A couple added to the rostrum as example of a holy marriage are VENERABLE SERGIO BERNARDINI and VENERABLE DOMENICA BEDONNI BERNARDINI Both from Modena , Italy
Five daughters became Daughters of St. Paul, one daughter became a Franciscan, and two sons became Capuchins. One of these sons is today the Archbishop Emeritus of Smyrna , Turkey
The Bernardinis are the third married couple in the history of the Church to receive this title (they were preceded by Blessed Luigi and Blessed Maria Beltrame and St. Louis
Born in 1882, Sergio Bernardini lost his father, mother, brother, first wife and their three young children over a period of a few months in 1912.
Hoping to avoid painful memories, he immigrated to the United States Italy
He fell in love with Domenica and they married in 1914 and had 10 children. They were poor farmers, but generous to anyone who sought food or solace, especially during the difficulties of the First World War.
When Sergio retired, he and his wife “adopted” a Nigerian seminarian – paying for his priestly education in Rome Ibadan , Nigeria
Sergio died in 1966 and Domenica in 1971. In her spiritual testimony, she said everything led her to God – even by “kissing a rose, I kiss the beauty of God”.
She said her children were “my crown and my treasure” and wished she could find a way to express what a great gift it was to have so many children and vocations in the family. She prayed they would become saints and “be a force for good in the world”.
Pope Francis said that the Bernardinis are an example to all Christians as to how to live the virtues to a heroic degree within the context of the married life and that they were above all models of how to educate one’s children in a Christian way.
The lives of Sergio and Domenica Bernardini, both well known throughout Italy