Itala Mela#Trinitarian indwelling

Itala Mela was born on 28 August 1904 in La Spezia to Pasquino Mela and Luigia Bianchini; both were atheist teachers. She spent her childhood in the care of her maternal grandparents from 1905 to 1915 as her parents worked and her grandparents prepared Mela for her First Communion and Confirmation; she made both on 9 May 1915 and 27 May 1915 respectively.{{cite web|url=https://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/91607&prev=search|title=Venerable Itala Mela|publisher=Santi e Beati|date=|accessdate=16 December 2015}}

The death of her brother Enrico at the age of nine (27 February 1920) challenged Mela's perception of her Christian faith, and she wrote of her feelings to the loss: "After his death, nothing". As a result, she eschewed her Christian faith and slipped into atheism. However she had a sudden reawakening of her faith on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (8 Dec 1922) after rediscovering God; her faith deepened with the motto she took being: "Lord, I shall follow You unto the darkness, unto death".{{cite web|url=http://idlespeculations-terryprest.blogspot.com.au/2007/05/itala-mela-28-august-1904-29-april-1957.htm|title=Itala Mela (28 August 1904 – 29 April 1957|publisher=Idle Speculations|date=20 May 2007|accessdate=16 December 2015}}

Mela became a member of FUCI in 1923,{{cite web | author = Lucia Gentile | url = http://fuci.net/component/k2/universita/itala-mela-dallo-scetticismo-al-misticismo | title = Itala Mela: dallo scetticismo al misticismo |language=it| archive-url = https://archive.today/20200117104642/http://fuci.net/component/k2/universita/itala-mela-dallo-scetticismo-al-misticismo | archive-date=January 17, 2020|url-status = live}} where she met future pope Giovanni Battista Montini and Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster at the meetings there; she also met the priests Divo Barsotti and Agostino Gemelli. At such meetings, MontiniMontini mentioned Mela in a public official speech held in occasion of the 70th anniversary of FUCI's foundation. See {{cite web | url = http://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/it/speeches/1966/documents/hf_p-vi_spe_19661206_fuci.html | title = Address by Paul VI on the 70th anniversary of the Roman Catholic University Federation|language=it|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200603154441/http://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/it/speeches/1966/documents/hf_p-vi_spe_19661206_fuci.html|archive-date=June 3, 2020|url-status=live}} and both the politicians Aldo Moro and Giulio Andreotti served as major influences upon her. She was the main friend of Angela Gotelli, a teacher of classic letters and a Roman Catholic partisan who was close to the political ideas of Aldo Moro.{{cite web|url=https://www.eletteedeletti.it/elette/angela-gotellu/|title=Angela Gotelli|language=Italian}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite web|url=http://www.isrlaspezia.it/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Varese-Gotelli-Angela-piazza.pdf|title=Angela Gotelli|language=Italian}}

Mela received her high school diploma at the liceo classico Lorenzo Costa of La Spezia (where she later became a teacher) with recognition of being a brilliant student and in 1922 was enrolled at the University of Genoa, where she later received a degree in letters in 1928 as well as in classical studies.

Mela experienced her first vision of God on 3 August 1928 as a beam of light at the tabernacle in a church of a seminary at Pontremoli, beginning a long stream of visions in her life. She departed for Milan at this time, and chose as her confessor Adriano Bernareggi. Her true calling as a Benedictine oblate came in 1929 and solidified to the point where she commenced her novitiate. It concluded on 4 January 1933 when she made her profession in Rome in the church of San Paolo fuori le Mura making her four vows. As a sign of her new life, Mela assumed the name of "Maria della Trinità". Mela returned to her hometown in 1933. From 1936 she received ecstasies and visions. Her mother died in 1937.

Mela presented an idea for a memorial to Pope Pius XII in 1941, and the pope accepted the Memorial of Mary of the Trinity. In Genoa from 5–15 October 1946, Mela composed a series of spiritual exercises for the benefit of the faithful; the exercises were well received.

