Married Couple (d. 1951 and 1965)
Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi were the first married couple (non-martyrs) to be beatified together. They met as teenagers in Rome and were married on November 25, 1905. Luigi was a lawyer who went on to lead a distinguished career, becoming assistant attorney general of Italy. Maria was initially the more devout of the two, but eventually she won Luigi over to joining her at daily Mass, and their home was infused with Christian values.
They had four children, three of whom entered the priesthood or religious life. When Maria was pregnant with the fourth, there were severe complications. Though she was said to have only a five percent chance of surviving, she entrusted herself to God, and both she and her daughter Enrichetta lived. During the Second World War, Maria and Luigi opened their apartment to refugees. Maria volunteered with the Red Cross and later lectured on behalf of Women’s Catholic Action. Luigi played a role in restoring democratic principles to the legal system after the long fascist era. According to the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, “they made their family an authentic house church, open to life, prayer, witness of the gospel, the social apostolate, solidarity with the poor, and friendship.”
Luigi died in 1951; Maria in 1965. Three of their children attended the ceremony for their beatification in 2001. The date of their commemoration was assigned to their wedding anniversary.
“Drawing on the word of God and the witness of the saints, the blessed couple lived an ordinary life in an extraordinary way.”
—Pope John Paul II
