✦ COME & SEE WEEKEND • 13–15 JUNE 2025 • YOUNG WOMEN 18–35
Sr Valentina
Personal stories · Religious Sisters
My vocation story
To those who ask me when I discovered my vocation, I reply that I have had Jesus in my heart since childhood. I grew up not too far from Lake Como in northern Italy and my family have always been practising Catholics. I even remember that we often had religious guests visiting, and there was something about them that attracted me: the peace they radiated, their kindness and affability, which I did not find in others. In addition, my sister and I often helped our mother clean the church: while she prepared the flowers and cleaned, my sister and I sang hymns at the microphone (obviously turned off) at the top of our voices, happy and free to express ourselves. Of course, the benches didn’t dust themselves so, after our singing session, we had to dust them all … At least we had fun competing with each other to see who could finish first!
Having been active in parish life since I was a child, I was told many times: ‘You’re a good girl, don’t you want to become a nun? My answer, although undecided, was always “No”. Inside me, I loved the idea but I was very afraid: “What if I don’t like it? What if I find out it’s not for me? What will my friends say? No, no… better to stay ‘normal’, like everyone else’. This didn’t bring me happiness at all and, as I grew up, an emptiness grew inside me. I was thirsty but did not know for what: I knew I wanted to live with Jesus, but in a way different from being a nun (an idea that frightened me). I wanted to choose my own path, yet I did not know how to quench this desire. This desire was at the root of the desire to travel, to try new experiences; my hope was that I would find a way to quench this thirst. So when I left the beautiful mountains of northern Italy and went to Spain and England. I found work in the scientific field, in hospitality and finally in the horse racing industry. I searched and searched without rest or answers. In these changes, these movements, one thing was constant in my life: my going to visit Jesus. In every new city or town, in my free time, I would go to church, kneel before the Blessed Sacrament and talk to Jesus. I knew he was always with me, even if I did not hear his answers to my questions. I gave him my frustration … and He has always been my anchor of Hope.
In 2022, with the help of a diocesan priest (with Jesuit training), I began to live my faith differently. He asked me a question that still remains vividly in my memory: ‘How do you pray, Valentina? Do you pray with your heart?’ I was shocked: ‘What do you mean, Father? I say the rosary, do novenas…’ I didn’t understand what he meant – I had never heard of praying with the heart. From then on, I began to recollect myself in silence and remain in silence listening to the movements of the heart.
During covid, I followed the Masses being live-streamed from the Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham, a place I had never heard of before and I promised Our Lady that when the pandemic was over, I would go to the Basilica. This happened in May 2023: I went to Walsingham for a retreat led by the sisters of the Community of Our Lady of Walsingham. What do I remember from that retreat? Every time I met with the sister who was accompanying me, my heart was set on fire, and the joy and love I felt was so deep, immense and attractive that I couldn’t go home as if nothing had happened. I began to visit the Community regularly, to spend time with the sisters, and I felt at home. It was everything I was looking for without knowing what I was looking for. I could no longer live with one foot in and one foot out – I had found the source that quenched my thirst and I took the step and felt as if my shoulders had been freed from the burden of fear that I had been carrying around with me all my life.
The Lord has been patient with me, staying by my side throughout my journey, guiding, supporting me through the encounters and experiences of life, and teaching me to seek Him within myself – the only true place to find Him.
Sr Valentina professed her first vows on 12th September 2025. Please keep her in your prayers as she continues her journey as a junior sister.
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