Turin (Italy). On 16 January 2026 in Valdocco, Turin – after the introduction to the Strenna by the Rector Major, Fr. Fabio Attard, in the previous opening day – the work of the of the Salesian Family Spirituality Days have come into full swing with the deepening of the theme “Do whatever he tells you” – Watch and Listen.
In the morning, starting from the lectio divina led by the Turin deacon Paolo De Martino on the Gospel passage of the wedding at Cana (Jn 2:1-11), the participants then divided themselves into groups by language to continue reflecting on these themes, guided by some questions. They then returned to the Salone Teatro to listen to what was shared in the groups, in the form of an evocative community prayer presided over by Fr. Guido Errico, SDB, and led by Sister Leslie Sándigo, General Councilor for the Salesian Family. (video)
In the afternoon, the members of the Salesian Family had the opportunity to visit the exhibit “The wings of Sister Maria Troncatti” on the new Saint of the SF and to delve deeper into other figures of Salesian holiness. They then met again in the Theater for the presentation of Sister Francesca Caggiano, Daughter of Mary Help of Christians, Vice Postulator of the Cause, on “The Apostolic Faith of Saint Maria Troncatti”.
The presentation began with the video Will be changed into joy summary of her life, produced by the Communications Sector and available in various languages on the YouTube channel of the FMA Institute.
Sister Francesca, with passion and profound knowledge of the Saint, then spoke of the life of Sister Maria as that “of a believer who with total dedication placed herself at the service of the evangelizing and educational mission of the Salesian charism, bringing the ‘good wine’ of faith to that frontier land of the Amazonian East through the education and care of bodies and souls. (…)
Hers was a life that can undoubtedly be read in filigree in light of this year’s Strenna, ‘Do whatever he tells you’. Believers, free to serve. It was a life that took place in the dynamism that emerges from this first sign of Jesus: faith, freedom, and service.
We can compare our Saint to the Virgin Mary. Like her, she is not indifferent to the lack of the wine of life and respect for the dignity of people. And like her, she asks Jesus, with her solid faith and incessant prayer, to intervene while she herself goes into action. We see her as a faithful and happy servant who listens to Mary’s command to the servants, ‘Do whatever He tells you.’, and freely and confidently presents to Jesus the empty amphorae of the difficult mission, confident that He will perform the miracle of lasting peace and a reinvigoration of the Christian life.
We glimpse her, rooted in faith, present on that ‘third day’ of the wedding mentioned in the Gospel of John, that is, within the story where Jesus ‒ with whom she had an all-encompassing relationship ‒ when ‘His hour’ had come, showed Himself as the living and working Son of God. And again, in imitation of Our Lady, Sister Maria becomes ‘servant of the Kingdom’ whose good wine was to be given generously because it was not for herself, but rather a gift to be distributed down to the last drop, in industriousness and in prayer, for her ‘traveling companions’.”
Through several episodes in the life of this great missionary, Sister Francesca brought to light the great faith that supported her in her work, which led her to abandonment, to total self-giving, to generous obedience to Providence manifested in events and she met God in the people to help. She concluded as follows:
“The Rector Major, reaching the completion of the Strenna, states, “Like Mary at Cana, we educators in the faith are called to bear witness to Christ to young people, not as an ‘object’, but as a liberating relationship; to propose the Christian life not as rules to be followed, but as the fullness of life freely offered. ‘Do whatever He tells you’ is not an invitation to blind obedience, but to the responsible freedom communicated by those who have already met and experience Love and wish to share it, because in Him there is true life.”
Thus, Saint Maria Troncatti, with her apostolic faith, guided us. With the brightness of her testimony, she showed us that faith is a profound communion with the living Christ: a personal encounter in prayer; an industrious convocation in faith in the folds of history that always awaits, before acting, God’s ‘first step’ in His ordinary and extraordinary mediations. It is a calling to be welcomed with freedom; a generous service to be lived in joy; a thirst for meaning to arouse and orient towards the living Jesus. It is a nostalgia for God to bring out in the hearts of young people and accompany them to maturity, if they see our eyes in love and full of light.”
