A doctoral thesis has been devoted to the family and social commitment of Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi and Maria Corsini, the first married couple beatified together, on October 21st, 2001, under the pontificate of John Paul II. Father Antoine De Roeck’s thesis on this topic: "Gli sposi Beltrame Quattrocchi: due vite al servizio del bene comune" (The Couple Beltrame Quattrocchi: Two Lives in the Service of the Common Good) received the distinction "summa cum laude." The author highlighted the extremely strong bond between the family and society.
This work‒recently discussed in Rome at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, in the presence of the thesis director, Bishop Jean Laffitte, Secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the family‒was born of the need to prove that the sanctity of a couple not only plays a role in the intimacy and the quality of relationships between spouses or between parents and children. In fact, the quality of these relationships also grows thanks to the immersion in social life, a place of fruitful mutual exchange. Now, precisely this essential flux deploys itself in successive generations, as in the case of three of the four children of the spouses Beltrame Quattrocchi: two of their sons became priests and the second child professed religious vows, thus eloquently bearing witness to this life-giving dynamic.
Throughout the life of this couple, social commitment is always present. This is evident in their engagement in Scouting, for which they work with zeal as it also widely develops in Italy; in the care for the poor and the sick, manifested in many cases; and with the association Fronte della famiglia, in the service of the families who want to strengthen the bond of their love sealed by the Sacrament of marriage.
The author of the thesis, Fr. Antoine, write that as he tried to penetrate into the depth of this solid bond, one should not be afraid of entering into the relationship with society as well: "Henrietta, the youngest of the children of the two blessed spouses, insisted that my work should highlight explicitly her mother’s two mottos. The first was fedeltà nel minimo ‒ faithfulness in the smallest things, and the second dal tetto in su ‒ from the roof up, indicating her desire to climb ever higher up the ladder of holiness. Maria then described the relationship with her husband as un’euritmia cosciente ‒ a conscious eurhythmy, as these two lives were tuning forks for one another, without any confusion between the roles of husband and wife. Each was in fact characterized by different commitments, which harmonized by a single movement, a single cause."
