![]() ![]() For fifty years she went to the library every day to study, and she reads Hebrew daily. She is a voracious reader, devouring the works of philosophers and theologians such as Paul Ricoeur, Jean Daniélou, Louis Bouyer, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Because of her expertise in Hebrew Scriptures, she was a member of the ecumenical commission of the dioceses of Rome and of the Ecumenical commission of the Italian Bishops. Sofia Cavalletti is truly an academic intellectual. His mentoring enabled her to become a scholar in her own right. Sofia went on to obtain her doctorate in Hebrew and then became Zolli's colleague in the academy. She says that "through him, I discovered the Jewish approach to the Bible, and this oriented my life (Cavalletti, 2007a). Under his tutelage, Sofia discovered that she had a love for ancient languages, particularly Hebrew. He became the professor in her first Hebrew class (Berryman, 1983, 5). When the war ended, Zolli entered the Catholic Church. Eugenio Zolli who had been the chief rabbi of Rome. As she now looks back on her life, she is able to understand all that she was doing "was a pure gift."Īs an undergraduate, she met Dr. For her, the family was more significant than the church because "at that time, parish churches and convents offered-just catechism! And just could not accept it (Cavalletti, 2007a). Her family proved a very solid base on which she was sure that she was loved. Sofia attributes her own Christian formation to her family. At the end of a year of those studies, Sofia passed the exam to enter the university. They continued until the end of the war (WWII), when she again began private studies that she undertook very seriously. These extended years in ginnasio were "very unsatisfactory" as she studied different subjects. Apparently, it was very unusual for a girl like Sofia to go to a "mixed" school. She says that she should have gone to liceo for three years, but that form of school was coed. There she learned, among other things, "Latin and Greek with great joy and pride." She attended ginnasio for five years. When she finally attended school, she was sent to a ginnasio, a school at the same level as her brothers. I did not go normally to school until I was ten years old, because little girls of my social level usually had teachers who taught them at home (Cavalletti, 2007a). I remember that, when for the first time I could read a little story by myself, I was so happy that I gave to Mommy all my money- that is to say, three coins that did not reach the value of one lire. This still makes me so happy and grateful to her for having put in my hands such a precious tool. This work entitled The Child in the Church, repeatedly refers to her as Marchesa Cavalletti, a title similar to that of baroness.įirst of all, it was my mother who taught me to write and read. Standing, one gets a glimpse into the significance of her heritage. Her home is located in the heart of Rome, within walking distance of the Vatican.įrom a book edited by E. What came to be her life work has been carried out in her own home in Rome, even though that work was not her original focus. The home where she lives, where she was born and has spent all her life, has been in her Roman Catholic family for about three centuries. Sofia was born in Italy on August 21, 1917. Carol and Judy have been trainers themselves ever since. Paul, MN, trained in 1974, the date of Sofia's first course in the U.S) and Judy Schmidt (Glen Ellyn, IL, trained in 1984). Some information in this biography was obtained in person by interviewing two people whom Sofia trained while on trips to the United States-Carol Dittberner (St. The end result is that this article contains first-person electronic information from Sofia herself as well as secondary sources from books and persons who have had ongoing working relationships with Dr. This even included a visit to Rome in an unsuccessful attempt to interview this 89-year-old scholar. Consequently, writing a biographical sketch was challenging. The Web site of the home page of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd in the United States makes no mention of Cavalletti, supporting her desire to be in the background. Instead, she chooses to talk only about the children and the work, which she does not regard as hers. She is so surprised, in fact, that as the years have passed, she has become increasingly reluctant to talk about herself because she says that this work "is a pure gift given to her" (Cavalletti, 2007a). Cavalletti that people want to know about her life.
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