Silvia Lubich was born in Trent on 22 January 1920. As a Franciscan tertiary in the 1940s, and in honour of Saint Clare of Assisi, she took the name of Chiara (Claire). She inherited a deep Christian...

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The house where Chiara was born overlooks the square which takes its name from the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. She was baptised there on February 1, 1920 with the name of Silvia Maria Elvira. The...

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From October 1926 to June 1931 Chiara attended the “G. Verdi” elementary school. In her formative years, fascism grew in Italy and Trent and the Trentino region were included within the...

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The period of Silvia’s childhood is linked to an area of the city with a parish rich in religious, cultural and social initiatives. Significant in those years was her relationship with the...

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In order to contribute to the family budget, in the school year 1931/32 Silvia began to study commerce at a preliminary vocational school. Her results and her abilities were recognized by the...

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On 20 July 1938 Silvia Lubich obtained her teaching certificate and in the autumn of the same year began teaching in an elementary school. «I loved the children so much, because I already saw Jesus...

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From 3 to 8 October 1939 Silvia attended a meeting for young leaders of Catholic Action in Loreto. Often, in those days, she went to the shrine that encloses the little house that once belonged to...

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Having gained her elementary teacher’s diploma, from her nineteenth to her twenty-third year she taught. Her students have always remembered her as “la maestra Silvia”. Benito Cont recalled,...

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Against the background of the collapse of everything, in the hatred and violence of war, in 1943 Chiara made the “dazzling discovery” of the One who remains: God, who she experienced as...

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In the harsh winter of 1943, the streets of Trent froze over. Her mother first asked the younger daughters to get milk a couple of kilometres from home, in the Madonna Bianca district, but Silvia...

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On December 7, 1943, in the early morning, defying the storm that raged and made her journey difficult, Chiara went to the Capuchin Friary and there she made the act of ‘consecration’. It was the...

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Rushing day and night to visit the abandoned elderly and look after the poor, one of Chiara’s companions, Dori Zamboni, got an infection on her face. On January 24, 1944, Father Casimiro...

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Until September 2, 1943, there had been no bombings in the Trentino region, but afterwards twenty-five thousand people left the city and bomb shelters were built (the largest in Piazza Venezia). By...

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After the violent bombardment of May 13, the Lubich family had to leave the city, but Chiara remained in Trent. With some companions she shared an apartment in Piazza Cappuccini. These were the...

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The bombardments of the Second World War became increasingly intense on the city of Trent. The air-raid shelters were transformed into privileged meeting places for the first community that was...

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Chiara and her first companions, at the sound of the air-raid alarm, found refuge in the cellar of the house in Via Travai where Natalia Dallapiccola lived. There, too, they opened the Gospel....

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Among the phrases of the Gospel which was read, meditated upon and lived, there was one that struck Chiara in a particular way. It was: “He who hears you hears me” (Lk 10:16). She and her...

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In a few years, the Movement inspired by Chiara Lubich spread throughout Italy and, after the war, it seemed appropriate to move to Rome. She was advised to contact Igino Giordani, a member of the...

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I primi anni vissuti a Roma, sono per Chiara molto impegnativi ed è necessario un periodo di riposo. “Abbiamo pensato noi ragazze di andare in montagna nella Valle di Primiero. Una di noi aveva...

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Pasquale Foresi had heard about Chiara Lubich, her spirituality and her life experience, from one of her first companions, Graziella De Luca. It was at Christmas 1949 that he met Chiara for the first...

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After the summer of 1949, for nine years, people of every vocation and social class, of diverse cultures and origins, continued meeting together in the Primiero Valley. “Many others came to...

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In 1954, Chiara met Pavel Maria Hniliça (Chiara later called him Father Maria), a bishop consecrated clandestinely in Czechoslovakia. Having grasped the spirit of the charism of unity, he asked...

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Influenced by the dramatic events of the Hungarian revolution of 1956, Chiara began her first ventures in the renewal of the many sectors of society. When Pope Pius XII made his heartfelt appeal,...

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When Chiara met Klaus Hemmerle (1929-1994), in the Mariapolis of 1958, he was a young priest. He was a teacher, author of numerous publications, and active in the social and ecumenical fields. Later,...

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Viene pubblicata la prima raccolta dei suoi scritti spirituali, sotto il titolo...

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In Darmstadt (Germany) Chiara Lubich met some Lutheran pastors who wanted to know about her spirituality rooted in the Gospel. Thus began a fraternal relationship of ecumenical dialogue. “Until...

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From May 24, 1961, the day of its foundation, the “Centro Uno” began collecting and disseminating news and articles, in order to increase in Catholics a sensitivity to Christian unity,...

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On August 20, 1962, towards the end of a period of rest in Oberiberg, a mountain village near the shrine of Einsiedeln, Switzerland, Chiara recalled, “I was walking down a road with my...

