the boarding school in that city, Sister Nemesia, together with the community of nuns, provided a human and Christian formation in keeping with the times. A solid, lively, positive religiousness, enabling them to face life’s challenges, nourished by a warm, spontaneous, tender and benevolent piety.

Even for the formation of novices in Borgaro Torinese, in times of great change, a mature, personalised and convinced spirituality was needed. Full adhesion to the vocation of Sister of Charity had to be accepted in complete freedom by the novice. The demands of consecration flourished best within a personalised relationship with the novitiate Mistress: Sr. Nemesia is remembered by her many novices for the attention she paid to each one and for constantly maintaining a benevolent and loving temperament.

Both at school and in the Novitiate, Sister Nemesia was aware of the limitations of a traditional religious formation, centred mostly on essential catechetical instruction and the exercise of pious practices. Hence, all her commitment to fostering in young people’s consciences an authentic openness to faith and a vigorous spirit of charity and Christian apostolate.

Among his writings, we perceive the presence of God, the source of the underlying serenity of his heart: