Angela Iacobellis

Angela Iacobellis (October 28, 1948 – March 27, 1961) was an Italian teenager who is currently being considered for sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church and venerated as a Servant of God.

Servant of God Angela Iacobellis
Photograph of Angela Iacobellis
Laywoman
Born	16 October 1948 Rome, Italy
Died	27 March 1961 (aged 13) Naples, Italy
Venerated in	Catholic Church
Major shrine	Church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, Naples, Italy
Feast	27 March
Attributes	Lily flowers Rosary
Patronage	Youth

Life

Angela Iacobellis was born in Rome on October 16, 1948 and was baptized on October 31 in the Basilica of Saint Peter.

She received her First Communion and Confirmation on June 29, 1955, in Naples, where her family had moved when she was five. Iacobellis was a normal girl with her family, friends, and at school. However, according to Iacobellis's parents and those who knew her, her affinity for the Christian religion grew with age. She became intrigued by the Sacrament and embraced her family members when they returned from receiving Holy Communion because she said it was like hugging Jesus.

According to church officials, she had a spiritual and religious balance rare for her age. She read the Gospel and recited the Holy Rosary "We must give the first place to God".

She spent her summer holidays in the basilicas of Saint Francis and Saint Clare in Assisi, saints to whom she was particularly sympathetic. In these periods she frequented the convent of the Poor Clares and became friends with the nuns and the abbess, as evidenced by the many letters she received from the abbess, even after her death, to give comfort to her parents.

At the age of 11, Iacobellis developed leukemia. For a long time, she was not informed about the severity of the disease, but she calmly and optimistically accepted the treatment when she was told that her illness, although treatable, was not curable. She consciously accepted God's will, expressing all herself in prayer and in conversation with the Lord.

Her worsening leukemia made her detach herself a little by little from her life. The final phase was excruciating for her family, as she was passed from one clinical analysis to another, from one transfusion to another, with an intestinal obstruction that complicated the prognosis.

The administration of oxygen did not improve the situation, and Iacobellis died around 10 p.m. on March 27, 1961.

Cause of beatification and canonization

Following numerous reports of people, who through her intercession, claimed to have received graces and favors, the fame of Angela Iacobellis has spread throughout Italy. On 11 June 1991, The Holy See granted the nihil obstat for the opening of the diocesan process for her beatification and Pope John Paul II declared her a Servant of God.

On 21 November 1997 Iacobellis' body was moved from the family chapel in the cemetery of Naples to the Church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini.