Rome (Italy). With 9 days before the Canonization of Blessed Sister Maria Troncatti (19 October 2025), the Central Commission proposes to intensify prayer because, as Mother Chiara Cazzuola, Superior General of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians wrote in the Circular n° 1046, “we too, together with the educating communities and the many young people we meet, can shine like small lights in everyday life and be signs of the foreseeing and merciful love of the Father, as Sister Maria Troncatti was.”
The novena, composed by Sister Luigina Silvestrin, from Saint Mary Domenica Mazzarello Province (ITV), offers some reflections and prayers on the theme, “Hands that cure, heal, and build peace.”
The text, developed on the basis of a homily by Fr. Pier Luigi Cameroni, Postulator of the Salesian Family, which presented the figure and some characteristics of the future Saint starting from the hands, can be used for personal and community prayer.
The event of the Canonization of the first Daughter of Mary Help of Christians after the Co-Founder, Saint Mary Mazzarello, constitutes a gift and an appeal, as Mother Chiara explains in the cited Circular. “Contemplating the most beautiful face of the Institute – Saint Mary Domenica Mazzarello, Sister Maria Troncatti, close to canonization, our Blesseds, and Servants of God who lived the Constitutions in full fidelity – we open our hearts to great Hope, with the grace and boldness that come from God. With gratitude, we sing the Magnificat for the holiness recognized by the Church in these Sisters and for many others who live everyday life, giving love, hope, and joy.”
The recent Apostolic Exhortation of Leo XIV, Dilexi Te, underlines how holiness is the fruit of care for the poor, who have always been considered “the treasure of the Church”. Don Bosco, cited in no. 70, was a model and inspirer of a special way of educating the poor through the Preventive System.
Blessed Maria Troncatti, the “Madrecita buena”, as she was called by all those she approached, regarded the poor, orphans, battered youth, the dying… as her only interest. For them, she was ready to face dangers and hardships, demonstrating a maternal charity that personally took care of everyone.
We read in the Summarium, “Sister Maria’s active predilection for the poorest, the needy, the abandoned is well known from her life… no longer able to work (she is 84 years old and a little…) she stays in the hospital and watches over, and waits for the poor Shuar who come to tell her their suffering and worries.”
The hands of Sister Maria Troncatti, today become a gift and a model. Drawing on the strength of the Holy Spirit and the love of the Crucified Christ, the heart becomes capable of simple but effective gestures of closeness, care, and peace.
Si tu haz podido, seguiremos tus huellas.
The Novena reflection is profound and praticle.Thank you so much those who prepared it and the sisters who continue to live in this time too.
Grazie! Lodiamo e ringraziamo il signore per il dono di Sr.Maria. Alla sua intercessione affidiamo il nostro vivere con totale fiducia in Dio e in MARIA e nella capacita di sacrificio e di dono gioioso nel servire chi ci pone accanto.
Iniciamos la Novena a Sor Maria Troncatti. Anunamos fza y oracion.
Por la Paz y reconciliacion de medio oriente. Manos que dan acogida…y curano…gracias por compartir… Un abrazo misionero. Sor Aida
Grazie, novena molto riuscita 🙂