![\"Dori](\"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/DoriZamboni-01.jpg\")
<\/a>Dori Zamboni<\/p><\/div> \u201cI’m dictating this letter since I can’t move my hand anymor<\/strong>e, but my head thinks and prays for all of you as you come into my mind with your joys, your sorrows and your difficulties.\u201d This is the beginning of a Christmas letter of Dori\u2019s from a few days ago. It is addressed to her \u201cDearest friends,\u201d people she had met over the course of her life and now tried to reach around the world. Doriana Zamboni, known simply as \u201cDori\u201d, was born in Trent, Italy, in 1926. <\/strong>She met Chiara Lubich when she was a very young and rebellious student in upper secondary school and was taking Philosophy lessons from Chiara. That was in 1943, the beginning of a spiritual adventure that would lead to the birth of the Focolare Movement. \u201cJesus and Our Lady will help you through my prayers too,\u201d the letter continues. \u201cAnd even if I don\u2019t know your needs, I place them inside Her heart so that she keep faithful your love towards Jesus abandoned on the Cross.\u201d That faithfulness had marked the life of Dori. Indeed, she was the person to whom Chiara first confided her intuition that Jesus greatest suffering was His abandonment on the Cross<\/a>, and it quickly become the secret and cornerstone of Chiara\u2019s life and the life of those who followed her path. \u201cRemain in my love\u201d <\/strong>(Jn 15:9) was the Word of Life that Chiara had suggested to her as a guide for her life because it seemed to reflect who Dori was. She travelled the world to spread the ideal of unity: 1956 in France; 1965 in England; 1971 in Belgium. In all of these places, together with the focolares, she opened new paths on the ecumenical journey and in the dialogue with other cultures. She accompanied thousands of people on their spiritual journey. From 1976 the Focolare foundress entrusted to her the Branch of the Volunteers of God<\/a>, lay people actively engaged in the midst of society, and the New Humanity Movement. In 1956 she was a member of the team that began Citt\u00e0 Nuova<\/em> and was therefore amongst the pioneers of the publishing house and magazine of the Focolare Movement. Dori continued to encourage and support the work of publication up until the last days of her life. \u201cWherever you are, remember me,\u201d her letter continues, \u201cbecause my health is failing and I would like it to be in many of your prayers to help me make the climb. . . I feel you all very close to me, desirous to help me to bear and suffer whatever God may send to me.\u201d. Thus, enveloped in the love and prayers of those who had assisted her until the end she passed away peacefully on the morning of December 26th<\/sup>. Focolare president Maria Voce announced her death to the Movement while expressing her gratitude for Dori\u2019s life and inviting everyone to join in prayer. The funeral will be held at the Mariapolis Centre in Castel Gandolfo, Rome, on Monday, December 28th<\/sup> at 10:30 am (Italian time).