Cavalletti, Sofia 1917–

PERSONAL: Born August 21, 1917, in Rome, Italy; daughter of Giorgio (a magistrate) and Giulia Cavalletti. Education: State University of Rome "La Sapienza," M.A., 1949.

ADDRESSES: Home—Rome, Italy.

CAREER: State University of Rome "La Sapienza," Rome, Italy, assistant for Hebrew and Semitic languages, until 1954; Centro di Catechesi del buon Pastore, Rome, principal, 1954–06. Teacher in Israel, France, Ireland, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Croatia and cities in the United States, including St. Paul, MN, Houston, TX, and Washington, DC. Member of Commission oecumenique of the Roman Catholic Episcopal Conference and of the Roman Catholic diocese of Rome, and of Service d'information et documentation judéo-chretienne.

WRITINGS:

Ebraismo e spiritualita' cristiana (title means "Judaism and Christian Spirituality"), Studium, 1956.

Il trattato delle benedizioni del Talmud Babilonese (title means "Treatise on Blessings from the Babylonian Talmud"), Utet (Turin, Italy), 1958.

(With Gianna Gobbi) Educazione religiosa: Liturgia e metodo Montessori, Paoline (Rome, Italy), 1961, translation by Sister M. Juliana published as Teaching Doctrine and Liturgy: The Montessori Approach, Alba House (Staten Island, NY), 1964.

La storia della salvezza, Coletti (Rome, Italy), 1967.

La mistica ebraica (title means "The Jewish Mystic"), Morcelliana (Brescia, Italy), 1970.

Jo sono il buon Pastore (for children; title means "I Am the Good Shepherd"), five volumes, Coletti (Rome, Italy), 1970.

The Religious Potential of the Child (translation by Patricia M. Coulter and Julie M. Coulter from original manuscript titled Il potenziale religioso del bambino), Paulist Press (New York, NY), 1983.

Il giudaismo intertestamentario (title means "Judaism between the Two Testaments"), Queriniana (Brescia, Italy), 1991.

(With others) The Good Shepherd and the Child: A Joyful Journey, Liturgy Training Publications (Chicago, IL), 1996.

Living Liturgy, Liturgy Training Publications (Chicago, IL), 1998.

History's Golden Thread: The History of Salvation, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Publications (Chicago, IL), 1999.

The Religious Potential of the Child 6 to 12 Years Old (translation by Rebekah Rojcewicz and Alan R. Perry from original manuscript titled Il potenziale religioso tra e 6 e i 12 anni,), Liturgy Training Publications (Chicago, IL), 2002.

A History of the Jewish People, translated by Maureen Armas and Rebekah Rojcewicz, Liturgy Training Publications (Chicago, IL), 2004.

La Catechesi del buon Pastore, 1954–2004: Aspetti di un'esperienza, Eds. TAU, 2004.

Work represented in anthologies, including Nuove questioni di storia della pedagogia (title means "New Issues of History of Pedagogy"), Editrice la Scuola, 1978. Translator of biblical books from their original languages, including Isaiah, Proverbs, Judith, Ruth, Esther, and Leviticus. Contributor of articles on biblical and religious topics to periodicals, including Letter and Spirit.

SIDELIGHTS: Sofia Cavalletti once told CA: "I write because of my love for the Bible—I learn so much translating whole books from Hebrew or Greek—and because of my long experience of biblical and liturgical catechese with children from two to twelve years old, experience which I have checked with children of very different cultures. The children showed me their deep and mysterious relationship with God, which has different characteristics from adults' religious experience; children are much more essential—I dare say more serious—in their relationship with God and more capable than we are of vitally enjoying it.

"The relationship between Hebraic and Christian spirituality is very deep and close, not just because of our common roots in Hebraic scripture. In spite of the tragic divisions between Jews and Christians, we still have very deep links: the same vision of history being conducted by God with the collaboration of men and women, and the same way of living history in a very special form in liturgy."

Cavalletti later added that of particular influence on her work was Professor Eugenio Zolli, former chief rabbi of Rome, who became a Catholic after the war. She met him at the university.