Settimio was born in Teramo (Abruzzo) on 25 April 1886 and died in 1978, just on the day of the Blessed Virgin of the Good Council, which was very devoted during his long life. Passionate about art and culture in every field of humanistic knowledge, he graduated in Literature and Philosophy at the University of Catania and became a Professor and Preside in the Middle Schools. By scrolling through the pages of this agile yet evocative biography, he sees the rich inner world and together the anxieties and hopes of man of all time. Manellian Settlement spent the first forty years of his life immersed in the attractions of the world, but without being free from those unrest, maladies and difficulties, which God's paternal Providence instills in every soul from Himself distant. In 1924 he met St. Pius by Pietrelcina, the stigmatized cappuccino, by which he converted and became his faithful spiritual son. From that moment, as Msgr. Slawomir Order, who was already a postulator of the cause of St. John Paul II, has recognized prof. Manelli "began a new life full of holiness, liberating himself solemnly of everything that prevented or slowed his ascension to God and renouncing worldly attractions" [Slawomir Order, Speech in the Conclusion of the Diocesan Inquiry for the Beatification and Canonization of Servants by God Settimio Manelli and Licia Gualandris, in www.cuoreimmacolato.com, June 27, 2014].
After the conversion, Septimus addressed his cultural interests to the study of the great mystics: Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Bonaventure, St. Augustine, Saint Teresa of Avila, and St. John of the Cross. However, the first place in his life has always been Jesus and his Gospel, which he knew by heart and often cited. "He not only believed in Christ," Bishop Oder adds, "but he was a fierce defender: he fought openly with the enemies of Jesus and of the Church without ever compromising even when he could guarantee him and his family a higher level of life. "
On July 15, 1926, Septimus married Licia Gualandris, with whom he shared the generous faith and the bright example of Christian life. Father Pio defined it in this regard as "a Christian all of a piece that implements the Gospel to perfection," as Brienza remembers, and for this loyalty and loyalty to Christ, the Gargano stigmatized him always paternal benevolence.
Lizia, much younger than her husband (and this also created a few problems at the time of marriage), was born on July 13, 1907 in Nembro (Bergamo), spiritually under the guidance of the Lombardy high priest Fr Giulio Bilabini, a special love for the Passion and Death of Jesus and for the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Confession. He had a preference for the Marian Shrine on the hill of Nembro, dedicated to the "Madonna dello Zuccarello", for which he always had a strong attachment. The one who saw her remembers the faint, but beautiful voice of the hymn, just before dying. After attending technical schools by pointing out his seriousness and profit in the study, Licia married as said, very young (19 years just completed) with Septimus Manelli, with whom he began a spiritual journey under the blessing, guidance and 'Continuous assistance of San Pietro da Pietrelcina. Then she began her great mission as a mother of a large family, with motherhood that started and went on without interruption.
While faithful to the needs of such a demanding family, Licia Gualandris never neglected his personal prayer and above all the family, loving to meditate, pray, and read spiritual books (especially the lives of Saints) with her older husband and children, reciting in the last years of his daily life the liturgical prayer of the Lodi and the Vespers. In particular, however, at the school of Padre Pio, Licia has always been proud of the Holy Rosary and, in fact, as witnessed by the children (ten of them still alive) could always see it, day and night, with the Crown in Hand .
Bishop Oder wrote of her: "His fidelity, his devotion, his passion for the Holy Mass and Communion were evident. Among those who knew him many testified that he had received edification from his attitude of reverence and recollection in attending the Holy Mass, during which he was fully understood by the Mystery being celebrated. She also gave great importance to the life of her family's prayer: her children, as early as they were children, taught to pray, to make small "florets", especially during Lent, Novena and Marian months. In particular, he kept us listening to the Holy Mass during the Sundays and the Feasts, preparing them carefully for the Weekly Confession "[S. Order, quoted citation].
In the philosophy of the life of the Servants of God, Licia and Settimio Manelli, after devoting a good part of the book to the main events of his spouses Manelli, emphasizes a single spiritual fertility, considering also the new religious foundation promoted by one of their children, Franciscan of the Immaculate Father Stefano Maria Manelli, derived from the affiliated love of Our Lady. Theologian and founder of Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, p. For almost four years, Stefano has been at the center of a complex and, in many respects, painful, "commissarion" of the congregation he founded, to which the Appendix (pp. 49-62) of the work of Giuseppe Brienza
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Sara Deodati