Isabella Vella, Consecrated as Bride of Our Lord Jesus Christ
On Tuesday, January 21st, on the feast of St. Agnes, Bishop John Noonan will confer the Rite of Consecration to Virginity upon Isabella Donna Veronica Vella. The ceremony will take place at our Parish Life Center at 12 PM. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Let’s meet Isabella
I am the daughter of Italian immigrant parents who arrived in the United States in the early 1950s and were married in New York City in 1964. I was born and raised in the Bronx and attended public school until the 3rd grade. My parents would later enroll me in Catholic School, it was at Saint Nicholas of Tolentine Catholic Church in the Bronx that I attended school from the 3rd to the 8th grade, and where I celebrated my 1st Holy Communion and confirmation.
When I was entering High School, my parents were very concerned about me attending a public High School in the Bronx. My father decided to close his business and relocate us to upstate New York, where I would attend John Jay High School.
As I entered my first year of college, I was swept away by college life, friends, and all the things that a young student is exposed to that pull us away from a life of prayer and attending Mass. After a few years of community college, my best friend and I decided to move to Miami, FL, for a new start out of New York and pursue furthering our education at a college in Florida.
In Miami, I became a parishioner at Saint John Neumann Catholic Church where I experienced my first Easter Vigil, and my first retreat The Emmaus Experience. Here is where my journey of healing, discovery, and conversion began. At SJN, I learned how to see all the places Jesus walked with me when I thought I was alone or rejected. In the following years, I would become an Emmaus team leader, belong to a charismatic prayer group, and participate in the Life in the Spirit seminar at SJN.
In 2001, I moved to Altamonte Springs and became a parishioner at Annunciation Catholic Church. There, I was invited to become a Sacristan, Eucharistic minister, faith formation instructor, and sponsor for RCIA.
In 2013 I decided to return to school for my AS degree in Occupational Therapy Assisting. In May of 2015, I graduated from Daytona State, and in 2016 I acquired a position as a hand therapist and continue to work as a hand therapist for Jewett Orthopedic.
After several years of being involved in school I felt a little disconnected and decided to participate in a 40-week Ignatian retreat called The Long Retreat, this retreat would lead me to a conversion that would change my life most unexpectedly and miraculously. It was through Ignatian teaching that I would develop a relationship with the Lord that would lead me to the knowledge of what the Lord’s will for my life was, and what my role would look like as a Consecrated Virgin in His church and in praying for His priests, and the Church. My journey of discernment began in 2016, and it has been a road of twists and turns that have led me to January 21st, 2025, when I will be consecrated as a bride of Christ at my home parish of Most Precious Blood.
What is Consecrated Virginity?
The consecrated virgin offers the gift of her physical virginity to Christ, as a sign of the dedication of her entire being to Him. Through the Rite of Consecration, the Church receives the gift of the virgin and calls down upon her the grace of the Holy Spirit that she may never fail in her resolve to live in perfect continence for the sake of Christ and His Church. [Taken from Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, “Vocations to the Consecrated Life,” St. Louis Review Online, August 13, 2004]
The Consecration of a Virgin is one of the oldest sacramentals in the Church, and one of the fruits of Vatican II was the restoration of this profound blessing on virgins living in the world. Through this sacramental, the virgin renews her resolve to live in perpetual virginity for God and is set aside as sacred, espoused to Christ, and belonging only to Him alone. It is God Himself who accepts her resolution and makes it spiritually fruitful by the power of the Holy Spirit. This sacramental is reserved for the Bishop of the diocese. The consecrated virgin shares intimately in the nature and mission of the Church: she is a living image of the Church’s love for her Spouse while sharing in His redemptive mission.
She keeps as a special focus of her prayer the intentions of her Bishop and clergy and the needs of her diocese. The consecrated virgin living in the world, as expressed in Canon 604, is irrevocably “consecrated to God, mystically espoused to Christ and dedicated to the service of the Church, when the diocesan bishop consecrates [her] according to the approved liturgical rite.” The consecrated virgin understands the positive value of living for the Lord in the midst of the world. She does not wear a habit or veil, nor does she use the title “Sister.” Not restricted to a particular apostolate, she is free to choose her own way of serving the church according to her natural and spiritual gifts. Consecrated virgins usually offer their free time, as they are able, to their parish, diocese, or Church-sponsored association.