Eighteen years with Chiara Luce Badano

Chiara Badano’s life was a constant “yes” to Jesus which she continued saying during a grave illness that led to her death. Here is an interview with her parents in which they describe the wonderful eighteen years that they spent with their daughter.

 18/08/2010

The memory of Chiara comes alive in episodes and stories that her parents, Maria Teresa and Ruggero Badano, shared during an interview with us. The Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said: “If the members of a family stay united, they’ll love one another as God loves each one of them individually.” This was the experience of the young woman from Sassello, who died of a tumor and is soon to be beatified on the 25th of September at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Divine Love in Rome. Her experience was deeply rooted in the Gospel witness that was lived in her family.

We know that you were really hoping to have a daughter. What was it like for your family when Chiara arrived?

Maria Teresa Badano: “We married when we were 26 years old. Our great desire was to have children, but we had to wait eleven years. When Chiara arrived, it was like understanding more deeply the grace attached to the sacrament of matrimony, because it completed our union. Chiara grew to be beautiful and healthy and she gave us so much joy, but we immediately noted that she wasn’t only our daughter. She was first of all God’s and, as such, we had to raise her with respect her freedom”.

Any stories from Chiara’s childhood? 

Maria Teresa Badano: “One time, returning from the kindergarten, Chiara had asked if she could stop by the house of our neighbour, Gianna. An hour later she returned home with a beautiful red and yellow apple in her hand. I asked her where she got it. Chiara told me that she had taken it from our neighbor, but I sensed that it was without permission. I explained to her that she would have to return the apple and apologise. She seemed very worried and ashamed, so I promised that I would watch from the balcony. This gave her courage and when she went to our neighbour’s house to tell Gianna about the apple. A quarter hour later Gianna arrived at my house with a beautiful basket of apples all for Chiara. “Now you should have your snack with your Mamma,” she said, “because today she’s taught you something important.”    

How did your daughter meet the Focolare Movement?

Ruggero Badano: “(It was) when she was nine years old, through a girl who was already a Gen – one of the youth member of the Focolare – this  girl’s name was Chicca. It was a fundamental moment for Chiara. It happened as she was taking the road that leaves Sassello and leads to Albisola where her new friend lived. We would often ask her questions when she returned home, because we didn’t know the Focolare Movement that well, but her answers were vague, telling us only that they played games and read the Gospel. But Chiara herself noticed a difference in the friendship which she shared with Chicca: ‘Look, Mamma,’ she said one day, ‘my new friend is different from the ones I have around here.’  

What type of teenager was Chiara?

Maria Teresa Badano: “Chiara was full of life and fun. She loved to laugh, sing, and dance. Indeed, she was a great teenager. At that time in Sassello there weren’t many recreational sites. In the summertime, teenagers would gather at the coffee shop and have an ice-cream together. Then she was an excellent athlete, but not in a fanatical way. She skated, played tennis, and loved the mountains - but it was the seashore that made her explode with excitement!

Did she go through any difficult moments in her adolescence prior to her illness?

Maria Teresa Badano: “I would say so. She was a bit disoriented during the first two years of high school, especially because we had moved from Sassello to Savona. She would always say to me: “But Mamma, there are so many boys on that bus. Why do we have to go to Savona?” Added to this there was a misunderstanding between her and one of her teachers. The teacher was a bit like that with all his classes, but with Chiara particularly. She tried to study, putting everything into it, not because she wanted to be first in class, but because she was doing it for God: “I’ll do my best.” Yes, this was really her first big suffering.”   

How did she become aware that illness was coming and how did she live it?

Maria Teresa Badano: “It was when she was 17 years old, while playing tennis. She returned home that day with her face looking a bit pale. ‘I felt such a sharp pain in my back,’ she told me, ‘that my tennis racket fell from my hand.’ A doctor from Sassello, Ruggero’s cousin, suggested taking her to Santa Corona. There they took an x-ray and told us that something had dislocated which could be healed in twenty days with a bandage. But the pain continued and Chiara started infiltration in the shoulder, but without any improvement. She no longer went to the tennis courts, and when she could have gone walking with her friends, she always preferred to throw herself on the couch. During the Christmas holidays she decided to telephone the doctor herself and to ask for further tests. The next day she was in the hospital and already devoting herself to the people around her. There was one girl in particular, in the next room, who was in drug detox. Chiara would wash her hair and keep her company. Chiara seemed tired to us and we asked her to limit herself a bit, but she silenced us with a dry, ‘I’ll have time to rest later.’ With the cat scan we became aware of what she had: osteosarcoma. I felt like I died in that moment. Pulling close to each other, Ruggero and I said: ‘Only Jesus can help us to say yes to this’ and we asked with great force that ‘Our Lady would take Chiara by the hand along this new road.’    

To make it short, we moved to Rovegliasco, near Turin, because Chiara had to begin chemotherapy. I wasn’t able to go with her on that day, because I had phlebitis and the doctor wouldn’t allow me any movement. After two hours that seemed to never end, Ruggero and Chiara finally returned home. She was walking ahead, a bit slowly, buried in her green coat. She was a bit grim-faced and looking to the ground. I asked her how it went and, without even looking into my face, she said to me: ‘Don’t talk now.’ She threw herself upon her bed with her eyes closed. That silence was terrible, but I had to respect it. I watched her and, from the expressions on her face, I could see the entire battle that was being fought within her to say ‘yes’ to Jesus. Twenty-five minutes went by like this. Then she turned toward me with her usual smile and said: ‘Now you can talk.’ In that moment I wondered within myself how many times Chiara would have to repeat that yes through her suffering. But it only took her twenty-five minutes and she never looked back again.”   

Maria Teresa Badano: “Her eighteenth birthday was drawing near. She telephoned to Dr Madon herself, asking him to discontinue the chemotherapy because it was no longer having an effect. This is the moment when the race began toward Jesus, her spouse, and she even gave us consignments on how to prepare for her ‘marriage feast’. It was beautiful because she was so joyful, really wonderful.”  

Chiara’s last goodbye before leaving for Heaven?

Maria Teresa Badano: Chiara’s last words to us when she said goodbye were: ‘Bye Mamma, eh? Be happy, because I am.’ But this was not her last act of love, for she then donated her corneas to two youths who were in need of them.