Blessed Maria Troncatti missionary of joyful hope

Rome (Italy). On 24 November 2012 in Macas, Ecuador, with the rite presided by Cardinal Angelo Amato, Salesian of Don Bosco, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, Sister Maria Troncatti (1883-1969), Daughter of Mary Help of Christians, missionary in that land for 47 years, was beatified.

The solemn celebration was attended by the Superior General of the FMA Institute, Mother Yvonne Reungoat; the General Secretary, Sister Piera Cavaglià; the General Visiting Councillors, Sister Sylvia Boullosa and Sister Mira Pece, the Postulator General of the Causes of the Saints of the Salesian Family, Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni; the Vice Postulator, Sister Sylwia Ciezkowska; the Provincial of Sacred Heart Province (ECU) and the Inspectors of other Provinces of Latin America; a large representation of FMA, members of the Community of Educators, young people, children, and families, including ethnic Shuar.

The event was preceded by a series of celebrations and encounters organized by the Institute to “welcome the message that this ardent missionary today launches for all of us” – Mother Yvonne on 29 May 2012, communicating the news of the Beatification to the Institute – and exhorting:

“It is necessary in particular to help the young people to approach this wonderful missionary who, with active faith, daring generosity, and joyful hope, proclaimed and witnessed to everyone the love of Jesus.”

In the homily of beatification, Card. Amato outlined her as a consecrated and missionary person, highlighting in the ordinariness and simplicity of her acts of motherhood and mercy, the extraordinary nature of “an example of dedication to Jesus and His Gospel of truth and life” for which, more than forty years after her death, she was remembered with gratitude:

“Sister Maria, animated by grace, became an untiring messenger of the Gospel, an expert in humanity, and a profound knower of the human heart. She shared the joys and hopes, the difficulties and sorrows of her brothers and sisters, big and little. She was able to transform prayer into apostolic zeal and concrete service to others.”

At the end of the rite, the chronicle of that day reports a fact that recalls the identity of the Blessed:

“It is worth mentioning the meeting with a Shuar who absolutely wants to meet the great-niece of the Blessed for a communication. He shows his identity card and leaves the small group that has formed around him and his wife surprised: ‘He is called Rodondi by surname!’ He explains that Sister Maria Troncatti, at his birth, gave him the surname of her own mother. And that gentleman is proud to note that he is the only one in Ecuador to bear that name. Therefore, he concludes moved: I too am part of the family of Sister Maria Troncatti! ‘”

Cardinal Amato ended the homily assuring those present, including the Shuar, that “from heaven Blessed Maria Troncatti continues to watch over your homeland and your families. We continue to ask for her intercession, in order to live in fraternity, harmony, and peace. Let us turn to her with trust, so that she may assist the sick, comfort those who suffer, enlighten parents in the Christian education of children, bring harmony into families. Dear faithful, as it was on earth, so too from heaven, Blessed Maria Troncatti will continue to be our Good Mother.”

It is the same confident certainty that today still animates the prayer for the success of her Cause of Canonization and for the journey towards the honors of the altars of the other FMA candidates.

To pay tribute to Sister Maria Troncatti, on 24 November 2024, precisely on the anniversary of her Beatification, there will be broadcast in live streaming the Missionary Festival “It is time to rekindle the fire!” with the presentation of the songs that reached the finals in the Contest for the creation of the hymn of the 150^th anniversary of the first missionary expedition (14 November 1877).

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