A wave that bears the name of Mary – Immaculate Conception 2025

Roma (Italia). On the occasion of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary 2025, the Superior General of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Mother Chiara Cazzuola, addresses a Message of greetings to all FMA and Educating Communities:

In the missionary atmosphere in which we are living at this time, also prompted and guided by the canonization of Saint Maria Troncatti, by the recent celebrations that took place in Turin and Genoa of the First Missionary Departure of our Salesian Brothers, and at the end of the first year of preparation for 150^th of the First Missionary Departure of our Institute, in this message I would like to highlight the Marian missionary aspect of our vocation. We are Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, an Institute all of Mary, who wanted us and continues to be actively present in our lives. She is for us the Guide that precedes us and accompanies us on the journey.

It seems significant to me to take up one of the most beautiful passages of the Cronistoria. This is the morning of 14 November 1877. Don Bosco, after having confessed the missionaries and having celebrated Mass in time, accompanies, together with Mother Mazzarello, the Sisters and the Salesians to the port of Genoa.

Once they arrive at the place of embarkation, they too board the vessel (cf. Cronistoria II 289 ff). Touching is the care shown by Don Bosco and by Mother Mazzarello who, with the heart of a father and of a mother, go among the cabins to see how the Sisters and the Salesians are accommodated. When visitors have to leave the ship, the farewell is certainly heartbreaking. The Cronistoria  brings us back many emotional details that I won’t dwell on now, but at a certain point, as the ship moves away, a wave of sound arrives from the sea. It is Fr. Costamagna who accompanies the choir on the piano, “I want to love Mary; I want to give her my heart”. This song spreads far as the ship leaves the port… “I want to love Mary; I want to give her my heart”. It was a song that Fr. Costamagna had composed in Mornese for the Sisters and it is interesting to read how it was born. He composed in the sacristy where he tried and tried, especially with the first notes, which underlined the verse, “I want to love Mary…” and he could not get any further.

The house was flooded with this sound so that in the workroom they could no longer hear each other except by raising their voice. Then Mother Mazzarello, who while working spoke to the postulants and novices, had changed places several times, but it was the same, as if haunted by that refrain, “I want to love Mary…”. Finally, with a benevolent smile she had said, “Go and tell the Director that not only he wants to love the Madonna, but that we want to love her too and that he must be good.”

Now for the first missionaries, that song is linked to the memory of Mornese, and it is interesting that the Sisters sing this praise as they leave their homeland, their family, the Founders, at a moment of great detachment. They are leaving Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello; they are leaving behind a secure experience to face the unknown.

The protagonist of this moment is still Mary, the Mother and the Teacher; She who supports, consoles, and encourages. Perhaps these words, “I want to love Mary, I want to give her my heart”… seem romantic to us, spoken in nineteenth-century language, but let’s get to the heart of the matter. Mary is the one who precedes the journey and accompanies it. There is no house or Province of ours that has not been thought of and preceded by the Mother of God and our Mother. She envelops with great tenderness every person, every educating community, every activity and project for the good.

I think that on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, we can recover the very beautiful experience of our Sisters. Mary is present to the young Sisters leaving for the missions. Mary precedes the journey to America where she awaits her Daughters. (…)

These could be news stories and we could stop here. But this song, as described in our Cronistoria, “is lost in the wave…” indeed “a sound wave comes from the sea…”. We know that the wave is dynamism, movement; it is unknown where a wave ends. This wave is transmitted into the ocean together with our missionary action … a wave that bears the name of Mary; a declaration, not only of the sweetness of a memory, of an experience so important that it links us to the origins of our Institute, but a reflection for today.

We have all been touched by this wave, which still resonates in us and which recalls to us the presence of Mary in our lives, in our mission. The wave is suggestive; it’s as if we hear the power of this expression echoing in our ears. For us it’s a certainty that comforts us and helps us look to the future with hope and confidence.

On this solemnity of the Immaculate, let us turn to her, venerated from the beginning in Valdocco and Mornese as the Immaculate Help of Christians, the woman of victory, who watches over the Church and over all humanity and defeats evil forever, so that she may also give us the courage of missionary choices and bring peace and hope to the entire world.

At this important moment, we feel in communion with the whole Salesian Family, especially in the appointment of the Marian circle.

Happy Feast!

Rome, 8 December 2025

Sister Chiara Cazzuola
Superior General of the FMA Institut

Complete text of the Message