SrLeopoldaBlasi-01Born in a prestigious family in Rome, the institute chosen for her education was the Holy Spirit Institute run by the Daughters of the Immaculate Conception. In the institute she personally knew the foundress, now Blessed, and soon she felt the desire to give herself totally to God. Her family did not accept her choice, and after she escaped to go to the novitiate twice, she was forced to return home. Then due to her firm decision, she managed to convince her parents and make her dream come true.
At the conclusion of her training in Northern Italy, she returned to Rome to teach in the school she had attended as a child and adolescent.  Jovial and playful, Sr. Leopolda was able to conquer her students and with her smart remarks managed to downplay even the most complicated situations.

In the 1970s she came across the spirituality of the Focolare and in it, discovered a sign of the times for the Church. Fascinated by the vision of Chiara Lubich who considered every charism a gift of love for the others, she felt the urge to create a current of communion among consecrated women of various religious families.

Due to her moral and spiritual gifts, vast culture, and the great capacity to enhance the importance of people, in 1983 she was asked to guide the Congregation for 12 years.

She personally met the founder of the Focolare, who in 1989 asked her to lead the Movement  of the Religious at international levels, and promote communion among the Mother Generals who appreciated the spirituality of unity. Mother Leopolda accepted Chiara’s invitation with joy and responsibility, and wove a tight network of religious bound by the spirit of communion. She programmed and prepared annual meetings for consecrated women and mother generals.

When her mandate to guide her congregation ended, she again took up her commitment in the educational field. The parents of her students considered her, “the most gentle and nicest Director of all the schools in the world.”

When she fell ill, she was ready to say her “yes” to the God she had followed since her youth. She let Him guide her by the hand, offering all for the Church, her congregation, and the consecrated women she had met in life. In the more difficult moments she took comfort in the spiritual writings of Chiara, surrounded by her co-religious and the focolarine who were by her side up to the end.  The doctors and staff of the hospital were struck by her testimony of serenity and total abandonment to God. Sr. Leopolda passed away on 1 January 2017, at the age of 87.

The Focolare Movement remembers her with immense gratitude for her life spent entirely to diffuse among the religious, the spirit of communion that arises from the Charism of Unity.

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