The Monastery of Bernaga in La Valletta Brianza, where newly canonized St. Carlo Acutis received his First Holy Communion, was destroyed by fire on the eve of his first feast day, October 12.
The blaze broke out on Saturday, October 11, at the historic monastery located in the hillside village in Lombardy.
According to a Facebook post by regional councillor Massimo Sertori, the fire was likely caused by a short circuit in one of the cells occupied by the Ambrosian Hermit Nuns. Although the flames engulfed much of the structure and destroyed the roof, all 21 cloistered nuns managed to escape without serious injuries. They had reportedly been watching the Pope’s prayer vigil and rosary for peace on television when the fire started.
Nineteen of the nuns have since been relocated to a religious facility in Ponte Lambro, while two were hospitalized for minor injuries.
Founded in 1628, the Monastery of Bernaga was briefly suppressed during the Cisalpine Republic but was later restored in the 1960s by the Ambrosian Hermit Nuns with the help of Archbishop Giovanni Battista Montini, who later became Pope Paul VI. The monastery housed several invaluable artifacts and paintings, many of which are feared to have been lost in the blaze.
St. Carlo Acutis is believed to have received his First Holy Communion at this monastery in 1998, a moment that became a turning point in his life devoted to the Eucharist and the promotion of Eucharistic miracles.