Benedetta Bianchi Porro was born at
Dovadola as the second of six children to Guido Bianchi Porro and Elsa Giammarchi. Her siblings were Gabriele (b. 1938), Manuela (b. 1941), Corrado (b. 1946) and Carmen (b. 1953); her half-sister was Leonida (b. 1930). She was
baptized "in necessity" at the request of her mother with water from
Lourdes; she received formal baptism on the following 13 August in the name of "Benedetta Bianca Maria". Three months after her birth she fell ill with
polio and required a brace on her left leg and an orthopedic shoe in order to prevent her spine from deforming; Doctor Vittorio Putti from
Bologna diagnosed her illness. From March to May 1937 she was hit with repeated
bronchitis. From the age of five she began to keep a journal in which to record experiences; one such entry was at the age of seven: "The universe is enchanting! It is great to be alive!" In May 1944 she received her
First Communion in the Church of the Annunciation where she received a
rosary that she would always keep with her. She later received Confirmation a fortnight later from the
Bishop of Modigliana Maximilian Massimiliani. For the 1950 Holy Year convoked by
Pope Pius XII, she and her aunt Carmen travelled on pilgrimages to
Assisi,
Rome and
Loreto. She enjoyed reading and she preferred
Tolstoy since she liked Russian literature, and also liked
Horace and
William Shakespeare. At the age of thirteen she began to lose her hearing and began to notice this on 15 February 1953 when questioned by a teacher in
Latin class; she was unable to hear all the questions put to her. Confined to her home, she began to evangelize to others through correspondences to others in which she discussed faith and love of
God. Friends from medical school visited her on a frequent basis. Her first operation in 1958 caused partial paralysis on the left side of her face; a second operation in August 1959 left her completely paralyzed and reliant on a wheelchair. she also began to lose the five senses on a gradual level. In May 1962 she undertook a pilgrimage to Lourdes seeking a miracle for her ailments. There, she met 22-year-old Maria who was sobbing beside her. Porro took her hand and urged her to beseech the
Blessed Virgin Mary for her intercession, at which point Maria was healed. Porro went back on 24 June 1963 where she discovered that her ailments would increase and that she would die of them. She underwent several operations on her head and confided her fear of such operations on 27 February 1963; the last left her blind as well as rendering her immobile save for moving her right hand, and she could barely speak. The number of people who visited her increased steadily as word of her holiness and gentle understanding of love of God spread. Her health took a dramatic decline after her pilgrimage to Lourdes, and on the night of 22 January 1964 said to her nurse: "Emilia, tomorrow I will die. I feel very ill". Porro died in the morning of 23 January 1964 after receiving Communion and
Reconciliation, and was buried in the cemetery of Sirmione; her remains were later transferred to the Church of Saint Andrew in
Dovádola. ==Beatification==