Benedetta's life chronology

1936	8th August:	Benedetta is born in Dovadola (Forli), to Guido Bianchi Porro and Elsa Giammarchi	(Dovadola, 395 KB)
	13th August	She is baptized in the church of the Annunciation with the name Benedetta Bianca Maria.	(Native house, 374 Kb)
	November	She is victim of poliomyelitis and was left with a crippled leg. Later in the years (1953 and 1955) she undergoes surgery to improve her walking.	(Joung Benedetta, 365 Kb) (Family in '41, 278 Kb)
1942		She begins school, first grade, in Sirmione and then jumping the second grade..	(At school, first grade, 374 Kb)
1943		During the war, Benedetta and her family move to Casticciano (Forli), in the countryside, where she attends third grade for some months	(Casticciano, 412 Kb)
1944	7th May	She receives First Communion.	(7 years old, 375 Kb)
	7th May	She receives the sacrament of Confirmation.
	4th December	She leaves Casticciano and moves to Dovadola, guest of her grandfather, while the rest of her family moves to Forli, where their house was occupied by English forces.
1945	March	She is reunited with her loved ones in Forli, where she will attend fourth and fifth grade with the Sisters of St. Dorothy. Sr. Alberta will be her teacher.
1946	23rd June	She is admitted into middle school. She will attend 6th grade in Brescia with the Ursuline Nuns. In this time she is guest with the Rabotti family, while her own family lived in Forli.
1947 - 52		She attends seventh and eighth grade at "Flavio Biondo" public school in Forli. Always in Forli she will attend the first, fourth and last year of High School at "G.B. Morgagni" High School.	(11 years old, 447 Kb)
1949		She begins to suffer from a progressive loss of hearing.	(14 years old, 407 Kb)
1952		She attends the second year of high school at "G. Bagatta" High School in Desenzano del Garda.
1953	September	She will be home-schooled for the third year of high school and will graduate with high scores	(Tessera univ, 476 Kb)
	28th October	She will be home-schooled for the third year of high school and will graduate with high scores. She enrolls at university in the faculty of physics, and then decides to change faculty. She decides to enroll in medicine at the University in Milan. During the first year at the university she is almost completely deaf.	(Tessera univ, 476 Kb)
1955		She visits with a psycho-analyst, in the attempt to find a cure for her deafness.	(1955, 278 Kb)
1956	Christmas	The first symptoms of a terrible disease begin to appear (corneal ulcer and pupillar paralysis).	(20 years, 496 Kb)
1957		For the very first time she is diagnosed with the exact disease: Neuro-Fibromatosis or Recklinghausen Disease.	(Sirmione, 476 Kb))
	27th June	She undergoes head operation. This results in a facial lesion and paralysis of the left side of her face and she will require a second surgery. Benedetta is obliged to temporarily stop her university study.	(21 years, 412 Kb)
1958	August	She starts studying again and she also begins to work with the Thermal springs plant in Sirmione as laboratory assistant.	(Sirmione, 348 Kb)
	Fall	She passes the required medical and surgical pathology exams. She decides to continue studying, despite knowing the difficulties she will have to face.
	December	She is now completely deaf and studying is becoming very difficult for her. They recommend her to move to the faculty of biology, but, she perseveres and enrolls in medicine again. Following her last surgery, she suffers of balance difficulties and she begins to use a cane.	(With a friend, 417 Kb)
1959	23rd June	She fails in passing her last exam (hygiene).	(Easter, 494 Kb)
	7th August	She undergoes a spinal marrow surgery, but without success. From now on she is paralysed in both legs. For the rest of her life she is confined first of all to her armchair, and then, for over four years, to her bed.
1962	May	First Pilgrimage to Lourdes (during this Pilgrimage a miracle will occur).	(Lourdes, 487 Kb)
	15th October	She is treated in the Hospital of Desenzano for multiple mouth abscesses and many of her teeth have to be removed. She has already lost her sense of taste and smell. Her paralysis has spread to her whole body and her sense of touch is confined to her right hand. In this hospital she is embracing her friend Nicoletta for the last time: Nicoletta is going to Brasil as a missionary.
1963	11th February	As Benedetta experiences a beginning loss of sight, she is taken to the "Citta' di Milano" clinic.
	21st February	She undergoes brain surgery with apparent success. She is released and yet, a few days later, she has to enter the clinic again.
	27th February	She undergoes brain surgery, this time without success.
	28th February	In the morning, in her room, she is able to attend and to see the celebration of the Mass for the last time: in the afternoon she looses her sight.
1963	Friday, 1st Marchì	She is anointed with the oil of the sick. During the following days, her health improves.
	11th March	She is released from the clinic and is brought back to her house in Sirmione.
	24th-30th June	Second and last Pilgrimage to Lourdes.
	17th August	She sees the "light".
	1st November	She "dreams" about a white rose, shining bright in their family tomb.
	7th November	She sees the "light" again.
	25th November	Once again, she sees the "light".
	26th December	Benedetta is moved to Milan, so that she may spend some days with her friends.	(20 days before death, 418 Kb)
	31st December	Last words with her friends in Milan and final good-bye.	(20 days before death, 418 Kb)
1964	1st January	Benedetta is moved back to Sirmione.
	23rd January	Benedetta dies. It is Thursday and it is 10:40 a.m.	(The house where she died, 418 Kb)
	24th January	She is temporarily laid in the cemetery in Sirmione.
	25th January	In the morning, Benedetta's body is moved to Dovadola and buried in the cemetery there, around 4:00p.m.
1969	22nd March, 4:00 p.m.	Transfer of Benedetta's remains from the Cemetery to the Benedictine Church of St. Andrew in Dovadola (Forli).	(Sarcophagus, 429 Kb)