A very short life, but an amazing testimony of faith and grace that of Martina Kluzerborn in Trezzano sul Naviglio (Milan) on 8 November 1999, and lived only seven years. His story in the book is passionate and moving Martina. The Heart and the Roseby Giovanna Pupillo Kluzer and Riccardo Caniato (pub. Ares, 18 euros), signed by Mary with youwhich was presented last June 6 at the sanctuary of the Infant Jesus of Prague in Arenzano (Genoa) in a conference on the sanctity of children.
“Marti”’s first years were those of a normal, cheerful, energetic girl, always ready to play, in love with school.. Until a terrible tumor forces her to hospitalizations and cycles of chemotherapy. Despite this, she manages to convey joy to her parents, to her beloved little sister Doriana, born in 2002, to her grandparents, to everyone who knows her. She begins to have internal dialogues with Jesus, with Mary and with the saints, she prays, she loves to spend hours in church and participate in Mass, she offers the terrible suffering she suffered – she always refused morphine because she said it would make her sleep and she wouldn’t be able to pray – for the healing of sick children or for spiritual salvation. Dialogue with the Sacred Heart dear to Saint Faustina Kowalska, but also with Maria Rosa Mystica, who appeared to Pierina Gilli in Fontanelle di Montichiari, in the Brescia area. A great and profound soul, “lived under the mantle of the Madonna” and born in a prodigious way, as mother Giovanna says, a sweet and shy woman: «Martina was announced to me in a dream: I saw Saint Peter on a boat in the company of Saint Charles Borromeo. I, who was not religious and did not go to church, did not know who they were, but they themselves introduced themselves, telling me that God had a gift for me and that, to thank him, I should buy a statue of Saint Charles. After a few months, I started to feel very tired, I felt dizzy and nauseous, but I didn’t say anything to my loved ones so as not to make them worry. One day I passed in front of the sanctuary of the Madonna della Bassa, in my town, and I felt the impulse to enter it: I found myself praying in my own way, because I wasn’t capable of it, and I clearly heard the voice of Jesus reassuring me inside me. I then remained contemplating the Madonna and Child in a painting, illuminated by the sun’s rays. On the advice of a friend, I took a pregnancy test which came back positive and only then I remembered the dream: was this child a gift from God? It could only be like this, given that my husband Claudio, following an operation, had been told that he would not be able to have children. We then had three more daughters, Doriana, Mariachiara and Francesca. A few days after Martina’s birth, I risked a miscarriage and the doctors said that the situation was critical. One night, however, I dreamed of a very strong light and I saw a hand holding a delicate little hand. Here, the birth of “Marti” was the first miracle I witnessed.”
Can you give us a little portrait of your daughter?
«She has always been a more mature child than her peers. She was smiling, very attentive to others, she loved giving us surprises and gifts made by her, or bought with the money she secretly got from her grandmother. She was intelligent, at the age of five she knew how to do calculations and the teachers often entrusted her with special tasks. He loved the mountains, he loved flowers, hearts, animals. She was attracted by the castles, hermitages and convents that could be seen on the hills. But above all, she was very particular, as if she had already been trained before we could teach her anything. We were often the ones who learned from her, especially when it came to loving her. It was normal to see her helping those who were sick or worrying about those who didn’t have a home or family. One day he asked us to adopt a child from Mozambique from a distance. How happy he was when photos and letters arrived from him!
When did you understand that she was a little girl with intense spiritual experiences?
«We gradually realized it, but only after his death did we fully understand that we had witnessed events out of the ordinary. The real turning point in his life occurred on 11 February 2006 in Garlasco, in the Pavia area, when we took a wrong turn and found ourselves in front of the sanctuary of the Madonna della Bozzola. We decided to go in and visit it. Martina, as if she had already been there, headed to the life-size statue of Merciful Jesus (which she later saw “come to life”). He lingered for a long time in front of Him. Then we went to the statue of the Madonna and he lingered there too. Since the disease was advancing, we looked for the rector for a blessing and a very kind lady, seeing her without hair due to the chemo, told us that it was “Sick Day” and invited us to return in the evening for the healing Mass and introduced us to the rector, Don Gregorio Vitali. Since then she often asked us to go to Mass there and woe betide us if we didn’t take her! On those occasions Martina told me, full of emotion, that Jesus “walked next to the don”, or “Jesus passed by, did you smell the perfume? It looks like talcum powder”. She saw him as if he were alive and present.”
