Rome (Italy). Mother Chiara Cazzuola is the Superior General of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians.

The election took place on the morning of 5 October 2021. The Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Fr. Ángel Fernández Artime, was the first to congratulate  Mother. A warm applause greeted the official proclamation.

Sr. Chiara Cazzuola was born on 6 May 1955 in Campiglia Marittima (Livorno), in Tuscany, land of Dante Alighieri, a region of artists, saints, and poets; a city overlooking the sea! And this is no small thing for a Mother with broad horizons.

She grows up in a close-knit and hardworking family. She is between two brothers. Her mother is an open and pleasant woman. From her, Sr. Chiara received the touch of humor  that makes her life beautiful. As a young girl, she breathes the Salesian charism because there are FMA with a lively oratory in her town. From then, she  loves singing, theater, and companionship. Having matured her Salesian religious vocation, she enters the Institute at the age of 18 and lives the Postulancy and Novitiate in Castelgandolfo (Rome).

On 5 August 1975, she becomes an FMA, a living stone of the  Monument of gratitude to Mary Help of Christians, a consecrated educator giving her life to Jesus and to the young.

After the intensive year of Temporary Vows in Turin, and graduating in Literature in Rome at the Libera Maria Assunta University, Sr. Chiara joyfully lives the Salesian mission in  Montecatini School, where she teaches in the experimental High School. She is the Principal and Provincial Coordinator of Youth Ministry.

In 2003, she arrives in Genoa from Tuscany where she is Animator, Principal, and Provincial Councilor until 2007. Appointed Provincial of the Emilia-Liguria-Tuscany Province of Our Lady of the Cenacle based in La Spezia (ILS),  after a brief time she is elected Visiting Councilor at the XXII General Chapter  in 2008. She visits some Provinces of America and Europe, gaining an experience rich in the Salesian spirit and interculturality. To each of her sisters she gives her boundless love for every person and human reality, her smiling  optimism, and the ability to grasp the seeds of life and hope present in everyone and in events. In 2015, she is in the Antilles for various formation meetings and in 2019, she visits the ‘newborn’ Preprovince of Mary Mother of the Church – RMC

In GC XXIII of 2014, she is appointed Vicar General. She was Moderator of the General Chapter twice (2014 and 2021).

On 5 October 2021, in the XXIV General Chapter, she is elected Mother General, the tenth Successor of Mary Domenica Mazzarello.

At this unprecedented hour in history and at the doors of the 150th anniversary of the Foundation of the FMA Institute, Mother Chiara places herself with simplicity and profound awareness at the helm of the Religious Family of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and, walking in synodal style, looks to the future with hope and trust.

Best wishes Mother!

25 COMMENTS

  1. CARISSIMA Madre Chiara: con tanto affetto e tanta preghiera continuo ad esserti vicina.
    Grazie ancora per il tuo si e per tutto quello che ci doni e ci donerai. Sempre vicina con affetto

  2. Querida Madre Chiara
    Nuestra comunidad agradece el don de su vida y se alegra de su SI valiente y generoso al servicio de nuestro Instituto y de los jóvenes. En nuestras oraciones la confiamos a nuestra Madre María para que el vino nuevo sea abundante en un florecer vocacional.
    Con cariño, gratitud y oración.
    CASA DEL ASPIRANTADO AUXILIADORA INMACULADA, TEGUCIGALPA HONDURAS.

  3. Carissima Madre Chiara,
    lo Spirito Santo è presente laddove il nome di Cristo viene proclamato. Egli è in mezzo a noi ogni volta che eleviamo i cuori e le menti a Dio nella preghiera. Le preghiere di tutte le FMA, delle Exallieve/i delle FMA e di tutta la Famiglia Salesiana hanno dato buon frutto.
    Grazie per aver detto il suo “SI”.
    Continuerò a pregare per lei e per tutto il nuovo Cansiglio.
    Un grande abbraccio

  4. carissima Madre Chiara,
    Auguriamo una bella e feconda missione perché l’Istituto nella Chiesa e nel mondo continui ad essere “un segno profetico e una presenza educativa nell’accoglienza incondizionata dei e delle giovani affrontando le sfide dell’intercutualità nel identificare percorsi per rendere efficaci le nostre interiezioni apostoliche in un mondo dominato dalle scienze e dalla tecnologia numerica”.

    Tanti auguri!

  5. Madre Chiara desde México te decimos ¡¡Gracias!! por tu disponibilidad y por aceptarnos en tu corazón. Cuenta con nuestra oración y cariño. María Auxiliadora te lleva de su mano como lo hizo con D. Bosco y M. Mazzarello. ¡Ánimo! te mandamos un gran abrazo con mucho cariño¡

  6. Prayers for Mother Chiara, for a blessed and fruitful ministry as the mother and the leader of the FMA. Congratulations to all the Sisters in the Institute.

  7. Querida Madre Chiara, desde la Inspectoría “Sagrado Corazón” del Ecuador le acogemos en nuestro corazón con mucho cariño y gratitud y le ofrecemos colocar todas sus intenciones en el corazón de Jesús como lo hacía Madre Mazzarello.
    Cuente con nuestro afecto y oraciones de cada una de sus hijas.

  8. Cara Madre Chiara.
    Con il cuore di gratitudine cantiamo il Magnificat per il grande dono della Madre Generale. Ti ringraziamo per il Tuo SI.Dio Ti benedica e Ti guidi.Maria Ausiliatrice sia sempre vicina. Siamo vicini con il cuore e la preghiera. Comunita di Pieszyce PLA

  9. Querida Madre Chiara:
    Gracias por tu Sí generoso. Que María Auxiliadora y nuestros Santos Fundadores te acompañen, protejan y guíen en tu misión. Cuenta con mi oración, Cordiales felicitaciones, con cariño filial, Sor Teresita Salas G.

  10. Madre Chiara, Dios te elije en un tiempo propicio de nuestra historia, cuenta con nuestro cariño y oración. Saludos de mis hermanas de la Comunidad de Breña-María Auxiliadora de Lima-Perú.

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