57 Facts About Chiara Lubich

Chiara Lubich was a charismatic figure who broke with many female stereotypes as early as the 1940s, opening a previously unheard of role for women in society and the Roman Catholic Church.

Chiara Lubich took her place in the history of contemporary spirituality among teachers and mystics for the authentic Gospel-based inspiration, universal outlook, and cultural and social influence that distinguish her charism, spirituality, and work.

Chiara Lubich's mother Luigia Marinconz, was a fervent Catholic, while her father Luigi, was a socialist and convinced anti-fascist.

Chiara Lubich later took the religious name Chiara upon entering the Franciscan Third Order.

Luigi Chiara Lubich worked as a typesetter for the socialist newspaper Il Popolo, directed by Cesare Battisti.

Chiara Lubich developed a strong sense of social justice from her father; her brother Gino, who was a socialist; and the family's life of poverty, becoming very sensitive to the needs of the poor.

Chiara Lubich attended a teachers' college and became a passionate student of philosophy.

Chiara Lubich became convinced that "the salvation of the twentieth century is love".

Chiara Lubich shared this great news with "letters of fire" that she wrote to her relatives, to the young women of the Third Order, and to her colleagues.

In February 1948, in an editorial signed by Silvia Chiara Lubich, which appeared in L'Amico Serafico, the magazine of the Capuchin Fathers, she announced the communion of goods to all those around her, following the example of the first Christians.

Chiara Lubich is the one who binds us into unity with the Father, and into unity among us, the unity which had been impossible until now.

Chiara Lubich understood that the unity that she and her first companions were experiencing was destined for the whole world.

The Chiara Lubich home was damaged to the point of being uninhabitable.

The family decided to look for shelter in a mountain village, while Chiara Lubich made the difficult choice to stay in the city to support the increasingly numerous group of young women who were inspired by her actions and her words.

For Chiara Lubich, this was a call to set aside her own pain to take on the pain of humanity.

Chiara Lubich listened to them, got more information about their life and then reassured them.

Chiara Lubich confirmed that this was something new that was developing and should be separate from the Franciscan Third Order.

Chiara Lubich addressed the synods of the bishops in 1985,1987 and 1999.

Various circumstances led Chiara Lubich to move from Trento to Rome.

Chiara Lubich understood more about God's plans for the Focolare Movement and its future developments.

In September 1949, Chiara Lubich returned to Rome from the mountains and a new stage began.

Chiara Lubich was destined to become one of Chiara's closest collaborators, whom she considered a co-founder, alongside Igino Giordani.

Chiara Lubich often described herself as a simple instrument in the hands of the artist.

Chiara Lubich repeated several times that she never had a plan or an agenda:.

In 1967, Chiara Lubich proposed to young people a revolution of love, based on the Gospel.

Chiara Lubich issued a strong appeal for young people of the world to unite.

Chiara Lubich pointed to a new model of person needed for this era, the "global person" with the whole world in their heart.

In 1985, an even broader youth movement began, called "Youth for a United World" for young adults, while a year before, in 1984, Chiara Lubich had started "Teens for Unity", for teens and children to build peace everywhere and to spread a culture of giving.

On July 19,1967, Chiara Lubich announced the beginning of a movement for families.

Chiara Lubich asked couples who were living the spirituality of unity to reach out to all couples, but especially to focus on those who most reflected the suffering of Jesus abandoned on the cross.

Ever since the early years of the movement in Trento, Chiara Lubich had frequent contacts with men and women religious of various congregations as well as diocesan priests.

Chiara Lubich requested some of the Focolare members who were doctors or nurses to go to the village of Fontem.

Chiara Lubich went in person to visit the Bangwa people in Fontem in 1966,1969 and 2000.

Chiara Lubich gave them precise directions - be perfect workers; live mutual love and love each neighbor without speaking about it; respect the laws of the country.

Chiara Lubich traveled to Berlin nine times, both before and after the wall had been constructed.

In May 1991, Chiara Lubich arrived in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to meet with the members of the movement there.

Chiara Lubich was awarded several honorary doctorates in economics and, in 1999, presented the Economy of Communion at the 50th anniversary of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France.

Chiara Lubich was invited to speak to a meeting of Italian politicians of various parties.

Chiara Lubich outlined its fundamental features on several occasions when she met members of the government in Slovenia, Spain, France, the Czech Republic, Brazil and Italy.

Chiara Lubich added "provide an antidote to the negative ideas that spread so easily, causing damage, breaking hearts and lives".

Chiara Lubich addressed a symposium at the United Nations in New York, sponsored by the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See in conjunction with the World Conference of Religions for Peace with the title A Unity of Nations and a Unity of Peoples.

At the beginning of the 1990s, at the urging of Bishop Klaus Hemmerle, Bishop of Aachen in Germany, Chiara Lubich gathered together scholars in a variety of disciplines who had been living the Focolare spirituality for some years.

Chiara Lubich had many practical ideas about how to develop a fruitful dialogue.

Chiara Lubich formed a deep and lasting friendship with Frere Roger Schutz, founder of the ecumenical community of Taize.

Chiara Lubich felt confirmed in this work by all the modern Popes, beginning with Pope John XXIII who had placed Christian unity as one of the first goals for the Second Vatican Council.

The door to interreligious dialogue opened, quite unexpectedly, in London, 1977, when Chiara Lubich received the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion.

Chiara Lubich quoted some of the great mystics of other religions who exalt love as the essence of all being.

In 1981, Chiara Lubich was invited to Tokyo by Nikkyo Niwano, the founder of Rissho KoseiKai, a lay Buddhist movement, to offer her spiritual experience to 10,000 Buddhists gathered in a prestigious Buddhist temple.

In Buenos Aires, in April 1998, Chiara Lubich met members of the Jewish community of Argentina and Uruguay at the invitation of the B'nai B'rith and other Jewish organizations.

Chiara Lubich returned in 2003 on the invitation of the leader of a vast Hindu movement, the Swadhyaya Movement.

In 2004, at Westminster Central Hall in London, Chiara Lubich, speaking to a large audience of people of various religions and cultures, proposed a strategy of fraternal love that could mark a turning point for international relations, "because fraternity is God's plan for the whole human family".

In 1978, Chiara Lubich inaugurated the Focolare center for dialogue with persons who profess no particular faith, but who follow their conscience and are committed to living and spreading the great common values of humanity.

Chiara Lubich soon realized that the spirituality of unity has something to offer to every profession and area of engagement in society.

Chiara Lubich said that her life was marked by "luminous peaks of love and the dark depths of pain".

Once again, Chiara Lubich found the way out of this trial by embracing Jesus on the cross, who in the "darkest possible night" felt abandoned by his Father.

Chiara Lubich pointed out "signs of the resurrection" in many aspects of her work, particularly in the fields of politics, economics, communication, interreligious and cultural dialogue.

Chiara Lubich felt that these "resurrections" came from the faithful love for Jesus forsaken amid pain and darkness.