Rome (Italy). On December 12, 2019, sr Adelina Corbanese, of St. Rose of Lima Community, Rome, St. John Bosco Province (IRO) turns 100 years old.
A Novice asked Sr. Adelina Corbanese, “What is the secret of your longevity?”. And sr Adelina Corbanese replied smilingly and without hesitation, “Happiness”.
The 100th birthday of sr Adelina was a day of joy and family. She received a letter of gratitude and greetings from the FMA Mother General, sr Yvonne Reungoat. To celebrate this important milestone, there was the Provincial, sr Angela Maria Maccioni, a group of FMA from the houses of Rome and Colleferro, the FMA Novitiate Community, and the SDB Community of Castel Gandolfo. The Mayor of Marino sent a letter and a bouquet of flowers presented by the Councilor for Information Services, Control and Technological Innovation at the service of the Territory and of the Citizens, Dr. Saverio Audino.
At the Eucharistic celebration presided by her nephew, Fr. Agostino Corbanese, SDB, all present gave thanks for sr Adelina’s life and joyful witness, for her simplicity and generosity.
She stated at the interview: “This is how my vocation was born. The Pastor at the time of my First Communion told us that we could ask for a grace and I asked to be a Sister. I lived at Lovadina, in the Province of Treviso. My mother did not want be to become a Sister, so she did not send me to Conegliano to meet the Sisters. I took advantage of the visit of one of my friends who worked with the FMA at Colleferro to convince my mother to let me go to accompany her. I did not return home again. Then my mother on the day of my entrance into the Novitiate came and embraced me with much affection”.
Sr. Adelina says that she had faced many sacrifices in her life and that obedience to the Superiors, the Constitutions “always in her pocket”, and above all, the help of Mary Help of Christians always sustained her, giving her serenity.
During the homily, Fr. Agostino highlighted that he gave thanks for the life of sr Adelina, who with her joy “makes rebound on us the infinite love with which God loves her and sustains her for 100 years”. This birthday celebration leaves in our heart the happiness of a splendid face furrowed by the lines of her dedication to the Kingdom of God and of her faith.
Biographical Notes on Adelina Corbanese
After her first profession in 1941, she was a cook for 13 years at Sacred Heart Community of the SDB and of the boys boarding school, in Rome, at Macchi Nursery (now San Saba), and at the boarding school of Rieti. Due to health problems, she was sent to Arsoli. After some time, she was asked to remain there to take care of 40 orphans between three and six years old. Sr Adelina remembers that she was frightened by this request. She had never directly taken care of little ones! She turned to Our Lady, “You know everything. I never stayed with them, you have to help me! You have to help me! She was really desperate, but then I got well and She helped me. In those thirteen years, not one child was hurt”.
There was much suffering in these years because of the privations and the amount of work taking care of little ones required. There was only a little help, only two sisters, without a Superior. Once a month a Sister appointed by the Provincial came to visit them.
In 1967, she was the assistant of the University students at Aquila. This too left indelible traces. “I was a mother for them. When they finished High School, the girls went to Aquila to frequent the University and they felt free, but I scolded them firmly to prevent them from going astray. I treated them like my daughters and I took care of them like a mother. They remember me and still contact me”.
