With All She Suffered This Holy Woman Was Still Afraid of Purgatory

Everyone who has read on the internet about this exquisite young mother and her compassionate good husband was deeply moved for sure. If ever there was a marriage arranged by God it was that of Chiara and Enrico. Nothing too extraordinary in it, as far as miracles are concerned, just a pious young couple who met, fell in love over time, and got married. They both knew that marriage was primarily for the purpose of cooperating with the Creator in bringing forth saints. You can read about the heroic sacrifices of this couple here. But what stood out for me was that, with all the intense suffering that Chiara endured volitionally and sacrificially from her cancer, depriving herself of too much anesthetic that might affect the health of her baby, she still confided to her husband that she feared purgatory. That impressed me immensely. What Catholic faith! What humility! What sorrow for sin! What an example is this beautiful soul for the Church today that has discarded the compassionate black Requiem Mass, which pleaded in its liturgy for prayers for the faithful departed (assuming that they were in purgatory), and replaced it with the white-vested Mass of the Resurrection! What Chiara Corbella asked for was prayers that her purgatory be swift. And her entrance into heaven speedy. Holy fear is such a blessed virtue. What a sin against charity it is to pretend every good person, whom we assume to be good, goes straight to heaven! Chiara did not presume this. Let us pray for Chiara and for Enrico. Not that she be canonized, wonderful as that would be, for there are so many mothers that made the same sacrifice and they will never be canonized, not in this world.

Crisis Magazine: In worldly terms, Chiara Corbella’s life was not a success story: two children dying shortly after birth, herself ravaged by an aggressive cancer, which killed her at the young age of 28, leaving a beloved husband and a small son behind. This is not the kind of material dreams are made of. Yet when one listens to the testimonies of her friends, husband, and spiritual director, and hears more about her story and looks at her radiating, beautiful face on photographs and in video clips, one can’t help but feel that hers was an extraordinary life. Each saint has a special charisma, a particular theme, some facet of God, which he reflects, due to his particular character, call and story. Hers, I’d say, is to be a witness to joy in the face of great adversity, the kind which makes the heart overflow despite the sorrow over loss and death. Read the rest of her story here.