Milan – Saturday, October 11, 2025. The prayerful silence of La Bernaga, the small monastery nestled among the hills of La Valletta Brianza (Lecco), was broken by the crackling of flames. Within hours, a violent fire reduced to ashes the seventeenth-century structure that had, for over sixty years, housed the Hermit Nuns of Saint Ambrose ad nemus (Monache Romite Ambrosiane).
All twenty-two nuns — many of them elderly — were rescued by the Fire Brigade, who battled for hours against a blaze fueled by the timber from which much of the monastery was built. Initial investigations suggest a short circuit, but the pain runs far deeper than the material cause: the fire devoured not only walls, but also documents, relics, icons, and the memories of a hidden and fruitful life, entirely devoted to prayer.
The Words of Archbishop Delpini
The Archbishop of Milan, Monsignor Mario Enrico Delpini, conveyed the voice of the diocese in his message: “The Hermit Nuns of Saint Ambrose ad nemus are all safe! It is a great relief as we witness the overwhelming flames that have engulfed the ancient monastery. The ruthless fire has destroyed a heritage of documentation, signs of devotion, and the few personal effects with which the nuns lived. In this disaster, I wish to express the solidarity of the entire Ambrosian Church. Saint Paul VI, who encouraged Mother Candida in the foundation, Saint Carlo Acutis, who received his First Communion at La Bernaga, and Mother Candida herself will surely remain close to the nuns.”
A Story of Freedom
La Bernaga was born from the vision of Mother Maria Candida Casero, a nun from the Hermit Sisters of the Sacred Mount of Varese, who in the 1950s felt the call to return to the original purity of the Ambrosian charism.
It was Giovanni Battista Montini, then Archbishop of Milan, who discerned the authenticity of that call: he personally visited the hill in 1962, chose the site, and, a few months after being elected Pope Paul VI, donated the necessary sum to purchase the property. On December 14, 1963, nine nuns began their common life there. Mother Candida became abbess in 1967 and guided the community until her death in 1989. Through her perseverance, the monastery obtained canonical recognition as the Hermit Nuns of Saint Ambrose ad nemus, independent from their sisters in Varese.
A Place of Grace and Memory
La Bernaga remained a small beacon of Ambrosian spirituality, often visited by Monsignor Pasquale Macchi, personal secretary to Montini, and by Monsignor Luigi Stucchi, who dedicated many homilies and writings to the nuns. But above all, it is the name of Saint Carlo Acutis that has made La Bernaga dear to so many faithful: on June 16, 1998, at the age of seven, he received his First Communion there. Carlo remained deeply attached to the community until his death, and it is said that whenever he returned to pray in that place, he would ask the nuns to “help me do what God wants of me.”
Many now see a sign of providence in the fact that none of the nuns were injured — precisely on the day when, in the Bernaga church, a Mass in memory of Carlo was being celebrated, with one of his relics present.
A Church United Around Its Nuns
Today, the Hermit Nuns of Saint Ambrose ad nemus are being hosted in other communities of the diocese, yet their vocation has not gone up in smoke. La Bernaga may rise again — for every ash holds a seed. The Church of Milan, together with countless friends of the monastery, is already mobilizing to help rebuild what the fire destroyed.
Those who wish to support the Hermit Nuns of La Bernaga can do so with a donation — a tangible sign of closenessto a community that, for decades, has offered its silence to the world as prayer.
MONASTERO DELLE MONACHE ROMITE DELL’ORDINE DI S. AMBROGIO AD NEMUS
IBAN: IT07U0310405529000000005330
BIC: DEUTITM1027
Silere non possum invites its readers to join the chain of solidarity for the nuns of La Bernaga.
Let us help them rebuild not only a place — but a House of God.