Gaetana Sterni

Gaetana Sterni was born on 26 June 1827 in Cassola, in the province of Vicenza in the Veneto region of northern Italy, then part of the Austrian-ruled Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. She was the fifth of six children of Giovanni Battista Sterni and Giovanna Chiuppani. When she was about eight years old the family moved to nearby Bassano del Grappa, the town with which her life would remain closely bound. In 1836 her father died, and her brother Francesco died not long afterward. These bereavements left the household in reduced circumstances and obliged the surviving members to support one another. From adolescence she contributed to the family by working, and she developed a practical sense of duty together with a deep personal piety that later shaped her vocation.

In 1846, at the age of nineteen, she married Liberale Conte, a widower who already had three children. She entered that household as wife and stepmother and sought to care for the children as her own. The marriage lasted only a short time. Conte died in 1847, leaving her a widow after only months of married life. She was pregnant at the time of his death and subsequently gave birth to a daughter, who died in infancy. Twice bereaved in rapid succession, she returned to live with her mother. In the years that followed she worked as a domestic servant, including service in a local family of standing, while remaining attentive to the needs of her own relatives. After her mother's death she discerned a call to consecrated life and entered the Canossian Daughters of Charity as a postulant, but family responsibilities forced her to leave after a short time in order to care for remaining siblings.

Her experiences of loss and of ordinary household service oriented her toward the poor, the sick, and those without family. In Bassano del Grappa in the 1860s she began to work in a hospice or shelter for beggars and abandoned people. Other women were drawn to join her in this hidden apostolate of charity. Together they formed a community that sought to live in accordance with the will of God and to devote themselves to those most in need. This group developed into a religious congregation, the Sisters of the Divine Will (Suore della Divina Volontà), of which Sterni is regarded as foundress. The sisters undertook care of the sick, assistance to the poor, and other works of mercy, living a simple common life under her guidance. She served as superior of the community, forming its spirit around trust in Divine Providence, humility, and concrete service rather than around prestige or large institutions.

Gaetana Sterni died in Bassano del Grappa on 26 November 1889, after more than two decades of leadership in the work she had begun. The congregation she founded survived her and continued to serve in the Veneto and elsewhere. Her reputation for holiness rested on her perseverance through repeated personal tragedies, her refusal to withdraw from the poor, and her foundation of a community dedicated to the Divine Will. Pope John Paul II beatified her on 4 November 2001. The Catholic Church commemorates her on 26 November, the anniversary of her death. She remains associated with Bassano del Grappa and with the Sisters of the Divine Will, who regard her as their foundress and model of charity.