20TH C. MYSTIC- HER LIFE FOR PRIESTS

SERVANT of GOD LUIGINA SINAPI is another lay woman- mysticism.  She was born September 8 (the birthday of the Blessed Virgin), 1916 . IItriri, Italy. She was the eldest of five children of Francis Paul Sinapi, a cabinet maker, and Filomena Catena, a licensed midwife. Her twin sister died at birth.  

From early childhood, Luigina felt a strong love for Jesus that manifested itself in a desire to live in intimate union with Him. Her mother was a pious Catholic, and on one occasion she went to San Giovanni Rotondo to recommend her husband and her daughter to (St.) Padre Pio. He told her:  the Lord has great designs on the your daughter here on earth.

At the age of eight she received her first Holy Communion and also the Sacrament of Confirmation, as was the custom at that time. From that day she never neglected to receive the Eucharist, and if she was sometimes prevented to receive it for a serious reason she cried, "If I don't receive Jesus in my heart, I don't live."

She was "lively and impulsive", remembered one of her younger brothers. Concerning herself she said with a slight smile "I was always a terrible child.", but others who knew her all recall her being a very good girl.

At 16 years old, Luigina was fascinated by the ideal of the Daughter of St Paul 'to spread the Gospel by the most modern means of communications', so overcoming the resistance of her parents she entered the institute the Pious Society of the Daughters of St. Paul in Rome. Unfortunately she was obliged to leave the institute because of her delicate health. She was comforted by her spiritual director, Bl. Father  Joseph Timothy Giaccardo, who exhorted her to offer her life for souls, and to remain in the Pauline family as a laywoman.

When she was 17 her mother died suddenly, so she took over the care of her younger brothers. It was not long after that she began experiencing extreme pain in her stomach and she was soon diagnosed with a tumor on the bottom part of the right intestine. The physician could not operate as he believed she would not survive the operation. As the days passed she grew more and more ill and her pain and suffering became more and more acute. 

On August 15, 1933, she and others believed that her last day had arrived. Luigina asked her grandmother to dress her and prepare her for  death  and with much devotion she received the Sacrament of the Sick. She was already in what seemed to be her last agony when suddenly Jesus appeared close to her bed and smiled at her.

In her simple childlike confidence and love which from her earliest years she had always addressed Jesus in her prayers Luigina looked at Jesus and said to Him in a loving reproach: "You have not shown Yourself to me for two long years and now that I am dying, you come?"

At Christ’s side was also His Mother. They ask her: “We have come to offer you a proposal. You however are free to choose: do you want to come right now with us to Paradise or remain on earth and offer yourself as a victim of expiation for the Church and for priests?”

In an instant, Luigina sees the dangers of apostasy, the defections that would come in the years ahead and she accepted the second alternative, still offering herself as a victim to God.

Jesus then tells her: “You will not go into a convent, but as an ordinary person you will live hidden from the eyes of the world. You will be poorly understood, you will suffer much, and you will die alone. You will live the extraordinary in the ordinary. From this moment on, I will leave to you my holy Mother: she will guide you and she will comfort you. Be not afraid.”

Jesus had barely finished speaking when Luigina suddenly found herself healed. After that vision, on the first Saturday of every month and on Marian feasts, the Blessed Mother,  always appeared to Luigina, leaving on the spot a heavenly aroma that lasted throughout the whole day.

Luigina died in Rome in April of 1978. Her doctor, Dr. Mark Grassi, testified that the last days were of great suffering for Luigina. Yet she was very peaceful, loving and happy. On one occasion, smiling she was overheard murmuring, "I am waiting!"