Sr. Raffaella Maresca, SFP
December 25, 1972 – June 14, 2021
Raffaella Maresca was born in Limbiate, in the province of Milan, on December 25, 1972. She was the second child of her mother, Emilia, and father, Michele. A few years later, following the premature death of her father, she returned with her mother and sister to her family’s town of origin, Torre Annunziata, in the province of Naples. Here she was brought up in the faith, guided by her mother who was a model of surrender and trust in God.
After high school, Raffaella attended the Institute of Religious Sciences, where she graduated having presented her thesis on the role of women in the Church. Together with her sister, she attended their local parish and was very active and enthusiastic in her service as a youth leader.
In 1991, with some friends, Raffaella went on a trip to Assisi, where she met the spirit of St Francis. It was an encounter that challenged her and transformed her life; encouraging her to respond to the desire to be close to the poor in a more radical and coherent way.
The following year, Raffaella began to attend the Youth Movement activities affiliated with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. There she discovered a new way of living the faith, incarnating the Gospel in daily life and experiencing the Word of God, which became a way of living and sharing with others. During this period, Raffaella had two important experiences; one in Lourdes and the other in Senegal, where she met the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor and was fascinated to see them happily living their vocation.
Gradually, Raffaella decided to dedicate a year of her life to God through the experience of the Youth Centre run by the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor. In October 1995, Raffaella began her vocational exploration within in the Community of “Casetta Nova” in Frascati. She felt that God was asking more and more of her, and as a result, her journey into religious life, which began in May 1997.
During her time in the novitiate, Raffaella became increasingly familiar with the life and values of the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor. She wrote that she was fascinated by the simplicity of their way of life, their profound freedom, and their style of communion and mutual love. She felt she found in them the same passion for God that animated Mother Frances Schervier, the foundress of the Congregation.
Raffaella felt a growing inner desire to become an instrument of God’s healing love. On May 28th, 2000, she made her first religious profession, taking vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. Her adventure as a Franciscan Sister of the Poor began in Messina. These were years of enthusiasm and self-giving in the service of young people, which Sr. Raffaella lived with creativity and enthusiasm; offering new and original ways of witnessing God’s love and attracting younger generations to the life of the Gospel. She understood what St. Francis shared about being pilgrims and strangers on this earth. She expressed the desire to become poor in order to leave space for God’s action, to share the same fate of the poor with her gaze and heart fixed on God. On September 17, 2006, the Feast of the Stigmata of St Francis, Sr. Raffaella celebrated her perpetual profession in her hometown parish of the Holy Trinity in Torre Annunziata (Naples). Shortly afterwards, she left for Senegal, where she remained for three years, mainly involved in youth ministry and the formation of new generations in the life of the Gospel. She was impressed with the courage and strength the Senegalese women faced the difficulties of daily life. She felt the importance of them rediscovering themselves as sons and daughters loved and sought by God; brothers and sisters building justice and peace among peoples.
In June 2009, Sr. Raffaella moved to Italy. After various medical tests, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and, thus, began a period of therapy in preparation for surgery, which she faced with courage and positivity; entrusting herself to God. From 2009 onwards, she lived in the “Casetta Nova” Community in Frascati, where she dedicated herself to accompanying young people. In 2011, she began her service overseeing the formation of the novices of the Congregation in Italy and in 2013, directing the Italian Temporary Professed Sisters. She was appreciated for her frankness, her prophetic vision, and her ability to bring people to God through their own humanity.
In the meantime, she began a formation course which led her to become a counsellor. This gave her the opportunity to create a service of human and spiritual accompaniment for many people. She led self-help groups for women suffering from cancer; offering pathways of growth and self-understanding.
From an inspiration shared with a Sister, in 2013, she created the project “She who knows”; an all-female path of support and care, through which many women over the years have learned to form a joint alliance to value who they are and to generate life.
During her 12 years of illness, Sr. Raffaella showed exceptional fortitude and exceptional strength when facing even the most difficult moments. She accepted the overpowering of the disease with heroic patience, never letting her situation weigh on her, profoundly enjoying simple and daily experiences: a good meal, a walk, a song, the gift of a scarf, a chat with a dear friend. She lived with a deep sense of gratitude for the life given and for the many people that were a part of her life. She valued all the experiences she had and the challenges she faced.
In the end, even in pain, Sr. Raffaella felt that being in the heart of God is the only reality that truly counts. On June 14, 2021, she entered God’s heart forever, having given us a fruitful life full of beauty, which began as an offering of herself as a grain of wheat falling onto the earth, which by dying, bears much fruit.
With a heart full of gratitude, we bless God for the great gift that Sr. Raffaella has been and will continue to be for all of us.
June 16, 2021
The following are some testimonials from our Sisters, Associates and friends who remember with affection Sr. Raffaella Maresca:
There are few people you encounter in life and you need no words to communicate on the deepest level. Our sister Raffaella was such a person for me. She radiated Christ. Her approach was always the same, with her twinkling eyes, forever smile and loving embrace to all, you knew she was in touch with the Christ from within. May she continue to shine FOREVER. Sr. Marilyn Trowbridge, Sfp
We met on September 18, 1995: I was arriving at the Youth Center with my backpack and I found you there. We shared 26 long and very rich years! We were very different and yet similar, united by the same desire for radicality, the same thirst for God that pushed us to get serious, the same passion for the charism of healing.
I saw you determined, autonomous, aware of your abilities, and yet you allowed me to reach out to your fragility. I admired your foresight, your wise word, your skills, your brilliant intelligence, and I bumped up against your stubbornness. Many times you were able to make room for what I confusedly tried to bring out, you offered me esteem, support and much affection.
Nothing was left out of our long and strong friendship: laughter and tears, words and silences, presence and distance, contact and respect. How many times we said to each other, “I wouldn’t change my SFP life!” How many times we had long chats sharing inspirations and struggles!
Thank you for all the Good that I received from you and that I now treasure in the memory of my heart.
Sr. Wilma Molinari, Sfp
Sr. Raffaella was a sister for me, a dear friend…I remember her as a sensitive person, straight, honest, generous, always ready to give advice, a good word, to instill courage in others…. Always cheerful, she brought joy to everyone she met and her smile was contagious…. Raffaella taught me to always see the positive in things and in others and the courage to fight without complaining, just as she did during the years of her illness…. I am grateful to God that I knew her and shared a piece of my life with her…Thank you my sister and always look down on us from up there ….. Goodbye…yours
Sr. Barbara Torregrossa, Sfp
It was moments of GRACE to be with Sr. Raffaella at our General Chapter in 2018. With her at our table our discussions were lively and filled with laughter. She gave of herself completely and I truly loved my sister. Sr. Pauline Sweeney, Sfp
With regret I write these words to say thank you to God for the life of Sister Raffaella who has gone to the house of our Father. The life of our Sister Raffaella has touched me so much because she was a person of faith, always smiling, very pious and always available for the service. May God welcome her soul in His Mercy.
Sr. Geneviève Ndecky, Sfp
Sister Raffaella was always a good example to me of what religious life is all about:
WHAT IT MEANS TO LIVE A LIFE OF LOVE FOR AND WITH THE GOD WHO LOVES US. And that love always went out to others. Much Love and Prayers,
Sr. Mary Madonna Hoying, Sfp
Sr. Raffaella for me, as for many others, has been a true gift. Thanks to her I had a profound experience of God: patient, loving, who cares for my life.
I will never forget that when she became my supervisor, for our first interview she took me for a walk in a beautiful segment of the Appia Antica, in Rome, from the first moment she made me feel precious and loved.
Sr. Maria Chiara Ferrari, Sfp
No words can explain what Sr. Raffaella was to my life.
She was the first Franciscan of the Poor that I met, her radicalism captured me, her passion questioned my mediocrity. I still remember her elegance and beauty the first time I met her, her irony which was a sign of her being extremely free. She accompanied my discernment along with other Sisters and took care of my first steps in the SFP family during my formation years. A woman with a wide gaze, but never detached from the present moment; delicate and firm at the same time. Raffaella deeply believed in the many potentialities of life sometimes hidden in deep wounds. I am grateful to God for having met her, for the beautiful face of God she showed me, for her blossoming, risen and shining humanity.
Sr. Carmen De Matteo, Sfp
Raffaella has been for me a teacher and a sister, welcoming and firm. I’ve always loved her ability to encourage and enhance the gifts of others. Competitive in the game, warrior in life. Like few she knew how to lead back to God, to center in Him, teaching that nothing human is contrary to Him. She had a sensitive and attentive gaze that knew how to enjoy the beauty, she was able to stay in the depths of life. Thank you,
Sr. Roberta Sommaggio, Sfp
If I had to draw a memory of Sr. Raffaella, I would depict her as a beautiful butterfly, with bright colors that gracefully flutters through meadows, seas, mountains and soars higher and higher to be able to peer at the beauty of creation, and circling goes to rest on an expanse of flowers above which it abandons itself in a beautiful and harmonious dance that allows it to savor the multifarious fragrances that the flowers offer.
Beyond this poetic image, I had the opportunity to share with Sr. Raffaella the experience of the Membership Development Committee. I always admired her wisdom, her physical and spiritual composure, her measured words, her concrete love for the Sisters, her ability to synthesize and her positivity about anything she faced.
Moreover, following her during these years, I was always impressed by the naturalness and lightness with which she seemed to live her illness: she didn’t give it much importance, she never let slip that she lived carrying the burden of that heavy cross. She was a sister who was always attentive, enthusiastic, smiling, welcoming but also very determined and demanding with herself and with others. I can say that I saw in her a fulfilled woman and consecrated person who embodied the Charism of healing; a true daughter of Mother Frances.
Sr. Antonietta Urdì, Sfp
I like to remember her in an assembly of many years ago. …joyful and smiling, while she was interpreting a scene from the story of Mother Frances, together with Sr. Vincenza, exchanging jokes in Neapolitan… even the walls would laugh at it!
Gigi Sapone, Sfp Associate
I met Sr. Raffaella in the formation meetings proposed to the young people involved in the activities of my parish in Vermicino. The SFP community was right next to the church and their home was always welcoming and full of friendship. I remember when she shared her vocational experience. When she was a young girl she attended Mass but stayed on the sidelines, that God seemed inaccessible to her, but she had a great desire for the absolute. Then, the encounter with young people of Franciscan charism, and SFP, and her total and generous giving of herself in all the activities in which she was involved. In 2011 the “Raggi di Sole” Project was inaugurated, she had just recovered from a cycle of chemotherapy treatments but wanted to participate in that new beginning. The gift she leaves me and for which I feel immense gratitude is her concrete and joyful courage. Thank you very much Raffaella for having touched our lives!
Sara Botti, Sfp employee
I had the honor of spending several days with Sr. Raffaella in Aachen. I will always remember her beautiful smile. It was genuine and showed her friendly, welcoming spirit. I know she is smiling down on all of us from Heaven.
Jennifer Gerth, SFP Congregational Archivist
Exceptional woman whom I was blessed to meet and who facilitated my return to Christian life. We shared a beautiful journey together, did a Franciscan march, and the World Youth Day in Cologne. She was a point of reference during the years in which my emotions swung back and forth, and even when our paths diverged, for me she was always the big sister to whom I could turn when I was trying to find clarity in my life. I hoped to meet her again, to bring my children to Casetta Nova to introduce them to her. Now I know that she is watching them from heaven and I am certain that she will know how to direct them towards the right path, as she did so many times with me.
Sara Forti
