A life marked by a love for Jesus
Ed West reports on the life of Chiara Lubich, the founder of the Focolare movement
21 March 2008

Chiara Lubich

Focolare founder Chiara Lubich, who died last Friday aged 88, began her spiritual journey while a philosophy student during the Second World War, and came to lead a worldwide movement of 140,000 members and over two million followers in 80 countries.

Born Silvia Lubich on January 22, 1920 in Trento, northern Italy, Silvia became the family breadwinner at just 13 when her father lost his job. She worked as a primary school teacher from 19 and attended a philosophy course at the University of Venice, which was interrupted by Italy's entry into the war.

But in 1939, on a students' pilgrimage to the Holy House of Loreto, Silvia had a vision in which she lived in a world dedicated to Christ. The vision told her that others would follow. She took the name Chiara, after St Clare of Assisi, after this experience.

Four years later, while running an errand for her mother, she said she felt a sudden call: "It was as if God were saying 'Give yourself to me.'" On December 7 that year she made a vow of "perfect and perpetual chastity".

The young woman soon began attracting followers, over 500 within a few months. They earned the nickname focolarine - hearth - after bringing food and comfort to the homeless during the bombing of Trento. This nickname stuck for the Work of Mary, as the group was officially named.

Some of the Foclarine - young, single women - moved in together, something not thought well of in provincial Italy, and Miss Lubich decided that they needed the approval of the Church.

But the Church encouraged Miss Lubich and her followers to speak at meetings in parish halls, and their concern for the poor did much to fight off the Communist threat. The Archbishop of Trento concluded of the group: "The finger of God is here."

In 1949 Miss Lubich moved to Rome after experiencing a series of religious insights. There, one of her followers introduced her to Mgr Montini, the future Paul VI, who was impressed by Chiara Lubich and the group.

She maintained good relations with all the popes, from Pius XII, who received her in 1954, to Benedict XVI, who praised her "long and spiritual life" this week. John Paul II, however, was the Pope she felt closest to, which stemmed partly from the group's activity in eastern Europe.

The young Fr Karol Wojtyla had encountered the Focolare working illegally in Poland and other countries behind the Iron Curtain. It was during this dangerous and difficult time that the group came of age, with members often ending up in Communist detention camps and helping the Hungarian Church after the 1956 failed uprising. Constantly followed by the various secret police, they were known to keep a birthday cake ready while catechising children in case the authorities turned up.

It was the "Marian Pope", her description of John Paul II, who officially approved the constitution of the Work of Mary in 1990, which included a rule that the president must always be a woman. By then the group had spread to 80 countries, and had built several little towns dedicated to Mary, inspired by the monastic settlements of the Middle Ages. Today there are 35 such towns known as "Mariapolis".

Miss Lubich published more than 30 books, and became a highly respected figure during the last 30 years. John Paul II invited her to address the worldwide Synod of Bishops in Rome on two occasions. She won a Unesco Peace Education Prize, and had earlier been the recipient of the Templeton Prize in 1977, receiving the award from the Duke of Edinburgh and handing the money to the House of Charity for the disabled in Rome, a maternity unit in Cameroon and shanty towns across the developing world.

Today the movement includes 20,000 priests and deacons and 4,500 parishes. Every year 100 bishops meet at the movement's centre at Castel Gandolfo, on land donated by the Lubich family, along with bishops of other denominations. The group is perhaps best known for its ecumenical work, having founded an ecumenical centre in Rome in 1964.

Chiara Lubich met every Archbishop of Canterbury from Michael Ramsey onwards and acquired a following among some Anglicans. In Germany her followers built a town near Augsburg where Catholics and Lutherans live together. She became something of a go-between with Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople at his home in Istanbul and Pope Paul VI, after visiting the Patriarch at his home in Turkey.

Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who had visited her days before her death, said: "with her life she has and continues to give much to the whole Church."

He was joined by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who paid tribute to her on Vatican Radio on Monday. "Chiara Lubich was one of the great figures of the modern Church. She set a new tone and a new agenda for the community life of many Christians. Her writings and teachings gave inspiration to hundreds of thousands and we lament her passing with very deep feeling. She was someone I had the privilege of meeting and I've had very fruitful contact over many years with the Focolare movement who have been kind and supportive and inspirational to me in my own ministry. My heart goes out to them as they mourn Chiara's passing. I think we have seen in her one of the great lights of the present Christian generation."

Miss Lubich will be interred at the chapel in the grounds of Rocca di Papa, the movement's home near Rome, where she spent her last 24 hours. She had been admitted to hospital in February but had asked to return home to die. Hundreds of people passed through her rooms to say good bye, with many more outside.

When a priest asked her: "Are you ready to go to the heart of the Father?" she replied with her final word: "Yes".

The requiem funeral Mass was due to be held in the Vatican's Basilica of St Paul-Outside-the-Walls on Tuesday with Cardinal Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, as principal celebrant. Her funeral was attended by representatives from all major religions, including Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and two representatives from the Sikh community from Birmingham.

Pope Benedict offered his condolences to her family, members of the Focolare movement and all "who appreciated her constant commitment for communion in the Church, for ecumenical dialogue and for brotherhood among all peoples".

He also expressed his thanks to God "for the witness of her life spent in listening to the needs of contemporary people in full fidelity to the Church and to the Pope".

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor said Miss Lubich "sought to incarnate the belief that love will transform the existence of every person. We are all indebted to her work with the Focolare movement, especially in building friendship between Christians and with people of other faiths."

Fr Frank Johnson, a Focolare priest in Liverpool, said: "There's a great sense of loss of someone who has been our spiritual guide for the past 30 years. But there's also joy that she's reached her place, she's in heaven. It remains to us to continue her example so that, as the Pope said, her work is really continued after death."