Renato Riccioni - Illustrations: Alfredo Brasiolii

1. BORN INTO A PROJECT

At the birth of Antonia Faioli, the Three Sisters were together for the first time. On that same day of June 10th, 1723, in the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, Teresa (8yrs.old) and Cecilia (4yrs.old) were present at the Sacrament of Baptism that was administered to their baby sister by the Parish Priest Don Alessandro Alessandri. But probably, even in the joyous, religious atmosphere due to the arrival of a new creature in the great family of God, no one realized, that, without any notice, the “onefold and at the same time threefold fraternal life lived always as one” had begun; this constitutes a true lesson of community life. From that day on, for centuries  up to the present,  their life together continues to produce a lot of fruit.

2. WALKING AS A FAMILY

Every Sunday, the Lord’s day, the whole Faioli family was present at the Mass. Faith in the children grows Thanks to the living example of the parents, who were practicing what they used to teach, the faith of their children was increasing more and more. The three sisters were growing together..For sure it was a great joy for them  to walk the short distance from their house either to the parish church of Santa Maria del Colle  or  to the one of  St. Stefano were their very uncle abbot Rosa was waiting for them, but primarily, they knewn, that Jesus was waiting for them.. And getting up the wide steps of the staircase, as in a family liturgy, Teresa and Cecilia used to take the little Antonia by the hand and to teach her to do the sign of the cross and other basic elements in the faith.

3. LEARNING BRINGS GROWTH

1715-1727. Notwithstanding the scarcity of documents about the first period of life of the three sisters, it is not difficult to imagine the period of learning and education  spent by them in their family: from the most simple religious practices to the elementary rules of the common living and the gradual experience of collaboration in the labour of the daily life. For sure Teresa took  advantage of the precious twelve years lived close to her mother and  then shared its fruits with Cecilia and Antonia. It was mama Marta, who owned a land cultivated  with hemp, who left to the would be Pious Teachers the loom that one day the Three Sisters will generously put at the disposal of their pupils.

4. TOGETHER IN SORROW

It was kind of an appointment with life: every four years the Faioli family was on the wait for a new child called to the mystery of existence: so all the year 1727 was characterized by waiting for such an event. A totally new experience for Antonia, a stronger one for Cecilia, while a more conscious one for Teresa as she prepared  to  help in the best way mama Marta in her increasing duties. The usual questionswere getting about in the family: will it be a boy or a girl…preparation work was booming, a name was chosen…and the most beautiful: Maria. But at the moment of birth something went wrong the newly born seems to struuggle for life and mama Marta too, was in serious difficulties.

5. FAITH BEHIND...

Baby sister Maria died soon after her birth, but to this first sorrow a greater one was added two days  later. As the funeral of Maria was over, mama Marta also died, it was October 22, 1727. Astonished and distressed Teresa, Cecilia,  and Antonia were present along with the whole family to the funeral of their beloved mother who was buried in the church of Saint Blaise. Yet this sorrowful experience, inscrutable and not understandable   in an outlook far from faith and  revelation, favored an early maturation  of the sisters  and a real solidarity with one another. Only Jesus dead and risen got  back hope and strength to the three inconsolable girls to continue their life.

6. GROW STRONGER AND WITNESS

The life of Teresa, Cecilia, Antonia did not stop with the death of mama Marta, even if certainly it became more difficult . The faith of the Faioli family was not undermined by the painful event: just a  few months after, on June 15th, 1728, also Cecilia and Antonia received from the Bishop’s delegate the sacrament of  Confirmation. This sacrament, which gives a greater effusion of the gifts of the Holy Spirit,  prepared them to face the new trials of life, witnessing their Christian faith in the world, they came to know in their adolescent years, joined in  the Spirit they will encounter  it with prudence and zeal.

7.HEAR HE WHO PROPOSES GOOD

By means of the popular missions every few years, the best preachers tried to awake and instruct the consciences of the faithful, calling them to conversion and also inspiring  generous choices of religious life. Present at the mission held in Anticoli in 1741, the three Faioli sisters carefully and attentively listened to the words of the good missionaries  Struzzieri and Giannini, since they had decided to give their whole life to God. Their  positive answer to their call  has  been a milestone also for the foundation of  the new religious institute and for its mission in the centuries to come.

8. RECOGNIZE PROVIDENCE

The Three Sisters. determined to intensify their life of prayer in the house of Via Vetere, where  they lived along with their brother Arcangelo, could never imagine the mission  that God was about to call  them for, but certainly the Providence helped them by providing to them the very place where they were to begin their work. In the month of November of the year 1741, abbot Rosa, feeling that the end of  his life  was close, decided to make his last will,  in it he bequeathed all his goods to  Teresa, his niece, who was probably the one who assisted him in his last sickness. This act is a sign of esteem and encouragement for the religious choice of the Three Sisters. Then the uncle died.

