MADELEINE DELBRÊL
City streets, paths of God

Poet and writer, social worker, mystic, and “missionary without a ship,” the Frenchwoman Madeleine Delbrêl (1904–1964) is an extraordinarily timely figure, the protagonist of an astonishing personal story.

Cardinal Martini called her “one of the greatest mystics of the twentieth century.” On January 26, 2018, Pope Francis proclaimed her Venerable, and on numerous occasions has pointed to her as a precious reference for an authentic renewal of the Church in a missionary direction.

In retracing her human and spiritual journey, one is struck by how Madeleine Delbrêl showed herself capable of holding together what so often appears to be in opposition: the absolute of God and a loving closeness to every person; an acute sense of the Gospel as something literally “unheard of” and a sincere listening to the provocations of her own time; a love for the Church that was unconditional and yet realistic; an obedience that accepts “the risk of submission,” and yet inseparable from an enterprising and courageous co-responsibility; the cultivation of professional competence alongside an unwavering certainty in the powerful action of God; a bold search for new paths of evangelization and a tenacious rootedness in the concrete life of the Church; the humor of one who “does not take herself seriously,” but takes seriously God and his love without measure — “without our measures.”

Exhibition produced by Fondazione Meeting per l’amicizia fra i popoli ETS

Curated by Gerolamo Fazzini, journalist; Luciano Luppi, lecturer in Spiritual Theology at the Theological Faculty of Emilia-Romagna, Bologna, and the Theological Faculty of Triveneto

Scientific committee Members of the Association of the Friends of M. Delbrêl – Italy: Stefano Andreoli, lawyer and sole administrator of ASP Parma; Michele Gianola, priest of the Diocese of Como, director of the National Office for Vocational Ministry of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI); Edi Natali, Institute of Religious Sciences, Florence; Don Alessandro Ravazzini, parish priest of Correggio and Delbrêl scholar; Francesca Stefanini, social worker in public administration and lecturer at the University of Parma