Angela Iacobellis

Angela Iacobellis was an Italian Roman Catholic laywoman whose short life has been the subject of a cause for beatification in the Archdiocese of Naples. She was born in Rome on 16 October 1948 to Giuseppe Iacobellis and Anna Maria Cianci. The family later settled in Naples, where she grew up, attended school, and took part in ordinary parish and youth Catholic life, including association with Catholic Action. Contemporary accounts describe her as a devout child with a marked attachment to the Eucharist, to prayer, and to the Virgin Mary, rather than as a member of any religious institute.

In late childhood she fell seriously ill and was diagnosed with leukemia. She spent her last months in medical care in Naples, where witnesses later recalled that she accepted pain and the prospect of death with unusual composure for her age and spoke of offering her sufferings. She died in Naples on 27 March 1961, during Holy Week, at the age of twelve. She never married and had no children.

After her death a reputation for holiness spread locally. A diocesan inquiry into her life and virtues was opened, and she is known in Catholic sources as a Servant of God. She has not been beatified or canonized, and she has no universally assigned feast day or official patronages. Surviving testimony and popular devotion center on her youth, her illness, and the example of faith attributed to her final months rather than on any public office or religious profession.