Sandra Sabattini
Sandra Maria Assunta Sabattini (19 August 1961 – 2 May 1984) was an Italian diarist, medical student, and member of the Pope John XXIII Community, who was beatified by the Catholic Church on 24 October 2021.
Sabattini was raised in Rimini, living at the rectory of San Girolamo, whose parish priest was her maternal uncle. Aged 10, she began to keep a spiritual diary, which was posthumously published. As a young adult, Sabattini volunteered at a drug rehabilitation centre run by the Community, and pursued studies at the University of Bologna to become a missionary doctor.
On 29 April 1984, arriving at a Community meeting in Igea Marina with her fiancé, she was hit by an oncoming car and died of her injuries three days later. Oreste Benzi, chaplain and the community's founder, campaigned for her beatification. On 24 October 2021, Sabattini was beatified at Rimini's Tempio Malatestiano by Cardinal Marcello Smeraro on behalf of Pope Francis.
In the Martyrology
- May 2 Blessed Sandra Sabattini, layperson