(1845-1900) When Eugenia was three, her mother died, her father went to find work in Genoa, and she was raised by an aunt in Milan. She reunited with her father in Genoa, though he died when she was 10, and she was raised by pious relatives. Eugenia had a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and a desire for religious life. She taught catechism to disadvantaged girls, then, with help in discernment from a spiritual director, Eugenia felt called by God to found a religious order. When she was 23, she founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (the “Ravasco Institute”) despite open hostility to the Church and opposition from rampant Freemasonry in Italy at the time.
In recovery, we work to replace our self-obsession with self-giving. How can love of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary move us to do what we would not do on our own?
“Bl. Eugenia Ravasco was wholly concerned with spreading love for the Hearts of Christ and Mary. Contemplating these two Hearts, she was passionately devoted to serving her neighbour and joyfully devoted her whole life to young people and the poor” (Pope Saint John Paul II, beatification homily of Blessed Eugenia Ravasco, April 27, 2003).
Reflection by Brad Farmer