Venerable Mother Celestina Bottego: a good and beautiful life

Celestina Bottego was a woman of great humanity.

Her life was plenty of the every-day life, as to say, the simplicity of each encounter, the simplicity of her apostolic and professional commitment,

and also, of God’s will search even in moments of darkness, that she knew to go through with living faith.  Her venerability is an invitation to imitate the everyday life’s sanctity.

Venerable Mother Celestina Bottego was born on December 20, 1895 in Glendale, Ohio and lived in Montana (USA) until the age of 15. She was the second child of three sons born to Giambattista Bottego and Mary Healy.  Her father immigrated to the United States of North America where he raised his family. Bottego was the older brother of Parmesan explorer, Vittorio Bottego. In 1897, the tragic death of his brother, during an expedition to Africa, caused Bottego to return to Italy to care for his elderly parents. He took Maria and Vittorio with him. Celestina and her mother joined him in the late summer of 1910.

In Parma, Celestina continued her studies at the University of Pisa, where she obtained the qualification as an English teacher. She taught at different schools in Parma for over twenty years. Some of her former pupils still remember her with affection and gratitude for the kindness in which Mother Celestina treated them and for the competence she exercised her profession.

In her youth years, along with her sister Mary, Celestina deepened her spiritual training under the guidance of a wise teacher and educator of conscious, Benedictine Abbot Emmanuel Caronti, who encouraged young people to care for the poorest families on the outskirts of the city.  Celestina quickly matured giving herself to God's service and helping others. In 1922, she chose to become a Benedictine Oblate- recognizing the primacy of God in her own life. In 1924, her older sister, Mary entered the Congregation of Franciscans Missionaries of Mary, and then she left for India.

Meanwhile, Celestina actively engaged in the Catholic Action Association- devoting herself with generosity to apostolic and charitable activities. She was particularly concerned with the education of young people. In the neighborhood where she lived, townspeople knew they could rely on Mother Celestina for every need.

During World War II, Celestina welcomed and helped different kinds of people experiencing great difficulty. Many shared and testified to her extraordinary ability to weave friendships, “a friendship that makes you remember God's love in you.” Whoever came close to her, felt as being in front of “a happy person that radiated confidence, serenity, and whose heart invited you to love Jesus and your brothers.” Receptiveness to friendship, combined with her warmth welcome, while preserving solitude and silence characterized her. The secret of her comforting and reconciling presence was the intimate union with the Lord, her adherence to His will, and her unlimited trust in the Providence.

In 1935, Venerable Mother Celestina began to teach English at the Institute of the Xaverian Missionaries. There, she left a living sign of her humanity and a spiritual greatness in the mind of her students. Her missionary sensibility deepened further as a result to her trip to India, where she spent several months with her missionary sister.

Providentially, the Lord was preparing her for a new call, which came unexpected and shocking her at the age of almost fifty years. When Mother Celestina first received a proposal from Fr. James Spagnolo –a Xaverian Missionary- for the establishment of the woman's Xaverian Missionaries Fathers branch, she refused at first- declaring that she was “really good at spoiling the works of God.”  But after a year of prayer and inner struggles, Venerable Mother Celestina came to understand what God wanted from her. 

In 1944, an Easter postcard depicting the Crucifix of Velasquez, displaying the word “All,” was the straw that broke the camel's back. On May 24th, during the Spiritual Exercises, preached by Fr. Spagnolo, inner travail resolved into a “Yes” to the Lord as her total self-gift. Both Fr. Spagnolo and Venerable Mother Celestine became the Founders of the Xaverian Missionaries of Mary.

The following year, at the end of World War II, the new Congregation began. And a new stage started in the life of Celestina, who became “the Mother” of the Missionaries. She was entirely dedicated, making herself available and giving her spiritual gifts, home, and all of her assets and goods.

Mother Celestina wished for her Missionaries to be saints, contemplative in action, women of faith and prayer, generous and courageous. She accompanied her Missionaries to the first foundations in the United States, Brazil, Congo, and Burundi; she followed them through correspondence.

In 1966, making a gesture that showed the greatness of her motherhood, Venerable Celestina resigned as General Superior, leaving to others the direction of the Congregation. She wanted to give its contribution “in prayer and in service as a simple mother.” She continued to follow her daughters with prayers and interest- gladly welcoming them with open arms upon their return to Italy for rest.

Mother Celestina died on August 20, 1980, therefore seeing the Lord “face to face,” whom she ardently loved and desired all her life. Pope Francis declared her Venerable on October 31, 2013, giving Mother Celestina as a model of Christian life to all the Church.