The book highlights Martina’s special relationship with Maria. Do you want to tell us about it?
«The Madonnina di Martina was represented by Maria Rosa Mystica, the name with which she introduced herself to the visionary Pierina Gilli, in the last century, holding three roses, one white, one red and one yellow, representing prayer, sacrifice and penance respectively. One day, a lady whose son was sick asked my daughter for prayers (he later recovered) and gave her a small image of the Mystic Rose Madonna. As soon as he saw her, “Marti” fell in love with her: “Mama Madonna smiles at me”, he told me, and began to insistently ask: “Daddy take me to her”. We went to Fontanelle di Montichiari, where there is a source of holy water in the place where the Madonna appeared. As soon as they arrived, Martina got out of the car and was amazed by that silent place. At the time Rosa Mistica was not known, no one went there, so Martina felt at home, only she was there, especially on weekdays. That same day, Rosa Mystica began speaking to her. The little girl stopped in the little chapel where there is a large statue of the Virgin, knelt down and prayed for a long time in deep contemplation. I don’t know what he confided to the Madonna, what they said to each other, but at a certain point he told me: “Mom, the Madonna is smiling at me.” From then on, Martina always wanted to go to Fontanelle. As soon as we arrived she took off her shoes already in the car and ran barefoot with her beloved sister Doriana, the only one who knew her. She ran up and down, despite the illness that caused her severe pain; Claudio and I remained petrified looking at her.”
Can you tell us about some inexplicable fact that you witnessed?
«There are many. At the Fontanelle, for example, already very ill, she entered the Sacred Fountain of frozen water always barefoot (when she came out, I touched her legs and the temperature was very normal) and stood there, prayed for the sick and then went out. He walked the holy stairs that lead to the source up and down, up and down, on his knees, praying. It’s incredible the strength he had. One day she told us that the Madonna had told her that Montichiari would not be so isolated for long, it would become like Lourdes. And he showed her the sanctuary that was actually designed, indicating a church, the five domes and some other structures for services to pilgrims. The sanctuary today is actually called the “little Lourdes of Italy” and is invaded by pilgrims.”
Do you ever dream of her or feel as if she were physically close to you?
«Yes, she is always with me. He kept the promise he made to me before he left. How does it manifest itself? In the house there are three wooden roses that Martina had placed at the foot of an image of Rosa Mystica and which, after three days, had begun to give off a sweet scent. We still feel it today. Martina herself manifests herself with her particular perfume. And then, as I was telling you, he makes us find little hearts: flowers and hearts were his passion. My mother Maria, beloved by her, always dreams of her and, sometimes, when she wakes up, she finds a sort of tattoo on her arm, red and in relief, in the shape of a heart. It lasts about twenty days, then disappears on its own. She knows it is a gift from Martina and she is very happy. I also want to tell you about a gift you received from me. One day, in the school where I work, I was cleaning a classroom and I started to smell a very intense scent. “But there’s nothing here,” I said to myself. The scent, however, was so strong that I decided to see where it was coming from. I began to smell all the desks, hypothesizing that perhaps a child might have forgotten something, but I found nothing. Until I approached the first desk and felt that the perfume was coming from there, I bent down and found in the space for the books a drawing of a heart with a writing that I don’t remember now. At that point the scent vanished…”.
In the book you tell us that Martina continues to pray for suffering people…
«She manifests herself with those who truly believe in her, with those who call her with their heart. I’m reminded of when she saved my brother-in-law from Covid: he was hospitalized in serious condition and he saw her with the angels passing a crazy strength to him that healed him. Some time ago Martina showed herself in Naples to a mother who had a photo of her; he had a sick daughter and was asking her for help. “Marti” went to her in a dream and said: “Call my mother and tell her to pray a lot until your little girl gets well”. She didn’t know who I was, nor did I know who she was. Martina talks to many people, not just me.”