From 18 February to 24 April 1957, despite her aphasia, she managed to make herself understood with gestures and with her eyes, her smile and the nod of her head. On 25 April at 4 pm, after a new attack, she went into a coma for four days and on 29 April at 6.30 pm, while the bells of the Church of St. John and St. Augustine ring for the Eucharistic blessing, Itala dies. She was clothed in the wedding dress of one of her pupils who had become a Carmelite, a dress that had been worn by her for the day of her vesting. The little chamber in which she died was the object of the homage of an innumerable crowd.

Her remains were later transferred to the La Spezia Cathedral's crypta in 1983.

Itala Mela is commemorated on 28 April because 29 April is the feast of St.Catherine of Siena and St. Francis of Assisi, patron saints of Italy, and their liturgical memory would take precedence over that of Itala Mela.{{cite web |url=https://www.diocesilaspezia.it/beata-itala-mela-1904-1957/|title=Blessed Itala Mela (1904-1957)|language=it |website =Roman Catholic Diocese of La Spezia-Sarzana-Brugnato|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250112203833/https://www.diocesilaspezia.it/beata-itala-mela-1904-1957/|archive-date=January 12, 2025 |url-status=live}} {{cite web |url=https://www.cittadellaspezia.com/2022/04/24/il-1922-un-anno-decisivo-per-la-beata-itala-mela-441712/|title=28 aprile, memoria liturgica: Il 1922, un anno decisivo per la beata Itala Mela|date=24 April 2022|language =it |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250331112510/https://www.cittadellaspezia.com/2022/04/24/il-1922-un-anno-decisivo-per-la-beata-itala-mela-441712/|archive-date=March 31, 2025 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://www.ilcorriereapuano.it/2018/04/la-spezia-celebra-la-memoria-della-beata-itala-mela/|title=La Spezia, memoria di Itala Mela|language =it |website=Il Corriere Apuano|date=April 18, 2018|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250331112759/https://www.ilcorriereapuano.it/2018/04/la-spezia-celebra-la-memoria-della-beata-itala-mela/|archive-date=March 31, 2025 |url-status=live}}

Since 1937 Mela received spiritual stigmata every Friday. She also received the gift of the transverberation of the heart (August 1938). Her adoration for the "Inabitazione" ("Inhabitation," a form of worship of the Trinity), led her to establish a religious family in 1946 consisting of priests and laymen engaged in the spread of devotion.Piccinelli, Aldo. L'esperienza spirituale di Itala Mela. Una vita di incandescente immersione nella trinità. San Paolo Fuori le Mura Abbey, Rome: Benedictina Editrice, 1991, 450 p (Monographic Series of "Benedictina", 006). {{ISBN|9788885374003}}, {{OCLC|878001083}}. As quoted in {{cite book|author=Tin Van Osselaer|author2=Andrea Graus|author3=Leonardo Rossi|author4=Kristof Smeyers|url=https://core.ac.uk/works/45248710/?t=fac0674f89f42c806d8512b9eff7ffde-45248710|title=The Devotion and Promotion of Stigmatics in Europe, c. 1800–1950|doi=10.1163/9789004439351|OCLC=1195816612|publisher=Brill|series=Numen Book - Studies in the History of Religions|volume=167|pages=466|location=Leiden, Boston|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250330205806/https://core.ac.uk/reader/427715912|archive-date=March 30, 2025|url-status=live}} (available at CO.RE) (ivi: p. 391){{cite web |url=https://m.facebook.com/p/Amici-della-Beata-Itala-Mela-100077698663021/|title=Italian and Roman Catholic Facebook prayer group dedicated to Itala Mela|date=March 5, 2025}} (with some Mela's friends and rare books about Itala)

Santa Maria del Mare monastery in La Spezia houses a little museum about Mela, with the bedroom and other mementos.{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090715212833/http://www.santamariadelmare.it/msm/SantaMariadelMare/IlmuseodiItalaMela/tabid/102/Default.aspx|language=it|title=Museum dedicated to Itala Mela}}

