Chiara Corbella Petrillo
Chiara Corbella Petrillo was an Italian Roman Catholic and mother. Corbella met her future husband Enrico Petrillo in 2002 when both were on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje; they were married on 21 September 2008. The pair had two children in 2009 and 2010 who both died within half an hour of their births due to medical complications which were diagnosed when Corbella was pregnant. The couple had their final child in 2011 at which point she began treatment for a carcinoma that she had been diagnosed with and which was later deemed to be terminal. The cancer spread to places such as her tongue and liver which made sight and talking troublesome as the illness progressed.
Both she and her husband also were admirers of the Franciscans and made several pilgrimages to Assisi during their time together; indeed her spiritual director was a Franciscan friar who married the pair in 2008. Corbella and her husband also took to speaking at pro-life events in Rome following the births and deaths of their first two children.
Her cause for beatification had long been discussed following her death and concrete steps were taken in 2018 after the formal launch to the cause in Rome. The diocesan process for her cause was opened in the Lateran Basilica on 21 September 2018; Corbella has been titled as a Servant of God.
Life
Chiara Corbella was born on 9 January 1984 in Rome as the second of two children to Roberto Corbella and Maria Anselma Ruzziconi; her elder sister was Elisa. Her baptism was celebrated on 5 February at the Santi Marcellino e Pietro al Laterano church where she also made her First Communion on 29 May 1994 and received her Confirmation on 8 October 1995.In the summer of 2002 she was on a vacation in Croatia with some high school classmates when she decided to make a brief stop in Medjugorje where her elder sister had been visiting. On 2 August 2002 she first met Enrico Petrillo at Medjugorje and the two soon started a relationship; Enrico was there with the Charismatic Renewal on a pilgrimage. The pair first met in a crowded hotel dining room and split up several times but each time got back together. The pair broke up in 2006 but reunited after Chiara made another visit to Medjugorje. On another occasion after a break up, Chiara had gone with her father and sister to Australia. Upon her return she saw an email from Enrico who was interested in rekindling their relationship. On 8 December 2006 she was in Assisi for a vocational course that the Order of Friars Minor had been managing where she first met Fra Vito D'Amato whom she asked to be her spiritual director. Enrico had been impressed with the effect that the course had on her and so attended one himself that 31 December. The pair's relationship culminated on 21 September 2008 in Assisi once the two were married with D'Amato presiding over the wedding at the San Pietro church. The couple had travelled to Assisi on a walking pilgrimage in 2008 and became engaged at the end of the walk on 2 August; Enrico had proposed to her three times and each time she accepted.
One month after their wedding the pair learnt that Corbella was pregnant after she had just started a postgraduate degree in political sciences. The first ultrasound scan revealed that their daughter had been diagnosed as having anencephaly and the parents were asked if they wished to abort. Enrico and Chiara both refused to do this and remained firmly focused on having the child.
The couple's first child Maria Grazia Letizia was born on 10 June 2009 but died after half an hour, long enough for Father D'Amato to baptize her; her funeral was held on 12 June at the Sant'Angelo in Pescheria church. The ultrasound during Chiara's second pregnancy revealed that the child had no legs but the couple were once more determined to have the child. The seventh month scans showed the child had visceral malformations with the absence of his lower limbs as a confirmation of the first scan. Further scans indicated that her second child had no kidneys and therefore his lungs would not be able to develop which would lead to breathing complications. Despite this, the couple persevered and Davide Giovanni was born on 24 June 2010 and baptized quickly as his father placed a small wooden cross around the infant's neck which was the Tau Cross; their daughter was also baptized in this manner. Enrico carried his son to the hospital morgue after his son died after living for 38 minutes. His funeral was celebrated on 26 June in the Sant'Angelo in Pescheria church. The pair soon became popular speakers at a range of pro-life events where they were able to share testimonies about the births of their two children. Both also recited the rosary each Thursday night and ended their prayer of consecration to the Blessed Mother with the words "Totus Tuus".
Chiara became pregnant with her final child not long after and the couple were relieved that the ultrasound scans demonstrated the child would be born in perfect health. However, in the fifth month Chiara became diagnosed with a bad lesion on the tongue and had to undergo a surgical procedure. Doctors informed her that the lesion had in fact been a carcinoma, but she was insistent on bearing her final child even if it meant endangering her life.
Corbella had an operation in March 2011 to treat her condition. Her final child Francesco was born at 37 weeks on 30 May 2011 in perfect health and her treatment started after his birth; she had another operation on 3 June. But the cancer's intensification over time meant that it became difficult for her to see and to speak. In March 2012 the pair brought their son to the Portiuncula in Assisi in order to entrust him to the Blessed Mother. In late March Chiara learnt that the cancer had metastasized to one breast and her liver in addition to her lungs and one eye. Her condition was deemed terminal and the diagnosis was made to Enrico who told his wife the news at the hospital chapel before the Blessed Sacrament. This was during Holy Week on 4 April and the two then and there renewed their marriage vows. Corbella met Pope Benedict XVI alongside her husband and son on 2 May 2012 at the pope's general audience where the couple were able to discuss their experiences with the pope.
Corbella died at her home at noon on 13 June 2012 dressed in her wedding gown; she had participated in her final Mass on 12 June. Cardinal Agostino Vallini presided over her funeral Mass on 16 June at Santa Francesca Romana where he remembered her as "the second Gianna Beretta". Her remains are interred with her two children at Campo Verano in Rome.
Beatification process
The beatification process was opened in Rome on 2 July 2018 after Cardinal Angelo De Donatis issued an edict that established the cause would be introduced in Rome and also naming Corbella as a Servant of God. Cardinal De Donatis presided over the opening of the diocesan process on 21 September 2018 in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran and hoped that Christians would "find in her encouragement and support in the service of conjugal love and life".The first and current postulator appointed for this cause is the Discalced Carmelite priest Romano Gambalunga.