Minardi Luisa

Minardi, Luisa (Sister) In December 1943, several members of the large family of the sisters, Gemma and Letizia Camerini, were arrested by the Italian police in Reno di Tizzano where they had found refuge. After a few months of internment in a camp in Monticelli Terme (Parma province) these family members were taken to Fossoli and from there deported to Auschwitz and murdered. At that time, when this tragic ordeal happened to the Camerini sisters, Gemma was committed to the local hospital, Ospedale Civile di Parma, through the help of the doctors and Sister Luisa Minardi. Sister Luisa Minardi, b.1907 in Parma, belonged to the Oblate Benedettine Order and was a volunteer nurse with the Italian Red Cross. She looked after Gemma faithfully. After some time, Gemma’s sister, Letizia, got cancer and was also admitted to the hospital where Sister Luisa, too, treated her. From time to time, Italian police checked on Letizia, to see if her condition would enable them to arrest and deport her. During the summer of 1944, Sister Luisa, without wasting time, arranged for Letizia to escape from the hospital to her home, arranging medical care for Letizia by her private physician. All the time that her patient was under her roof, Sister Luisa continued her regular work at the hospital. When Letizia’s condition deteriorated at the end of 1944, Sister Luisa transferred her to the nunnery of Buon Pastore di Parma, visiting her often. When Letizia died on February 6, 1945, it was necessary to find a way to bury her. Sister Luisa had her buried as a Catholic under the name of Maria Fulgenzi, which was done with the benevolence of the Mother Superior of the Institute, her physician, the parish of San Quintino and the cemetery director who organized the Catholic burial with a cross on her coffin. After the liberation, Letizia’s remains were transferred to the Jewish cemetery of Parma. Words of gratitude were inscribed on her tomb praising brave Luisa Minardi who had smuggled herout of the hospital and looked after her until her death. After the war, the Jewish community of Parma awarded Sister Luisa a gold medal for her actions on behalf of persecuted Jews. She also received the Italian Red Cross medal and the title Cavaliere al Merito for her generous aid to helpless people and to those interned in Parma’s San Francesco prison. On August 25, 2003, Yad Vashem recognized Sister Luisa Minardi as Righteous Among the Nations.