Rome (Italy). On 20 October 2025, in the aftermath of the great day of the Canonization of Sister Maria Troncatti, the participants in the celebrations met at dawn at the entrance to the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican to participate at the Audience granted by Pope Leo XIV to the Pilgrims who had come for the Canonization.
The colored hats with the writing, “Saint Maria Troncatti pray for us,” and the bags with the logos, but above all the Salesian joy fully experienced in such an important event for the FMA Institute and for the entire Salesian Family, distinguished the group, made up of Mother Chiara Cazzuola and the General Council, Mother General Emeritus, Sister Yvonne Reungoat, from the novices, from the FMA from the General House, from the Houses of Rome, and several Provinces, from Provincials, missionaries, young people of the SYM, members of the Salesian Family, benefactors, FMA and young people of Ecuador, from the miraculously cured, Juwa Bosco, with his family and some Shuar, the relatives of Sister Maria Troncatti, and the citizens of Corteno Golgi and Brescia.
The immense Hall was filled as the other groups gathered for the new Saints, in particular pilgrims from Venezuela, two of them being canonized were Venezuelan Blesseds. While waiting for the Holy Father, the participants had the opportunity to share the emotions of those intense and unique days, to take photos with the banners created for the occasion, to make videos and interviews to document and preserve these unforgettable moments.
Once the applause was over, Pope Leo addressed the pilgrims, expressing the joy of meeting them and thanking in particular the Cardinals, the Bishops, the religious Superiors, and the civil authorities. He went on to say, “The joyful and solemn event we celebrated yesterday reminds us that the communion of the Church involves all the faithful, in space and time, in every language and culture, uniting us as the people of God, the body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit. The men and women whom we proclaimed Saints yesterday are for all of us bright signs of hope, because they offered their lives in the love of Christ and of their brothers and sisters.”
Afterwards, he addressed himself in particular to those gathered for the various Saints. Thus, for the Holy FMA:
“We also praise the Lord for sister Maria Troncatti, Salesian Saint who dedicated her life to serving the indigenous peoples of Ecuador. Combining medical expertise and passion for Christ, this generous missionary cared for the limbs and hearts of those she assisted with the love and strength she drew from faith and prayer. Her work, truly tireless, is for us an example of a charity that does not give up in difficulties, rather transforming them into opportunities for a free and total gift of itself.”
In the evening, in the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, the group experienced their last important moment of thanksgiving, joining the joy of the universal Church to celebrate the holiness of Sister Maria Troncatti, in the jubilee year of Hope, with the Eucharistic Celebration. It was presided by Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime and concelebrated by the Rector Major, Fr. Fabio Attard; the Rector Major Emeritus, Fr. Pascual Chávez Villanueva; the Postulator, Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni; by Monsignor Néstor Vidal Montesdeoca Becerra, SDB, Apostolic Vicar of Méndez, in Ecuador; by Monsignor Pierantonio Tremolada, Bishop of Brescia; by the Salesian Directors of Ecuador, and by other SDB priests.
The liturgy was animated by the Salesian Family and the songs by the choir of the Preprovince Mary Mother of the Church (RMC). At the foot of the presbytery, under her image, the relic of the “Madrecita Buena” was displayed, as she is called by the inhabitants of Macas.
The Word of God was brought in procession to the altar by missionaries from different parts of the world, with clothes and symbols from their lands, recalling the impetus, the fervor, the free service among the peoples of the Ecuadorian forest of Santa Maria Troncatti. “Animated by grace, which led her to share everything with everyone, she became a tireless messenger of the Gospel, expert in humanity.” And so today, “many FMA and lay missionaries express this same passion on the five continents by living the proclamation of the prophet Isaiah, “How beautiful are the feet of the messenger who proclaims salvation on the mountains’ (Is 52: 7).”
“This Word seems to have been written precisely for Saint Maria Troncatti” – commented Card. Artime in the homily: “Her feet – tired but tireless – have really crossed ‘mountains’, forests, and villages of Ecuador to bring only one news, God loves you! She did not proclaim it only with her voice, but with her donated body, with her healing hands, with her reconciling smile.”
He then continued by highlighting, starting from the Word of God, some traits of Sister Mary’s concrete and industrious holiness. “Here is the holiness that we celebrate today; the holiness of the hands that heal, of the feet that walk without getting tired, of the smile that welcomes even when the heart is tired. The holiness that comes from daily faithfulness. A holiness to which all of us are called, of Don Bosco’s family, where even today many tears of young people are collected like precious pearls, many are the silent words to bring peace, many are the hidden gestures that only the Lord knows.”
Ending, he recalled that – as men and women religious, Salesian Family, Church – one is called to be “like Sister Maria Troncatti artisans of reconciliation, humble seekers of unity, women and men who know how to listen, remain silent, forgive, start again.
Peace is not built in the palaces of the powerful but in the corridors of our homes, in our communities, in our relationships. That’s where the holiness that transforms the world begins. We ask Saint Maria Troncatti to teach us the tenderness that heals, the faith that dares, the charity that unites.”
Particularly significant was the moment of the Offertory, in which Juwa Bosco and his wife brought the rosary to the altar, a sign of filial trust in Mary Help of Christians, with whom Sister Maria nourished her prayer and missionary service daily. Her brother-in-law, sister-in-law, Juwa’s son, and an FMA brought, in addition to bread and wine, the nurse’s briefcase, remembrance of her concrete love towards the sick, the poor, and the little ones. At the sign of peace, recalling the 56 conflicts of different intensities present in the world, the Lord was asked, through the intercession of Saint Maria, for the gift of peace for these populations, for families and communities.
At the end of the Celebration, in addition to the Cardinal, the concelebrants, and those present, Mother Chiara Cazzuola thanked the Lord, “for so much joy and so much grace that in these very special days He poured out on the Church, especially on our Institute and on the Salesian Family.” She concluded by encouraging, “Together with Saint Maria Troncatti let us continue our journey in that Salesian holiness of pure gift, of absolute detachment that clothes itself with a smile and with patience every day.”
