A Big Church with a "little girl"

With it only being one week after the Student's 10 day pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi, the memory remains vivid of an out-of-the-way church which just so happens to contain some of the church's most important relics .

I am referring to the church of Santa Croce across from the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

Here in this little gem of a church are housed several relics brought back from the Holy Land by Constantine's mother, St. Helena and include the following:

1. Part of the crown of thorns

2. An incomplete nail that crucified Christ

3. Part of the bone of the finger of doubting Thomas

4. The crossbeam of the good thief

5. The first part of the INRI sign that Pilate had nailed to the cross

6. A piece of the true cross

7. Fragments of the grotto of Bethlehem

In this church there is also an authentic replica of the shroud of Turin. Fortunately, the University students were able to come to the church and venerate the relics.

However, there is one other jewel in this church which is often overlooked: the tomb of Venerable Antonietta Meo (1930 -1937) who is nicknamed "Nennolina." She is an Italian girl who has been placed on the path to become the youngest saint not a martyr ever to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.

Nennolina was diagnosed with bone cancer at the age of five after she fell and injured her knee and the injury didn't heal. When her leg had to be amputated, she bore the ordeal "cheerfully." She was fitted with a heavy, artificial leg so she could keep playing with other youngsters. Catholic theologians have called her a "mystic" because the six-year-old wrote extraordinary letters to Jesus Christ in the last months of her life that displayed understanding and actions beyond what is normal for a child of her age.

At first she dictated the letters to her mother; later she wrote poems and letters herself and left each at the foot of her crucifix. In one letter she wrote: "Dear Jesus, I love you very much. I want to abandon myself in your hands. I want to abandon myself in your arms. Do with me what you want. Help me with your grace. You help me, since without your grace, I am nothing." She wrote or dictated more than 100 letters to Jesus or to the Virgin Mary, describing "holy visions" in many of them. After Mass, people sometimes saw her approach the tabernacle and say, "Jesus, come and play with me!"

She insisted on writing a last letter to Jesus a few days before her death, even though it was interrupted when she had to vomit. In it, she asked Jesus to take care of everyone she loved and asked for strength to bear her pain. She finished the letter with the words "Your little girl sends you a lot of kisses." She told her mother when it was time for her to die. "In a few hours, I will die, but I will not suffer anymore, and you shouldn't cry. I should have lived a few days longer, but Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus said, "it's enough!"

Antonietta is buried in the Church of Santa Croce and the students were able to venerate and pray in front of her tomb as well.

One of the Cistercian brothers who works at the church believes she will certainly be canonized in our lifetime.

For now, let all of us, students, parents, faculty, and staff, use her as a powerful intercessor and heavenly friend.

Antonietta Meo, PRAY FOR US!