ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 13, 2025 / 14:42 pm

A fire this weekend severely damaged the 17th-century Bernaga Monastery outside of Milan in northern Italy, forcing 21 cloistered nuns to flee the blaze.

The fire broke out around 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 11 as the nuns — part of the Ambrosian hermitages of the Order of St. Ambrose ad Nemus — were watching a live television stream of Pope Leo XIV’s prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter’s Square. The women all escaped without harm, but the monastery, which was built in 1628, was nearly destroyed. Nine firefighting teams intervened to put out the blaze.

The Archdiocese of Milan reported that the fire destroyed documents, religious artifacts, and the nuns’ personal belongings, though the religious sisters managed to save some paintings and a relic of St. Ca

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