Between family tension, health issues, a destroyed reputation and exile from the community of Roman Catholic nuns she helped found, Clelia Merloni could have easily given up. But instead, Merloni bore those trials quietly and without complaint and chose to love those who persecuted her.

It’s one of the reasons the nuns of the Hamden-based religious community, the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, say their founder is on the path to sainthood. And it’s why Pope Francis on Jan. 26 approved the first miracle attributed to Merloni’s intercession, clearing the way for her beatification — the final step before the Catholic Church’s formal recognition of sainthood.