9.WELCOME THOSE WHO SEEK THE LORD

1741-1747. When Teresa, Cecilia and Antonia retired in their house to dedicate devote themselves completely to God they did not suspect that other girls would be attracted by their example. Instead many followed them and chose them as their teachers, because they wanted to learn from them. This very original school,  born spontaneously,  for six long  years   gave fruits as a good tree. Without these fruits no parent would have left his daughter to go to this school. What were they learning there? First and foremost prayer, then catechetical formation and basic elements of feminine house work; all these paved the way to the promotion of the women, bringing out their full potential, making them more responsible against risks and dangers and more suitable to develop their role in the family.

10. NEVER FEAR

The “quasi School” of the Faioli Sisters, was just beginning, and, just as every work of God encountered many problems. Many parties initiated legal actions against Teresa, as unique heir of Abbot Rosa, who had left some pending debts. It is not difficult to imagine her embarassment in front of the ecclesiastic tribunal, primarily on September 7th, 1742, in the lawsuit initiated by the new Parish Priest of St. Stephen, don De Sanctis, who was working and operating very close to them …. The trial  lasted  a few years. Everyone experienced problems, due to the widespread misery  of those times and places, but it is noteworthy to consider  the  strength and determination to persevere of the Three Sisters, notwithstanding the hostile atmosphere by which they were surrounded: their only fault being to have inherited goods which they were using just to do good

11. VERIFICATION OF THE CHARISM

Everyone knew that the seal of the Bishop put above the door of the house of the Faioli Sisters was not just a decoration. On Monday October 16,1747 Bishop Bacchettoni, along with two visitors, went to the house school, to examine “one by one” the young Teachers, their Rule, their prayers and everything else. He left the house satisfied and ready to sustain the school with new provisions and with his protection up to Pope Benedict XIV. In this way the Church examined and consolidated the initiative of the Three Sisters recognizing officially the charism of each of them.

12. PROCEED WITH GENEROSITY

The providential intervention of the archpriest Don Girolami, who had been charged by the bishop to manage the growth and progress of the initiative of the Faioli Sisters, was able to overcome the existing problems. Thanks to the arrival of Domenica Tardioli, along with the edifice she had inherited, and a reallocation  of the rooms of the first school, a larger place was created in the parish of Don Domenico Girolami, who was their protector. It is not difficult to imagine the athmosphere of the organization of their moving out to the new facility, including the transferring of all the belongings of the three Sisters, who were seeing a new, more favorable condition for their life and apostolate to substantiate.

13. EMBRACE THE MISSION

On Christmas’ eve of the year 1747 an unusual procession walked along the Via Maggiore to accompany the Three Sisters with their new companions Domenica Tardioli and the young Rosa Girolami to the new seat of the school called ’Conservatorio. In that holy day,  day of light and hope for all, a poor place just like the grotto of Bethlehem, yet hospitable to the plan of God, opened its door to the birth of the long tested initiative. The proud Director in charge, Don Domenico Girolami, blessed the rooms, destined to be expanded later, that will become and remain the Mother House of the  newly born Institute.

14. TO BE TACKLED THROUGH THE FAITH IN GOD

A few days after taking possession of the new house Teresa and the young Domenica had to leave. Just Cecilia and Antonia, along with the little Rosa, do remain there, to tackle the problems of the just settled new house. Let’s imagine how sorrowful was this separation: this was the first time (and the unique) that the three Sisters are aware that they are going to be severed from one another at length. A very painful sacrifice, considering what Teresa represented for the two joungest sisters, and that Cecilia and Antonia were deeply in the heart of Teresa, with all the difficulties and risks, to be tackled through the faith in God. And it is to Him that this separation had joined the three Sisters more and more.

15. CARE FOR FORMATION

Religious life, and even more the foundation of a new Institute, demand solid bases. On January 7, 1748, Teresa Faioli and Domenica Tardioli left Anticoli in order to go to Anagni, at the famous Palace of the Popes. They were generously hosted for 5 months by the Cistercian Sisters of Charity, who had been for some decades Pious Teachers for the girls of Anagni. For the girls this was a kind of novitiate and a precious experience to transmit to their own community. For the others who remained at Anticoli this was … a precious test of maturity.

16. RENOUNCE EVERYTHING TO GAIN EVERYTHING

November 8, 1749. With an official deed before a public notary the Three Sisters and two co-disciples gave all their possessions to the newly founded Institute. This total renunciation is not to be seen as simply an act of generosity but much more it stands as a tangible proof of faith, particularly considering the precarious situation of their initiative and the poverty of the environment in which it was born. Only love and faith can lead one to renounce everything. Actually the donations of these first generous women will make it possible for the “Consevatorio” to be officially opened. To this “School” many lay and Pastors of other Dioceses will turn with hope. From that humble and silent spark a fire was enkindled.

17. OVERCOME DIFFICULTIES

Bishop Monti, writing to the Constable Colonna, says that he had already met the young girls of the “Conservatorio” on August 1752 and that he had personally verified their poverty, indigence, critical and troublesome life and health conditions. Actually the community was tried by the prolonged and forced absence of Don Girolami, who was kept in Rome by a trial opened by the Curia of Anagni on his account on the basis of unfounded accusations, he was at last acquitted of. The long period, in which the sisters not only were without coordinator and protector, but also without spiritual director and confessor, was taken by the three Sisters as a real test of their capacity to persevere, keeping on  working for the Church, without surrender.

18. ACCEPTANCE OF TRIALS

The Cross with its pains was a faithful companion to the new Institute. Don Girolami will later speak of difficulties, misunderstandings and persecutions undergone with the Conservatorio …as was the case of the Pastoral Visit of Bishop Monti on July 2, 1753, in which the bishop showed an attitude less than understanding particularly when he discovered that a small pig was reared in the cellar of the Pious House, this was a sign of an extremely poor and sacrificed life style, as well as other details written down in the memoir of the pastoral Visit, Yet nothing ever weakened the serious commitment and perseverance of the tree generous Founder-Sisters. Some years later, even Bishop Monti changed his mind on their regard.

19. BEAR PATIENTLY JET STRUGGLE

He who does not know the demands of religious life, may wonder about the great zeal of the community in defending their reserve and concentration. The  new house, located in the main street of Anticoli, was inevitably exposed to various distractions…not least the blasphemous disturbance of the nearby tavern and the uncivilized behavior of the neighbors. But derisions,  vulgar words, vexations of the world and every opposition which hindered a peaceful living were permitted by God to detach the Three Sisters from this earthly life and make them aspire ever more for the eternal meeting with him.

20. IT PAYS TO PERSEVERE

Ten years gone by from the first Pastoral Visit  of Bishop Monti to the “Conservatorio” have proven that time  really is the best teacher. On February 7, 1763, a letter informs the “Conservatorio”  about the benevolent initiative of the same Bishop to pay for the veil of Pious Teachers of the Three Sisters and their companions. We can see in this act a  silent recognition  of their role of good teachers, which the same Bishop had questioned ten years earlier. What a joy must all of them have felt in wearing the veil, they who had for many years been undervalued.

21. ACCEPTANCE OF RESPONSIBILITY

Great must have been the pain and embarrassment of the community when its very “Mother Superior” Angelica Bertoni, presented to the  new Bishop Cirillo Antonini her resignation letter, this Bishop had a good attitude  toward the community of the “Conservatorio”. And it is very significant to see that in this situation demanding a sure choice, the sisters as one, chose Antonia, one of the Founders. It was March 6 1779. Teresa doesn’t appear in the list of the sisters present at the Chapter, she was probably already infirm. Cecilia and Antonia got ready to face without her this decisive phase of the stabilization of the Institute.

22. TOWARDS HEAVEN

At the death of Teresa, on July 14, 1779, who had been prepared to it by a long sickness, the “Story-Together” of the Faioli sisters seems to come to an end. Actually it continued even after the passing away to eternal life of the one, who had always been a referring point for Cecilia and Antonia. In the most crucial moment for the life of the Institute the community elected Antonia to take the rudder, while Cecilia was always ready to assist with her wisdom. The following developments of the religious family put a seal the success of the common vocation lived by the Three Sisters in a singular spiritual solidarity.

23. RENEWAL ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT

After serious consultation with various spiritual men, Bishop Cirillo Antonini, admitted the ten Pious Teachers of the “Consevatorio” to the religious  investiture of the habit of St. Clare. The solemn ceremony was held in the Collegiate Church of St. Peter on August 23, 1781. Cecilia and Antonia could finally and officially live the life, they had begun, when they were still young, along with Teresa, donating themselves fully to God without any reservation and hesitation. The Bishop himself elaborated their new Rule adapting the one of St. Clare to the demands of the teaching charisma  proper of the Institute.

24. TURN TOWARD THE BEST

Some months had gone since the religious investiture, which had turned the lay consecrated into real religious people. In order to give stability to the Institute Bishop Cirillo Antonini proposed his Rule in substitution to that written by Don Domenico Girolami. The Chapter of the community convened on November 8, 1781, in order to deliberate upon the acceptance of the above mentioned Rule; on June 27, 1785 sisters accepted the vow of Chastity and poverty. And it is again  Antonia who in these very decisives moments for the Institute brings forward the moral authority of the Founders, and so the assembly, Cecilia included, unanimously approved the new rule. This is how  the Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate of St.Clare was born.