Saint Who?
Saints Who Were Scientists
Blessed Benedetta Bianchi Porro
Laywoman († 1964) Feast: January 23
Born in Italy in 1936, Benedetta Porro contracted polio as a baby. Her body was crippled, but her spirit remained vibrant. She began a journal as a very little girl. At seven she wrote, “The universe is enchanting. It’s great to be alive!” Porro entered medical school, excelling despite increasing deafness. Of her desire to be a doctor, she wrote: “I want to love, to fight, to sacrifice myself for all men.”
It turned out the deafness was caused by Von Recklinghausen’s disease, a rare and incurable illness that produces tumors on nerve endings. Porro diagnosed herself and continued with her studies at first. By her fifth year, she was too debilitated. Still she could write, “Life itself seems a miracle to me. I would like to sing a hymn of praise to him who has given it.” Gradually the disease (and unsuccessful surgeries) took away most of her senses and left her paralyzed. By the end her mother had to trace words into her palm—which retained feeling—to communicate with her. Porro maintained her ability to speak and even sing, albeit in a whisper.
Her days, she said, were hard, very hard, but sweet. After a visit to Lourdes, she said she no longer prayed for anything but to remain in the state she was in. She died at twenty-seven. Her last words were “thank you.”
All-knowing Father, through the prayers and witness of Blessed Benedetta, help us to be at peace
with our limitations.
