Focolare Movement

Thank you, Gis!

Jan 20, 2018

Gisella Calliari, one of the first focolarinas, passed away today, on January 20 at the age of 97. Her long life was continually aimed at the realization of Jesus’s dream: that all be one.

Funerale Gis Calliari al Centro MariapoliWith gratitude for “her example of heroic faithfulness to God’s plan for her,” Focolare president Maria Voce, informed Focolare members around the world of her death following a long life spent in its entirety for unity. “Even in the pain of this huge loss,” said Maria Voce, “we are forever one heart and one soul with her.” Gisella Calliari had been born in Lavis, Trent, Italy on April 18, 1920. She was simply known as Gis, one of the first young women, along with her sister, to follow Chiara Lubich in the “adventure of unity,” which led to the starting of the Focolare Movement and its expansion around the world. She was the youngest of three sisters and met Chiara in 1944 in that tiny apartment that lodged the first hearth in Piazza Cappuccini,Trent. The next day, she decided to follow Chiara along the same path. The first hostile reaction from her family was softened when her mother met Igino Giordani who hired Gisella to be his secretary in Rome. During her long life, Gis spent more than 40 years living with Chiara. After living in several focolares in Italy – in Trent, Rome, Milan and Florence, she took charge of the women’s section of the focolarinas. Then, she worked alongside the foundress and Oreste Basso in following the development of the Work of Mary worldwide. This provided her with the opportunity to visit Focoare communities around the world. Her whole life was very profoundly linkded to the charism of unity, to which she was faithful until the last. Focolare.org will soon publish a more extensive biography.

___

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to Newsletter

Thought of the day

Related post

Brotherhood

Brotherhood

Brotherhood, being children of the same Father, can be the root of every kind of pacifism. In this excerpt from the “Catholic Revolt”, Igino Giordani wrote almost an invocation, a poetic appeal that compels us to look up and opens our eyes to who our brother is, that brother who may be labelled as an enemy, as a foreigner, as a migrant, but is always a brother. It is an appeal written back in 1925, that still touches our deepest chords and challenges us to be builders of peace.

Christians protagonists of dialogue

Christians protagonists of dialogue

29th June is the feast of Saints Peter and Paul and is a significant day in the ecumenical sphere. On this date we publish some interviews with Christians from various Churches