The beatification process started in La Spezia in its diocese on 29 April 1968,{{cite web |url=http://newsaints.faithweb.com/year/1957.htm#Mela|title=Chronology of the Beatification process|archive-date=22 January 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130122210404/http://newsaints.faithweb.com/year/1957.htm|url-status=live}} which granted Mela the title Servant of God; the process spanned until 21 November 1976 and was validated in Rome on 2 October 1992. In 1983, at the canonical reconnaissance that are regularly carried out in the case of beatification processes, his body was found intact.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qgvcAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA310|page=310|language=fr|title=Les clefs cachee de la vie|author=Thierry Van de Leur|publisher=Lulù.com|isbn=9791091289054|year=2013}} Quote: "corps retrouvé intact en 1983". Following the local process, all of Mela's writings were approved in 1979 and permitted for evaluation in the cause.

The Positio then was compiled and submitted in 2003 to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints for further evaluation. On the occasion of the 2006 Convention of Italian Churches in Verona, the churches of Liguria chose Itala Mela as an exemplary witness to their heritage of faith and spirituality.

It was on 12 June 2014 that Pope Francis approved that Mela had lived a life of heroic virtue thus declared her to be Venerable.

On 14 December 2015, the pope also approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Mela which would allow for her beatification to take place; it was celebrated at Piazza Europa in La Spezia on 10 June 2017 with Cardinal Angelo Amato presiding over the celebration on the pope's behalf. The following afternoon after his Angelus address – given on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity – Pope Francis referred to her beatification in which he mentioned the real presence of "God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who abides in the chamber of our heart".{{cite web|url=https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/angelus/2017/documents/papa-francesco_angelus_20170611.html|title=Angelus for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity|website=Holy See|date=11 June 2017|location=Saint Peter's Square|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170624090847/https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/angelus/2017/documents/papa-francesco_angelus_20170611.html | archive-date=24 June 2017|url-status=live}}

The current postulator assigned to this cause is Dr. Andrea Ambrosi. Her writings altogether occupy more than 42 volumes.{{cite journal|url=https://www-settimanaleppio-it.translate.goog/dinamico.asp?idsez=6&id=1476&_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=it&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=it&_x_tr_pto=wapp|title=Abode of the Trinity: Blessed Itala Mela|issue=34|date=3 September 2017|language=it|journal=Il Settimanale di Padre Pio}} Her original writings are kept in the Diocesan Archive at the Episcopal Seminary in Sarzana. Itala Mela's findings were typewritten by the nuns of the Benedictine Monastery of Santa Maria del Mare, Castellazzo, La Spezia.[http://santamariadelmare.it/sm/ Benedictine Monastery of Santa Maria del Mare{{cite web |url=https://www.fondazionemonasteri.it/santa-maria-del-mare-sp/|title=Santa Maria del Mare|date=March 3, 2022|language=it|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250331095624/https://www.fondazionemonasteri.it/santa-maria-del-mare-sp/|archive-date=March 31, 2025 |url-status=live}}

Later, a commission of experts verified the fidelity of the typewritten copies to the originals. The archive preserves both Itala Mela's autograph writings and typewritten copies (which are the only ones that can be consulted by the public).

In honor to Itala Mela, the Municipality of La Spezia named a stairway between Via XXVII Marzo and Via dei Colli.

The Trinitarian indwelling is a spiritual experience proposed by Itala Mela to help the faithful live their lives in the light of the Trinity.{{cite web |author=Bettaglio Rita|language=it|title=La beata Itala Mela: vocazione benedettina e trinitaria|url=https://www.fondazionemonasteri.it/la-beata-itala-mela-vocazione-benedettina-e-trinitaria/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817020903/https://www.fondazionemonasteri.it/wp-content/uploads/Itala-Mela.pdf|archive-date=August 17, 2022|url-status=live}} It consists of trying to do everything in union with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, relying on their guidance and always trying to do God's will.

