The diocesan phase has ended for Chiara Corbella Petrillo, who at 28 years old gave her life to save her baby. During the ceremony, documents containing testimonies about the Italian woman’s life were sealed, providing evidence of her virtues and her reputation for holiness.

Chiara’s husband Enrico shared, “The most beautiful message is that we are all children like her. These years and all that we experienced help to make people understand that Chiara is not a holy card to put on an altar. She is like us, she is a daughter like us, she is not a heroine or a superhero, but simply a girl who knows that she is loved by God and because of that, she can do anything.”

Bishop Baldassare Reina expressed hope, stating, “We strongly trust that the Church, after a careful and accurate discernment of her life and virtues, will soon celebrate this daughter of our Church of Rome on Earth and propose her as an example of Christian life to contemporary Christian generations.” This was said at the closing ceremony on June 21 in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, where the inquiry was opened nearly six years ago on September 21, 2018.

With the diocesan phase concluded, Chiara’s beatification process moves forward. Her father, Roberto Corbella, recalled his daughter's affectionate gestures, saying, “The moment I always remember with the greatest joy: when she was a child, after lunch, Chiara used to sit on my lap. Even after she got married, when she came back home for lunch, at the end of the meal, she would sit on my lap, it was a way to show her affection.”

Roberto finds comfort in knowing she is now a servant of God. “Seeing that so many people around the world rely on her helps to accept everything better. I would prefer to be here today with her still on my lap, but seeing that she helps so many people certainly makes it easier to accept everything,” he shared.

Chiara met Enrico in Medjugorje in 2002, and they married in 2008. The first years of their marriage were challenging. The ultrasounds of the first pregnancy showed a severe malformation, and their baby girl died shortly after birth. The same happened to their second child.

During her third pregnancy, the baby was healthy, but Chiara developed a tumor on her tongue. To treat this cancer, she needed treatments that would put the baby’s life at risk. The couple decided to refuse them and continue with the pregnancy.

Chiara’s husband said, “We listened to what the Lord was writing in our lives and for this reason, it did not seem right to replace it with what history wanted for us because we knew, we intuited that maybe it could be the most beautiful thing.”

The cancer progressed, affecting her vision and ability to speak. Chiara Corbella died on June 13, 2012, at home in her wedding gown, surrounded by her family and friends, one year after her son was born. Hundreds of people attended her funeral three days later.

“The most beautiful message is that we are all children like her,” Enrico emphasized.

Corbella’s cause for beatification was opened exactly five years after her death, following the requirements of canon law. With the closing of the diocesan investigation into her life, virtues, and sanctity, documented testimonies and other materials will now be sent to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints for further scrutiny.

At the ceremony where the documents testifying to her life were sealed, her 13-year-old son Francesco was in the front row. “But the most important testimony,” Enrico said, “is the one given by the Church, because it is necessary for the Church to say: 'Yes, what you have witnessed is truly something great.'”

Adapted by Jacob Stein