IFTTT Autopost 
Santina Cimatti was born on June 7, 1861 in Celle, Faenza, Ravenna, Italy, the first and only girl of six children. Her father was a farmworker, and her mother was a weaver. Three of the boys died in infancy, but the other two, Luigi and Vincenzo, lived.
In 1882, Santina’s father died, and although she wanted to enter a convent, she agreed to stay home and help raise her younger brothers. When the boys were old enough, they both entered the Salesians of Don Bosco. With her children grown, Santina’s mother went to live with the parish priest, and Santina was then free to follow her dream of becoming a religious sister.
In 1889, Santina joined the Hospitaler Sisters of Mercy and received the name Maria Raffaella. Because Hospitaler Sisters vow to care for the sick as part of their charism, Sr. Rafaella became a nurse. She took her perpetual vows in 1905.
For the next several years, Sr. Rafaella served in the administration of her order as a prioress, and she worked as a hospital pharmacist. In 1940, however, she asked to be relieved of administrative duties so she could devote herself to serving the other Sisters, patients, students, and staff of the hospital.
In 1943, Sr. Rafaella was diagnosed with a terminal disease. One year later, her town was under German occupation, and she found herself nursing the wounded from the World War II. When she heard that the Nazi regime was planning to bomb the place of her hospital, she pleaded with the general field marshal to avoid bombing the town. The hospital and town were spared from bombing.
Sr. Rafaella died on June 23, 1945 in Alatri, Frosinone, Italy. She was beatified on May 12, 1996. Interestingly, her brother Vincenzo is a Venerable in the Catholic Church. Blessed Rafaella’s feast day is June 23.