Trinitarian indwelling is an experience that can be lived in any situation of life, not just in a convent or in a place of prayer. For Itala Mela, in fact, daily life is the place where it is possible to meet God and bear witness to one's faith, through concrete gestures of love and charity towards others.

the Trinitarian indwelling finds foundation in the Gospel according to John, chapter 10, verses from 22 to 39 and in particular in the words "The Father is in me and I in Him". Thus, the three divine Persons inhabit each other. According to Itala Mela, man, created in the image and likeness of God, is made to live the same life as God through the Trinitarian indwelling of the soul and body. It is not a mere intellectual fact, but an experience that concerns the person in his entirety of soul and body. Anyone who coherently lives as a Son of God can also experience this communion of love with God and with his neighbour.

Itala Mela lived its first experiences of trinitarian indwelling after having prayed the Office of the Hours, received the Eucharist during holy mass or having practiced an intense Eucharistic adoration.{{cite web|url=https://www.yumpu.com/it/document/read/36420664/100-della-nascita-della-serva-di-dio-itala-mela-santamariadelmareit|date=28 August 2004|location=La Spezia|page=4|language=it|title=centenario dalla nascita di Itala Mela: la Trinità, origine e compimento della vita cristiana nell'esperienza di Itala Mela|trans-title=100th anniversari from the birth of Itala Mela: the Trinity, origin and end of the Christian life in the experience of Itala Mela|publisher=Roman Cattolico Diocese of La Spezia-Sarzana-Brugnato|website=Yumpu}}

Itala Mela immolated herself, offering her joyful suffering and infirmity to God so that other people could experience the Trinitarian indwelling, for the forgiveness of their sins and their eternal salvation.{{cite book|language=it|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1j-Nf0xb7CYC&pg=PA57|page=57|title=La trasfigurazione di Gesù|publisher=Jaca Book|year=2008|isbn=9788816702158}}

The Trinitarian indwelling theology was also described by Elizabeth of the Trinity. It was anticipated by the Diuturnum illud of Pope Leo XIII and then confirmated by the encyclical Mystici corporis of Pius XII.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QOcCEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT87|page=87|language=it|title=Giovanni.Il vangelo dei Segni. Il vangelo dell'ora|author=Pierre Domoulin|year=2017|publisher=EDB|isbn=9788810968918}}

As it results from her name of "Mary of the Trinity", Mela was a devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mela conceived the sainthood of Mary and of the Saints as "nothing but a reflection, a communication of the sanctity of the triune God." According to her, "every mystery, every aspect of faith flows from the very life of the august Trinity."{{cite web|author=Michele Minnicino|author2=Sister Maria Cecilia La Mela, OSBAP|url=https://www.cronacaoggiquotidiano.it/2017/06/17/itala-mela-piccola-ostia-lode-sempre-attuale-nellorizzonte-ecclesiale-culturale-odierno/|language=it|title=Itala Mela: una piccola ostia di lode sempre attuale nell'orizzonte ecclesiale e culturale odierno|access-date=March 30, 2025|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230304232436/https://www.cronacaoggiquotidiano.it/2017/06/17/itala-mela-piccola-ostia-lode-sempre-attuale-nellorizzonte-ecclesiale-culturale-odierno/|archive-date=March 4, 2023|url-status=live}}

In memory of Itala Mela, Clemente Terni_it composed a cantata for contralto, tenor and bass with instruments and percussion, very freely inspired by the texts collected in the volume In un mare di luce and by the lauda Alta Trinità beata contained in the ancient Laudario of Cortona, dated back to the 13th century. The first performance took place in San Miniato al Monte, at the Monastery of San Leonardo,{{cite web | url = https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2017/09/30/rassegneFirenze22.html?ref=search | title = Rassegne di musica e arte | date = September 30, 2017 | website = ricerca.repubblica.it|language=it}} not far from the temple of San Salvatore al Monte_it, a microcosm of the heavenly temple frescoed by Leonardo da Vinci.{{cite web | url = https://www.renzomanetti.com/leonardo-e-san-miniato/ | title = Leonardo e San Miniato | author = Architect Renzo Manetti | date = July 20, 2010 |language=it| archive-url = https://archive.today/20200705194028/https://www.renzomanetti.com/leonardo-e-san-miniato/ |archive-date=July 5, 2020| url-status = live | access-date = July 5, 2020 }}

