“Jesus, I gave you one of my little legs.”
“Mamma, don’t cry when I die; Saint Therese of Infant Jesus told me that my time had come; Mother, let me go.”
Antonietta Meo, the little girl is on her way to becoming the youngest saint of modern times. A little girl named Blessed Antonietta Meo is famous for dedicating her cancer to Jesus. The process of the proclamation of Antonyetta to sainthood is in progress. When she is canonized by the Church, little Meo (Nenolina) would become the youngest (non-martyr) saint in the history of the Catholic Church.
Nenolina was born on 15 December 1930, in Rome, Italy. From the age of three, she started attending a nearby Catholic school. Antonietta, who was loved by all, had a special regard for the poor from childhood. She used to ask her parents to give money to the poor whenever she saw them.
When Antonietta was four years old, her parents noticed a swelling in her left leg. At first they didn’t take it too seriously. Further tests later revealed that little Antonietta had malignant bone cancer. By the time she was five years old, one leg had been amputated.
She resumed her school life with a prosthetic leg. In the evenings, her mother used to teach her catechism. Her mother had trained her to write letters to Jesus, Mother Mary, and the Saints during these times. She wrote hundreds of letters and she used to place them in front of the statue to be read by Infant Jesus. In these little letters, she used to apologize for her little mistakes and dedicate herself to Jesus.
She wrote a letter to the teacher who taught her to arrange her Holy Communion early. She received her first Holy Communion on the day of Christmas in 1936. The eyes that witnessed this sight were filled with tears as she was kneeling on her artificial leg. In a letter to Jesus shortly before receiving her first communion, she wrote: “Jesus, I can do nothing without your help.”
As the days passed by, the pain started getting worse. She was unable to sit or lie down. The cancer spread throughout the body. She had learned to surrender her pains and sufferings to Jesus in a wonderful way. Once she wrote: “Jesus, I have given you one of my legs. I am in terrible pain; My mother told me that when the pain increases, it also increases the value.”
Antonietta insisted that she writes her last letter to Jesus a few days before her death. In that letter, she wrote: “Jesus, bless all those who have loved and cared for me. Your little friend is sending you lots of kisses.”
She died on the night of 3 July 1937, she told her mother: “Mother, don’t cry when I die. Saint Therese of Infant Jesus told me that my time has come. Mother, let me go.” With a smile, the little angel flew away at the age of six.
On 17 December 2007, Pope Benedict XVI beatified Antonietta Meo. This little angel who maintained the purity of life in spite of suffering is a model and intercessor not only for children but also for adults to emulate. She is a little gospel of holiness.