Marisa Baù (1963-2011)

1 February 2012 – updated on February, 8th 2012

The official identification is still to be done, but the Swiss police is by now certain that the body found two days ago at Cugy is that of Marisa Baù. This is confirmed by a meeting which was held today by the case attorney with Marisa’s relatives and those responsible of the Focolare Centre of Montet.
Marisa Baù had disappeared from the Centre of the Focolare Movement in Montet (Broye), Switzerland, on December 20th, 2011. The search since then did not produce any evidence (see info). Instead, Monday, January 30th, the police informed that they had found the body of a woman in an agricultural warehouse, in the close by locality of Cugy, in a place used to keep bales of hay.
The farmer who looks after the farm reported that he frequently goes to that place, but only when he had to move part of the hay did he realize there was a body.
The police, with the relatives, have considered to do further verifications to verify the cause of death. Now they will proceed with the autopsy and other related examinations, which could last a few weeks. The investigations will be closed if the results exclude an external involvement.

Marisa was found hanged in circumstances that are still to be clarified. The state of decomposition indicates that her death occurred before Christmas. In this moment the probable cause of death is suicide. On Tuesday, the 7th, her body will be handed over to her family and brought first to Montet where funeral rites will be celebrated and then to Asiago her city of origin.

“We find ourselves in front of a tragic and painful situation in which we find the Movement identifying itself now more than ever with the drama of humanity today”, as Maria Voce wrote to the community of the Focolare. She continues: “What remains to comfort us is the witness of the generosity with which Marisa gave herself to God, and with which she lived all these years, in the total giving of herself to the other focolarine, to the tasks entrusted to her which she brought ahead with responsibility and commitment. Believing more than ever in the love of God for Marisa, let us continue to pray for her and her family”.

 

On Monday, February 6th, in the locality of Cugy, 350 people took part in the funeral rite to give their last farewell to Marisa Baù on Swiss ground. The Holy Mass was celebrated by 8 priests. In their messages, the local bishop, Bishop Charles Morerod and Bishop Jean-Claude Périsset, the Apostolic Nuncio in Berlin, originally from Estavayer-le-Lac, near Montet, expressed their participation, closeness and support to the family members and focolarini of Montet.
In a brief speech, Marithé Vuigner, who is co-responsible of the Focolare Centre of Montet, went over the 40 days, from the disappearance on December 20th to the finding of the dead body, and a brief profile of Marisa Baù.
After the ceremony the corpse was transported to Italy, accompanied by some relatives who were present in Montet and a group of focolarini.
The next day, Tuesday, February 7th, a huge crowd was waiting for Marisa at the Church of the Sasso di Asiago village to pay their final respects in the funeral services celebrated by the parish priest of Gallio, Fr. Lauderio Dal Bianco. On behalf of the family members, a niece expressed a farewell greeting to Marisa, highlighting her love for the family and for life.
The reports on the autopsy which should verify the cause of death could arrive in a month’s time.

 

Marisa Baù was born on the 12th of May, 1963 in Asiago in the province of Vicenza, second to the last of 8 siblings. At the age of 15 she lost her mother, and so she took on the task of taking care of her siblings who were still at home. Hardworking and creative, she started a small gift shop with two of her former colleagues, after two years of working in a factory.
She met the spirituality of the Focolare Movement at the Genfest of 1980, making it her own with readiness and generosity. She felt the vocation to consecrate herself to God in the Focolare community, and she left in ’91, first for the Focolare Center in Padua, where she finished her degree in accounting, and then in ’92 for the School of Formation in Loppiano, while continuing to maintain a strong link with all of her relatives.
After the period of formation Marisa remained at the Center of Montet (Broye) in Switzerland, where she worked in the section of infant-ware, of which she was in-charge of the production section from ’94. In 1998, because of her human and spiritual talents, she was asked to take care of the focolarine who were undergoing their formation.
Marisa had a strong and creative personality, and she was admired by everyone for the quality of the relationships she established, her sens of responsibility and altruism.

 

Updated on February, 9th 2012

BF – UF

SIF – Focolare Information Service

Reported missing: Marisa Baù, Montet (Broye), Switzerland

30 December 2011 – updated on January, 31 st 2012

Marisa Baù, an italian focolarina,  has been missing since the 20th of december, 2011.
She was born in 1963 in Asiago, Vicenza, and has been in Switzerland at the Center of the Focolare Movement of Montet for the past 15 years.

Marisa was an educator and in charge of the Centre’s dressmaking studio, a position that she was about to leave in the coming months for a new destination, which usually happens periodically for the focolarini.

She had just returned from a week’s work in Brazil and on the morning of the 20th of December, she decided to go for walk in the countryside around Montet. She left at about 11 am and never returned. After an initial search during the lunch hour by people from the Centre the police were informed and, in the afternoon, dogs were brought in to help in the search.

