"MAMA GILI"
Short Biography of Dolores Immacolata Gili
On May 7, 1892, in a small town in central Italy, a baby girl (Dolores Immacolata Penza) was born into the large and loving Penza family; her pious parents Sabino and Carmela decided to name her after the Blessed Virgin. She was the seventh of eight children. Her parents gave her a deep religious education and just before her 14th birthday allowed her to visit her three brothers who had emigrated to the United States. Her intended short stay in America lasted a lifetime. She spent years of hard work while living with one of her brothers in Brooklyn, New York.
On October 2nd, 1913 Dolores Immacolata was married to Joseph Gili, a successful business man from Orange, New Jersey, in the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in that town. A devoted wife, a loving mother of five children, she found time to welcome people in her house who would come to pray and be assisted in their various needs. Dolores Immacolata became "Mama" to them all.
During the Great Depression in 1931 her husband died and she was left alone to provide for her children working at two jobs and trusting in God. Yet her house remained open to all as a shelter of prayer and charitable work.
In October of 1953, Mama Gili was finally able to go back to Italy. In her home town of Atripalda she met a saintly Franciscan priest who introduced her to the devotion of the Holy Face of Jesus. He showed her a picture of the Holy Face from the Shroud of Turin that was streaming with blood.
The sight of the Divine Face bruised and bloodied inflamed her with zeal to promote tirelessly the Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus. She was able to organize Holy Hours of Reparation and enthronement of the Holy Face in private homes and in churches. Mama Gili spread holy cards and medals of the Holy Face by the thousands at home and abroad. She had an extraordinary gift for listening to people in difficulty, for encouraging and inspiring all to live an authentic Christian life of love for God and neighbor.
God allowed Mama Gili to be an example of patience and strength in her long illness. From 1978 to her death on October 26, 1985, she was completely bedridden. She accepted her sufferings as God's will and offered them for the Church, for priests, religious, married couples, the youth and all who would recommend themselves to her prayers.
Mama Gili lived and died as a true apostle of the Holy Face of Jesus.