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In 1964, the first of 33 Focolare little towns was established in Loppiano, Tuscany, about twenty kilometres south of Florence. Their aim is to live permanently the unceasing newness of the Gospel,...

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On July 6, 1966, Chiara addressed a group of girls – children and teens – gathered at Rocca di Papa who had been received in audience by Pope Paul VI: “This is an historic date, because...

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In Istanbul, on June 13, 1967, Chiara met the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Athenagoras I. From ’67 to ’72 she made eight trips to Istanbul and had 23 audiences with the Patriarch....

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A series of international meetings of the “Bishops friends of the Focolare Movement” began, initially promoted by Mons. Klaus Hemmerle, Bishop of Aachen (Germany), to deepen the...

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In London, Chiara received the Templeton Prize “For Progress in religion”. The ceremony was attended by representatives of many religions and dialogue began with followers of other...

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In Tokyo, Chiara was invited by Rev. Nikkyo Niwano, founder of the secular Buddhist renewal movement Rissho Kosei-kai, to address 10,000 people in their large temple. This dialogue also developed in...

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Chiara Lubich was appointed as a consultant to the Pontifical Council for the Laity. She participated in the Extraordinary Synod for the twentieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. She was...

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The Pontifical Council for the Laity approved the General Statutes of the Work of Mary (Focolare Movement.) With the collaboration of Bishop Klaus Hemmerle, she began the Abba School in order to...

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Faced with the serious social disparities that affect Latin America, during a trip to Brazil, in 1991 she started the project of the Economy of...

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On April 8, 1995, Chiara received the honorary citizenship of Rocca di Papa, where the International Centre of the Focolare Movement is located, founded in 1963. Chiara received 17 honorary...

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On 2 May 1996, in Naples, Chiara laid the groundwork for the Politics for Unity Movement. She invited a group of politicians, even though they belonged to different groups, to make fraternity the...

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Con il dottorato Honoris Causa dell’Università Cattolica di Lublino (Polonia) conferito il 19 giugno 1996, si apre una serie di riconoscimenti culturali ricevuti nell’arco di ventidue anni, in...

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On 17 December 1996, Chiara received the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education. In her speech, she outlined what she described as the “secret” of the success of the Movement that began with...

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A Bangkok (Tailandia), nei primi giorni di gennaio, Chiara incontra il Patriarca Supremo del buddismo tailandese H.H. Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara, che incoraggia il dialogo e la collaborazione tra...

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On May 18, 1997, a new stage of relations between Christians and Muslims began. Chiara Lubich, a Christian woman, was invited by Imam W. D. Mohammed, a charismatic leader of African American Muslims,...

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On April 20, 1998, in Buenos Aires (Argentina), Chiara met members of the Jewish community and signed a pact of fraternity with them. “It is with great joy that I am here today with you all, a part...

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At the end of the 1970s, with the spread of the Movement, a greater openness towards agnostics, atheists, the indifferent, and people without formal faith, reached the point of expressing itself in a...

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In St Peter’s Square, Rome, on May 30 1998, Chiara was among the four founders who spoke at the first international meeting of ecclesial movements and new communities. Over 350,000 people took...

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In the last year of the Millennium, Chiara was invited to several international meetings. In Strasbourg (France) she addressed the 50th Anniversary Conference of the Council of Europe with a talk on...

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On the occasion of her eightieth birthday, Chiara received the honorary citizenship of Rome: “I have received other citizenships, but this is certainly the one I love most, because Rome is...

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In Rome, at the Palazzo San Macuto of the Italian Parliament, she presented the ideals of the Politics for Unity Movement to of a group of politicians. She later met groups of parliamentarians and...

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A Innsbruck (Austria), partecipa al Convegno “1000 città per l’Europa”, presenti il Presidente della Commissione europea Romano Prodi, il Presidente Austriaco Thomas Klestil, e oltre 700...

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Ad Assisi, con Andrea Riccardi, fondatore della Comunità di Sant’Egidio, Chiara interviene in rappresentanza della Chiesa cattolica, alla Giornata interreligiosa per la pace, promossa da Giovanni...

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During her visit to India, in Mumbai, Chiara continued and deepened the dialogue with Hinduism, which had begun on the occasion of her first stay in 2001. She visited Somaiya College, one of the...

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A Stoccarda (Germania), in concomitanza con l’allargamento dell’Unione Europea a 25 Paesi, si svolge la Giornata Insieme per l’Europa, frutto del cammino di comunione tra più di 150 Movimenti...

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When she was young, Chiara wanted to further her studies as a way to the truth and had enrolled at University. The Second World War put an end to her plans, preventing her from attending. Later in...

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On March 10, during a final hospitalization at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, Chiara received a personal letter from Benedict XVI and a visit from the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople...

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Thousands of people came to her funeral on March 18 at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. There were numerous bishops and cardinals, representatives of Catholic movements, Churches and...

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