Father Negri is thought to be the first tourist to travel to Norway’s North Cape and the first Central European to don a pair of skis and spread this sleek, winter transport technology to Italy, host country to the Olympic Winter Games in Milano-Cortina Feb. 6-22.

According to the Church’s liturgical calendar, the feast held on Feb. 2 each year is in honor of the Presentation of the Lord. Some Catholics recall this day as the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary because such was the feast day named until the 1969 changes in the Church’s calendar.

The devout Catholic homesteading mother and grandmother is using what she learned as an Olympian to help young people and women find success in sport, live a healthy lifestyle and stay connected to God.

When we apply the principles of sport — faithful practice, obedience to the rules, resilience after failure, self-control, discipline and trust in a greater goal — to our spiritual lives, then our discipleship is strengthened and our soul is made stronger and better prepared to meet God.

Consecrated men and women “reveal God’s invitation to love him with one’s whole life” on earth, in hope of doing so eternally in heaven, said Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations.