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!
Nuestra comunidad de Neiva, CBN, Colombia, goza y da gracias a Dios por el si generoso que Madre Chiara da al Señor. La acompañamos con nuestra oración, cariño filial y disponibilidad para escuchar a María que nos dice “haced lo que Él os diga”. Desde ya la acogemos en nuestro corazón y en esta querida tierra colombiana.
Desde la comunidad de María Auxiliadora Loja- Ecuador ,damos gracias a Dios por el sí generoso de muestra madre general e invocamos gracias y bendiciones por una fecunda misión.
Madre Chiara Cazzuola
Estamos muy felices y agradecidas de su sí generoso, le confiamos su vida y su misión a nuestra Madre Auxiliadora, cuente con nuestro cariño y oración. Las hermanas y jóvenes aspirantes y postulantes la acogemos con fe y con el corazón!
Ofrecemos nuestra oración y sacrificio para que María Auxiliadora bendiga su servicio a nuestro querido Instituto de FMA.S. Berta y S. Zoila Sánchez
Bienvenida Madre Chiara desde México hacemos llegar nuestra filial oración agradecidas por el sí alegre y generoso que ha dado al Señor y a cada FMA del mundo. Dios la sostenga en su nueva misión. Con cariño ofrecemos nuestra oración. Que la “Morenita” la acoja bajo su manto”