Description

Oil Dedicated to Venerable Daniela Zanetta

Venerable Daniela Zanetta was an Italian Roman Catholic laywoman and a member from the Focolare Movement. From her birth she suffered from a rare skin disease that weakened her over time and which would cause skin tears and blistering. Her condition also forced frequent visits to the hospital and blood transfusions.

Her beatification process commenced in late 2004 and she became titled as a Servant of God. The cause culminated on 23 March 2017 after Pope Francis acknowledged that she lived a life of heroic virtue and so named her as Venerable.

Venerable Daniela Zanetta was born in Maggiora in Novara on 15 December 1962 as the eldest of three children to the middle-class and devout Carlo Zanetta  and Lucia Villa. Her brothers born after her were Fabrizio and Emanuele (c. 1973) and a paternal uncle was Gino.

In her childhood she known for having achieved good results at school and seen as a bright student. But in her fifth grade she suffered a hand and leg paralysis. The beginning of pyorrhea that required urgent treatment and also led to some of her teeth needing to be extracted. Zanetta served as a leader in a local parish group consisting of adolescents as she was at the time and also collaborated in other parish initiatives that included visiting ill children in hospital.

In 1973 she had her first encounter with the Focolare Movement that Chiara Lubich. Had founded and she ended up becoming a member in the movement. Zanetta would maintain correspondence with Lubich on some occasions. Her condition allowed to appreciate the goodness of life even if there was suffering in it. This manifested when she learned about a conference of Italian doctors who were advocating for euthanasia.