The case is being followed by the Swiss police of Fribourg together with those in-charge of the Centre of Montet and her family members.

Locally there is a great deal of cooperation to find some clue that will lead to Marisa. The local press disseminates the news. Her friends and acquaintances regularly search the area around Montet  where she could have gone. The alarm has been raised also among the Fribourg regional gamekeepers, hunting association, anglers, ramblers and birdwatchers. The numerous campsites around lake Neuchatêl have been informed as well.

According to her doctor, Marisa enjoyed generally good health. In the past months she underwent a medical exam to try to find the cause of her weight loss and a recurring fever.
At the end of November she attended the annual retreat of the focolarine from all over Europe. At the end of the meeting she shared with one of those in-charge the state of her soul: those days of retreat had helped her to focus on her choice of giving herself to God, to also see in a new and positive light the experiences that apparently seem negative, and which at times made her experience a sense of failure.

She went to Brazil for the purpose of accompanying a young Brazilian girl who had spent the last 3 years at the Center of Montet and who was entrusted to her care. The trip, the jet lag and the change of climate, together with the demands of concluding this task entrusted to her, must have been the cause of the great fatigue and a certain disorientation that manifested itself upon her return. She experienced intense headaches and insomnia, which also continued in the following days.

On the 20th of december,in agreement with the focolarine who were living with her, Marisa did not go to work but chose to stay home to rest the whole day, offering to prepare dinner for everyone. When she left the house to take a walk she left all her documents, her money and cell phone in her room.

Having a creative and tenacious personality, Marisa was admired by everyone for the quality of her relationships, her sense of responsibility and her altruism. She was preparing to leave Montet towards the end of January to take up, after a brief period of rest, a new position of responsibility in the Focolare Movement.

Two sightings were communicated to the family: they situated Marisa in the zone of Lake Como and Lake Maggiore. The first sighting was between the 10th and the 11th of January in Turate (CO), the second took place last Tuesday the 24th of January; a woman said that she greeted her in Italian at the Shrine of  S. Maria del Sasso near Locarno (Switzerland). The search continues and is at present concentrated in this region.

Marisa Baù, date of birth 12.05.1963; place of residence: Montet (Broye)

Description: height 163 cm, slender build; hair red, wavy, shoulder length; eyes green.

At the time of her disappearance Marisa was wearing jeans, a black pullover, a black coat with hood, ankle boots. She speaks Italian and French.

Anyone with useful information that can assist in the search should immediately contact the Fribourg Canton Police (tel. +41 (0)263051717) or any other police station (117/112).

Missing person report issued on the Swiss Police website

The facts of the 30th of January, instead, gives us cause to fear that the story of Marisa Bau’ has, unfortunately ended in a different way. In fact, in the evening the Swiss police informed those in- charge of the Center of Montet, who subsequently informed the family, that they found the body of a woman that entirely matches that of Marisa Bau’, inside a barn/agricultural shed in the nearby area of Cugy, a kilometer and a half from the Center: We are awaiting the official identification (of the body). The circumstances of her death must first be clarified through medico-legal examination at the regional hospital of Fribourg, where the body was brought.

See also focolare.org Facebook

Updated on January, 31 st 2012

BF – UF

SIF – Focolare Information Service

“Mother Teresa” Prize in memory of Chiara Lubich

10 December 2011

This recognition would like to express the admiration, the affection and the gratitude of the European Movements for Life, foremost of which is the Italian movement, to Chiara Lubich who feminine genius has enabled the spread of the message of a love that unites, everywhere. This award is handed over to Maria Voce, president of the Focolare Movement.

The awards ceremony took place in Campidoglio, in the Sala della Promoteca, at 16:30, with interventions from the mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, and other personalities, among whom were the ex-president of the Council Giuliano Amato.

The Award consists of the reproduction of the bronze statue that the Italian Movement for Life gave to the European Council the day after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The work of art  was made by the sculptor Sauro Cavallini, and is entitled the “Hymn to Life”, and is exhibited up to now at the European Council in Starsburg. At its base it is written: “may love be the hope of Europe”.

The European Prize for the life of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, which was instituted by the Movement for Life in 2008, is awarded on the 10th of december every year to comemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was signed, exactly on the 10th of december, 1948. That declaration – Paul VI said in his visit to the U.N. – represents  “the highest thing ever produced by human wisdom”.

The Prize is “european” because Europe was born first of all as a place of human dignity and of peace even before it is an economic Community. It thus hopes to remind Europe of its original inspiration and its true dignity.

Program

Press release

Updated on December, 15th 2011

LH/UF

SIF – Focolare Information Service

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