In honour to Itala Mela, the Master friar Claudio Grana, OCD, composed the hymn Se mi ami davvero (If you truly love me){{cite web|access-date=April 27, 2023|language=it|format=PDF|title=Se uno mi ama davvero|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427153224/https://www.diocesilaspezia.it/sito/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Se-uno-mi-ama-davvero-CORO-in-MI.pdf}} (n°. 1978).{{cite web|url=https://cantoridelmonasterosantacroce.wordpress.com/repertorio/|title=Repertorio dei cantori del Monastero di Santa Croce}} Its stanzas are taken from the Elevation to the Trinity by St Elizabeth of the Trinity.{{cite web|url=https://liturgiacarmelitana.wordpress.com/2020/11/07/8-novembre-s-elisabetta-della-trinita-2020/|title=8 November – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity|language=it}}

• Itala Mela, Benedictine Monastery of Santa Maria a Mare (editor for stenography), Marinasco, Nel dialogo delle tre persone, Sarzana 1976 {{OCLC|1403424556}} Retrieved on January 26, 2025. (4 notebooks; no ISBN available)As quoted in {{cite web |url=https://www.oocities.org/italamela/pubblicazioni.htm|title=Selected bibliography about Itala Mela|language =it|access-date=January 29, 2025}}
• Itala Mela, Quo tu non vis (Dove tu non vuoi). Itinerario spirituale, Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2002, {{ISBN|88-209-7286-7}}
• Itala Mela, In un mare di luce. Scritti mistici, Piemme 1999, {{ISBN|88-384-4175-8}}
• Itala Mela, Amare l'amore, Mondadori, {{ISBN|88-04-43632-8}}
• Itala Mela, Luigi Crippa (editor) (October 1, 2014), Pensieri sull'obbedienza benedettina, Editrice Domenicana Italiana, {{EAN|9788898264339}}, {{ISBN|889826433X}}.
• Itala Mela, L'ascesi alla luce dell'Inabitazione, in Ritiri mensili 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, Apostolato per la Comunione frequente agli ammalati, Genoa, [https://archive.today/20250331093127/https://www.beweb.chiesacattolica.it/books/book/1050678765/L'ascesi+nella+luce+dell'inabitazione 34 p.]As quoted in Montini's preface of Dora Lucciardi, pope Paul VI (foreword), Itala Mela nella sua esperienza e nei suoi scritti, Vita Nuova, Edizione Studium, Roma 1963 (at typography [https://core.ac.uk/reader/630986795 La Commerciale - Moderna – Rome], 260 p.). {{OCLC|898663383}}, {{OCLC|1405578204}}

Text available [https://archive.today/20250331092538/https://artcurel.blogspot.com/2019/07/lascesi-nella-luce-dellinabitazione-in.html?m=1 here] or at

{{cite web|url=http://www.gianfrancobertagni.it/Discipline/misticacristiana.htm|title=Christian mystics and Itala Mela|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250115181242/http://www.gianfrancobertagni.it/Discipline/misticacristiana.htm|archive-date=January 15, 2025|url-status=live|language=it}}

