VENERABLE MOTHER SERAPHINA THE FOUNDRESS OF CFMSS
Venerable Mother Seraphina was born on 7th October 1853 in Italy
to Frederic Farolfi and Ottilia as the third born.
From childhood onwards, she was intelligent, imaginative
vivacious,cheerful,daring deligent,resolute, optimistic, charitable,
firm and confident in her thoughts and dealings.
Her childhood desire was to become a martyr for Christ in
mission lands.
At the age of 20, with a Certificate in Teacher's Training, she joined the
religious Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiaries of St. Elizabeth at
Forli. On November 4, 1873 the young Francesca was appointed headmistress
of St. Francis School, Forli Very soon she drafted the Rules and
Regulations of St. Francis School and a Handbook for the Teachers. In 1881,
Seraphina was sent to Polignano to open a convent and school and ten years
later another at Bagno. Uniforeseen events caused the transfer of St. Francis
School from Forli to Bertinoro and realising the ‘call within the call’,
she founded a new religious Congregation - Clarist Franciscan Missionaries
of the Most Blessed Sacrament in 1898.
Ven. Mother Seraphina of Jesus desired to be with the Lord in everything
and to die for the Lord as a Missionary.
She was a vibrant missionary
and source of inspiration for the missionaries.
To achieve her childhood desire she promoted Missionary Spirit in her
Congregation and naming it as a Missionary Congregation. Mother Seraphina
was a woman of heroism. She was a great missionary with a Vision.
She spent hours and hours in front of the Eucharistic Jesus
seeking His Will in all her undertakings and she calls it as the “ Divine Thermometer” .
She was also a real mother and sister to her sisters. She trusted and
abandoned herself totally to the Divine Providence.
She was a great educationist in 20th century.
She left behind us a great philosophy of education in
which she highlights the importance of teacher – taught, child –parent
relationship.
Her ardent and vibrant love for Jesus in the Eucharist and Jesus in the
Poor and needy
is one of the extraordinary aspects in her life. Jesus in the Eucharist had
always been her unfailing refuge in all her trials. For she says those who
understand the mystery of the Holy Communion is able to live in fraternal
union. She continuously prepared herself for the Holy Eucharist for she
says ‘God Himself comes down to us when we receive the Holy Communion’.
She had mystical experience of Jesus in the Eucharist. Her
mystical communion with the Lord made her a carrier of His mysteries in her
daily life and she imparted the same to her sisters by giving them a motto “I Carry the Mysteries’, the carrier of Jesus. Right from
her childhood Mother Seraphina had trained herself to have her thoughts
focused on Jesus awaiting her in the chapel.Her life was completelt centred
on the Eucharist.
Her tenderest devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary was an
extraordinary hallmark on her Congregation.
Her filial piety towards the Church, her burning love for the souls, her
unquestioned loyalty to the hierarchy her childlike docility to the
Bishops,her unlimited trust in the Pope and her humble obedience to the
successor of St.Francis, won for her a lot of admirers and supporters among
the high ranking hierarchical figures of the Church from Pope Leo XIII to
Pope Benedict XV.
She is the model of courage and deep contemplation. She
stood firm in spite of hardships in guarding and protecting the Institute
for the Glory of God.Therefore, today the CFMSS is spread in different
parts of the world serving the poor and needy. She identified Christ in
every poor and needy.
She is the most perfect mirror of religious life in all aspects
. She loved the poor and the forsaken and insisted her sisters to take care
of the poor and the most abandoned especially the youth. She is a powerful
intercessor for children, youth, Education, Educational institutions,
consecrated people, and Missionaries.
She was a daring woman through her commitment to serve God in the poor.She
allowed herself to be moulded by the Eucharistic Jesus and became an
instrument of peace and love to all after the example of St.Francis and
St.Clare .
Having imparted a Eucharistic Charism to her sisters she left for her
heavenly abode on 18 June 1917.