FAMILY saints
Luigi and Maria BELTRAME QUATTROCCHI

Scenes
from a (True)  Marriage
The story of a marriage–half a century of life together and four children, three of whom were consecrated to God; the apostolate among the poor; the friendship with Cardinals Schuster and Montini... The Quattrocchis were the first married couple raised to the altars because, in day-to-day life, they searched for God.

by Paola Bergamini

A black and white photograph: a man of distinction delicately fixes a flower to the lapel of the woman in front of him, with the Three Peaks of Lavaredo, northern Italy, in the background. The eye is drawn to the tenderness of that action, to her smile, and to his composure. There is something in their look that binds them together. The photograph is dated: “Summer 1953.” They are Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi, who would spend half a century of life together. They are the first married couple in the history of the Church to be raised to the altars. They were beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2001, on the 20th anniversary of his Familiaris Consortio Letter. In their lives, there were no acts of heroism, no great achievements; they just lived their marriage and family as a journey to God, quite simply. They are an example of “ordinary” holiness. This is the method of the Church–to indicate those who, in that moment of history, live Christian virtue to the full. It becomes a possibility for all.
Luigi and Maria met in Rome at the beginning of the last century. In 1893, the Corsini family moved from Florence to Rome with their maternal grandparents when Maria was ten years old. Brilliant in her studies, she qualified for a girls’ school for management and accounting where she learned English and French. Her true passion, though, was for Italian and foreign literature. Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi, born in Catania in 1880, came, while still a child, to live in Rome with his aunt and uncle who were childless. He attended classical high school and then university, graduating in law. Their families were not particularly religious. Thanks to mutual friends, they met at the Corsini home. Luigi was attracted to that girl who conversed about everything, even social life and politics, and was interested in what was going on. They began to spend time together. Maria had begun a spiritual journey. She understood that life is true only within love for God and the Church. Luigi was not particularly religious, but felt the need for law and ethics to go together. How? It would be Maria who showed him the only possible way. On November 25, 1905, they were married in the Basilica of St. Mary Major, and went to live in the Corsini home. In the four years that followed, Filippo, Stefania, and Cesare were born. Maria’s faith grew steadily stronger; daily prayer became the driving force of the day. She understood that her vocation was to be a wife, mother, and educator. And Luigi? In his love for his wife, he began to follow. In this journey, they were accompanied by Fr. Pellegrino Paoli, a frequent visitor in their home. He wrote to Maria, “On this one foundation, my daughter must build her spiritual house, aiming, above all, at interior formation, fixing in her mind that holiness does not consist in doing extraordinary things, but in doing well, with the highest perfection, the things that belong to our state.” Life moved on from here. Luigi progressed in his career in law, becoming State Attorney. Everyone respected him; he never compromised his position as a believer, often swimming against the tide. On the advice of Fr. Paoli, Maria wrote and published her first book, The Mother in the Modern Educational Challenge. Many more books were to follow.

Before the Sacred Heart. In autumn of 1913 came the news of the fourth pregnancy. It was a risky one, and a prominent gynecologist suggested interrupting the pregnancy as the only way to save the mother’s life. Maria has no doubts; she is quite calm, and ready for the sacrifice in order to save the creature given by God. Luigi is hesitant. In these eight years, his life has been radically changed–through the love of Maria he has discovered true Love, but now, to let her go, no longer have her near, with three young children… He prays and trusts in the Lord. In the months of silence,  they prayer together. On April 6th, Enrichetta was born, quite healthy, like her mother.
Outbreak of the First World War. The house on via Depretis, where they had moved, opens up to refugees, to the wounded, and to those in need. Their love is for everyone. In 1916, they contacted the Scout movement. Understanding the intelligence of the method, they got involved, enrolling their children and attending the meetings themselves. With a colleague and a friend, Luigi founded a club for street children in the nearby neighborhood of Suburra and then a Scout troop where he brought Cesare and Filippo. In 1920, the family met Fr. Matthew Crawley, apostle of the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in families. Before the image of the Sacred Heart the family would gather to recite the Magnificat, entrusting their worries and needs, and the people dear to them. In the 1920s, important figures of Italian Catholicism passed through their home. In their parlor, Fr. Agostino Gemelli and Armida Barelli discussed the founding of the Catholic University. Maria was pleased with this idea. The university could answer, she thought, one of the most urgent social needs of the time–a Catholic moral and intellectual formation. It was through her friendship with these important figures that Maria decided to join the Catholic Action women’s contingent, becoming the national representative for religion.

Interested in everything.  Luigi, for his part, attended (at the Abbey of St. Paul) the “Minimal Retreats” preached by Fr. Ildefonso Schuster, the future Archbishop of Milan, and by the young Monsignor Giovanni Battista Montini, the future Paul VI. He made friends with the leading proponents of the Catholic Laity, and joined the Partito Popolare [the Catholic-based party founded by the priest Fr. Luigi Sturzo]. He was interested in the whole of reality. Just at the beginning of the ’20s, the Lord asked Luigi and Maria for a great sacrifice. First Filippo, then Cesare, and shortly after Stefania told them of their desire to consecrate themselves to God. On November 5, 1924, the whole family had an audience with Pope Pius XI, and the following day took Filippo to the Collegio Capranica and Cesare to St. Paul’s. Three years later, with the name of Sr. Cecilia, Stefania entered the cloistered Monastery of the Benedictines in Milan. The parents accompanied these vocations by means of numerous letters and, when possible, by going to see their children. Via Depretis was emptied of children, but filled with all those in need–not only material but spiritual, too. Many people in doubt over their faith, among them nuns and priests with vocational difficulties, saw in them a stable reference point from which to restart.
The coming of Fascism and the consequent Second World War saw them in the front lines, helping the needy. Maria, along with her daughter Enrichetta, was a Red Cross volunteer. They had no time to rest, but she was worried about her two sons. On August 13, 1940, she entrusted them both to Our Lady of Divine Love. Fr. Paolino (Filippo), Chaplain in Fiume, and Fr. Tarcisio (Cesare), alongside the IV Submarine Group, both emerged “miraculously” unscathed from the conflict. After September 8th, the Beltrame’s activities multiplied. They knew they were putting their own lives at risk. Their sons’ religious habits were worn as disguise by Jews, ex-officers, and partisans. The house became a “clearing house,” all under the nose of the Nazi command housed in the Viminal Palace exactly opposite the Beltrame home!

The final reunion.  At the end of the war, Luigi left the office of the Attorney General and became a consultant for national bodies. Maria, in addition to continuing her activity as a writer, served other causes, in particular the Family Front and Christian Renewal. She organized courses for engaged couples, conferences, assistance for large families, and others. In that historical moment, she felt that, to rebuild the social fabric, they needed to begin from the nucleus, the family, the Christian family. At the beginning of November in 1951, Sr. Cecilia was in Rome, and it was the occasion for all the family to meet for a few hours in the monastery. It was to be the last time–on November 9th, Luigi died of a heart attack. Maria, supported by Enrichetta, continued her work of apostolate and writing. The year following her husband’s death, she published The Weft and the Warp, X-ray of a Marriage, in which she recounts their whole life together. On August 21, 1965, she went with Enrichetta to visit Sr. Cecilia, and confided to her, “I have offered my life to the Lord that the world may go better.” Four days later, while crossing the threshold of the vacation house, she collapsed in the arms of her daughter. Her task was completed.