Some of Mela's writings were translated into Spanish by Manuel Garrido Bonaño (1923-2013), OSB, who collaborated in the cause for beatification of Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer at the Diocesan Tribunal of Madrid and as promoter of justice in that of Sister Eusebia Palomino Yenes.{{cite journal|url=https://core.ac.uk/works/14375983/?t=4a37a33c3a9586946576608b83dc23cc-14375983|format=PDF|title=Un servidor de la renovación litúrgica en España: Manuel Garrido Bonaño (1925-2013)|language=es-ES|OCLC=8595217109|author=Alfonso Barlanga|date=January 1, 2020|publisher=Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Navarra|pages=491-514|journal=Anuario de Historia de la Iglesia|year=2020|volume=29|ISSN=1133-0104|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250330204024/https://core.ac.uk/reader/429685366|archive-date=March 30, 2025|url-status=live}}. Quote: "...even biographies (Ildefonso, Cardinal Schuster, mystic and apostle), and several editions and translations of other authors (Saint Ambrose, Saint Leo the Great, Itala Mela...). As a mariologist, he published numerous articles in the main journals in this field: Estudios Marianos (with more than fifty contributions), Ephemerides Mariologicae, Scripta de Maria and Marianum.

In 2017 Annamaria Valli published a bibliography of the studies and anthologies related to Mela's writings.Annamaria Valli, Entrare nell’abisso trinitario. Itala Mela, monachesimo e mondo, Nerbini Edizioni, Firenze 2017, 147 p., {{ISBN|978-88-6434-265-8}}, {{OCLC|1102383248}}. As quoted in Maria Manuela Romano, OCD, [https://www.teresianum.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Ter_69_2018-1_298-300.pdf Rewiew], in Teresianum 69 (2018/1).

In the substantial collection of Itala Mela's letters, gathered in her typewritten volumes, there were only seven of the approximately one hundred letters sent from 1931, on the eve of her taking the veil, until 1956, a few months before her death in her house in Via del Torretto, La Spezia.{{cite web|url= https://www.liguria24.it/2018/04/28/lomaggio-della-diocesi-ad-itala-mela/119935/ |title= L'omaggio della diocesi ad Itala Mela|date= April 28, 2018|author= don Giuseppe Savoca|location=La Spezia|language=it }}

The letters were addressed to the abbots of San Paolo fuori le Mura, Ildebrando Vannucci_it and his successor Cesario D'Amato_it, and to the director of the Oblates, Fr, Giuseppe Turbessi, who was succeeded by Fr. Ippolito Boccolini_it.

The letters dealt with liturgical reform and the return to Gregorian chant, relaunched by Prosper Guéranger,{{cite web | url =

http://www.cittadellaspezia.com/mobile/La-Spezia/Attualita/Lettere-di-Itala-Mela-nell-archivio-del-monastero-di-San-Paolo-fuori-le-mura-258587.aspx | title = Lettere di Itala Mela nell'archivio del monastero di San Paolo fuori le mura | date = April 29, 2018 |location=La Spezia|language=it|author = Egidio Banti}} as well as the construction of the monastery of Saint Scholastica near Civitella San Paolo, north of Rome, a proposal put forward by Schuster and implemented by Vannucci.{{cite journal | url = https://www.oblatibenedettiniitaliani.it/app/download/13351461727/OBLATIInsieme_nr._15_11_Luglio_2017.pdf?t=1545434000 | title = Itala Mela, un esempio di santità per gli oblati: Itala Mela e San Paolo Fuori le Mura | journal = OBLATI insieme Bollettino degli Oblati Secolari Benedettini Italiani | issue = 17 | date = July 11, 2017 | language=it| archive-url = https://archive.today/20200705210946/https://www.oblatibenedettiniitaliani.it/app/download/13351461727/OBLATIInsieme_nr._15_11_Luglio_2017.pdf?t=1545434000 | archive-date=July 5, 2020| url-status = live | access-date = July 5, 2020 }}

• Angela Gotelli
• Elizabeth of the Trinity
• FUCI
• Silvia Montefoschi
• Most Holy Trinity

