Giuseppina Nicoli

Giuseppina Nicoli, DC (18 November 1863 – 31 December 1924) was an Italian Catholic member of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul who served as a catechist in Sardinia. She held several positions of leadership in Turin and elsewhere.

Her cause for canonization was started under Pope Paul VI in 1966, and she was declared venerable by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006. Cardinal José Saraiva Martins beatified Nicoli in 2008 on behalf of the pontiff. Her feast is the date of her beatification, 3 February.

Life Giuseppina Nicoli was born in Pavia on 18 November 1863 as the fifth of ten children to Carlo Nicoli, a magistrate. Nicoli studied in Pavia and Voghera, where she achieved excellent results. Nicoli encouraged Eucharistic Adoration and she supported the "Associazione dei Figli di Maria" while also serving as the director of the "Associazione delle Figlie di Maria". In 1893 she contracted tuberculosis that remained with her and corroded her health. The formal introduction of the cause came under Pope Paul VI on 27 January 1966, and she was accorded the title of Servant of God as the first official stage in the process. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints validated these processes in Rome on 27 September 1985 and received the official Positio dossier from the postulation in 1998 for inspection.

Theologians approved the cause on 4 February 2005, as did the C.C.S. on 17 May 2005. On 28 April 2006, she was declared to be Venerable after Pope Benedict XVI confirmed that Nicoli had indeed lived a model life of heroic virtue.

The process for the investigation of the miracle needed for her to be beatified was held in Milan from 1934 until 1936 and was later validated on 28 September 1998, which allowed for a medical board to approve it on 30 June 2005 and theologians to follow suit on 13 June 2006. The C.C.S. also voted in favour of the miracle on 20 March 2007, which led to Benedict XVI approving it on 6 July 2007, thus confirming Nicoli would be beatified. Cardinal José Saraiva Martins presided over the beatification in Cagliari on the pope's behalf. There were 400 priests present in addition to sixteen Sardinian bishops and fourteen Italian mainland bishops. Cardinal Franc Rode was also present, as was Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, Prince of Venice.

The miracle in question involved the cure of Battista Colleoni of severe tuberculosis on 26 December 1933. The postulator for this cause is Shijo Kanjirathamkunnel.