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web|author=Don Dr. Francesco Vannini|url=https://www.diocesilaspezia.it/sito/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Presentazione-Itala-Mela-Vannini.pdf|language=it|publisher=Roman Catholic Diocese of La Spezia-Sarzana-Brugnato|title=Itala Mela (1904–1957). Una spezzina del Novecento. Mistica dell'Inabitazione|trans-title=Itala Mela (1904–1957). A person from La Spezia lived in the twentieth century. Mystique of the Trinitarian indwelling|year=2017|pages=48|access-date=2023-04-27|archive-date=2023-04-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427154106/https://www.diocesilaspezia.it/sito/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Presentazione-Itala-Mela-Vannini.pdf|url-status=bot: unknown}} (on occasion of Mela's beatification in 2017)
• {{cite book|first1=Massimiliano|last1=Taroni|title=Itala Mela. Una mistica per il nostro tempo|language=it|year=2017|pages=48|publisher=Velar|series=Blu. Messaggeri d'amore|isbn=9788866714255}}
• {{cite book|author=Sister Maria Gregoria Arzani (Benedictine Monastery of Santa Maria a Mare in Marinasco) |title=Corpo e spirito, trasparenza di Dio. Itala Mela|publisher =Libreria Editrice Vaticana|date=January 1, 2002|language=it |page=192|edition=1st|isbn=9788820973261|series=Testi mistici}} (anthology of Mela's writings)
• Dora Lucciardi, pope Paul VI (foreword), Itala Mela nella sua esperienza e nei suoi scritti, Vita Nuova, Edizione Studium, Roma 1963 (at typography [https://core.ac.uk/reader/630986795 La Commerciale - Moderna – Rome], 260 p.). {{OCLC|898663383}}, {{OCLC|1405578204}}
• Giovanna Azzali Bernardelli, Un'esperienza di contemplazione distinta del prezioso sangue nella vita spirituale di Itala Mela, La vela, La Spezia 1986, 15 p (serie "Nel dialogo delle tre persone". Supplemento al n. 9 (1986) di Vitaperché: la voce del seminario, bimestrale del Centro Diocesano Vocazioni di Chiavari, Seminario Vescovile "Pio IX" (Chiavari). IT\CCU\LIG\0037616

{{Wikiquote}}

• [http://catholicsaints.info/venerable-itala-mela/ Saints SQPN]
• {{cite web|url=https://www-causesanti-va.translate.goog/it/santi-e-beati/itala-mela.html?_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=it&_x_tr_pto=wapp|title=Itala Mela|website=Dicastery for the Causes of Saints|access-date=2022-11-15|archive-date=2022-11-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115131953/https://www-causesanti-va.translate.goog/it/santi-e-beati/itala-mela.html?_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=it&_x_tr_pto=wapp|url-status=dead}}
• {{cite web | author = Lucia Gentile | url = http://fuci.net/component/k2/universita/itala-mela-dallo-scetticismo-al-misticismo | title = Itala Mela: dallo scetticismo al misticismo |language=it| archive-url = https://archive.today/20200117104642/http://fuci.net/component/k2/universita/itala-mela-dallo-scetticismo-al-misticismo | archive-date=January 17, 2020|url-status = live}}
• {{cite web | url = http://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/it/speeches/1966/documents/hf_p-vi_spe_19661206_fuci.html | title = Address by Paul VI on the 70th anniversary of the Roman Catholic University Federation|language=it}}

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{{subject bar|portal1=Saints|portal2=Catholicism|portal3=Biography|portal4=Christianity|portal5=Italy}}

• {{cite web |url=https://www.diocesilaspezia.it/beata-itala-mela-1904-1957/|title=Blessed Itala Mela (1904-1957)|language=it |website =Roman Catholic Diocese of La Spezia-Sarzana-Brugnato|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250112203833/https://www.diocesilaspezia.it/beata-itala-mela-1904-1957/|archive-date=January 12, 2025 |url-status=live}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mela, Itala}}

Category:1904 births

Category:1957 deaths

Category:20th-century venerated Christians

Category:20th-century Christian mystics

Category:20th-century Italian Roman Catholic theologians

Category:Roman Catholic mystics

Category:20th-century Italian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns

Category:Benedictine oblates

Category:Italian beatified people

Category:People from La Spezia

Category:Beatifications by Pope Francis

Category:University of Genoa alumni

Category:Venerated Catholics by Pope Francis

Category:Women mystics