Canonizing the Madrecita: Bl. Maria Troncatti

Canonizing the Madrecita: Bl. Maria Troncatti

By Beckie Gautreau, Contributing Writer

At the feet of Jesus I find consolation. One glance at the crucifix I wear around my neck gives me life and the strength to work.
– Maria Troncatti

Canonization Date: October 19
Feast Day: August 25

Maria Troncatti was born in the late 1800s in Corteno Golgi, Italy, to mountain farmers. Her parents were happy Catholic people. They gave her an excellent foundation that supported her lifelong love story with God.

She entered the Salesian order in her early twenties, desiring to do something dramatic for God. She wanted to travel to far places, bring Christ to the ends of the world, and minister to lepers. The first World War broke out, however, and her plans were put on pause. She was trained as a Red Cross nurse and ministered to soldiers on the front lines.

When the war ended, she was finally free to live out her dream. At age 39, she traveled to Ecuador with two other sisters. Their first stop was to the Shuar people—a tribe of fierce warriors that was known for shrinking the heads of their enemies. They were also known for their great hostility toward Christians. 

Maria and her two companions were greeted with spears. She must have wondered if she would become a great martyr of the Faith that day. The chief of the Shuar then reported that his daughter had been shot in battle and the wound was infected. If any of their party could heal her, they could all live.

Maria must have seen how God had laid the groundwork for her missionary work by her preparation as a nurse on the battlefield. She had been trained for this. She pulled out a pen knife and prayed, putting the child in Mary’s maternal care. Reportedly, as soon as Maria touched the knife to the girl’s skin, the bullet popped out and Maria was able to clean and seal the wound. The child was up on her feet the next day, smiling cheerfully and even posing for pictures.

Because of this incident, the chief gave Maria his blessing and protection, allowing her and her companions to venture through the Amazon unharmed. She ministered to people all over the rainforest for 45 years. She built hospitals and treated and cared for the disabled and orphans. She worked for integration and the rights of women and children throughout the region. She served as a dentist, a doctor, a midwife, a surgeon, and a catechist. 

All this earned her the nickname Madrecita, or “little mother.”

And she felt fulfilled by her work. Despite all the challenges she must have experienced, she wrote, “Every day, I am happier with my missionary religious vocation!”

A woman named Mrs. Gregoria gives us an insight into what empowered Maria Troncatti to do all that she did. Mrs. Gregoria reported an exchange during a sewing lesson when she was a young girl. Maria told her:

“Try to make every stitch an act of love for God. In the morning when you get up, try to offer something during the day to the Virgin, and at night examine yourself and see if you have satisfied Him. Try to abstain from anything during the day, for the love of God. If they offend you, do not answer. Be silent, bear it for the love of God.”

What a fabulous gem of advice for all of us to emulate.

Maria’s motherly love extended even to those who tried to harm her. Once, when her mission was purposefully destroyed by an act of arson, she stopped the villagers from seeking revenge on her behalf. She told them: “If you truly love me, lay your weapons at my feet.”

For decades, Maria ventured through the jungle, sometimes riding a donkey, sometimes facing up against terrible beasts, sometimes wielding a machete, and sometimes wading through raging rapids. What is more miraculous is that she transformed the hearts of everyone she met along the way. 

A woman named Mrs. Dolores, who helped Maria as a translator, stated, “Her advice filled my soul with comfort; her words radiated a light of fervor and love for Jesus and the Virgin. Her favorite phrase was, ‘Love the Virgin very much; it will get you out of any tribulation, but have charity with your neighbor.’”

Maria’s life tells a beautiful tale of trusting God in all things. She lived a life of deep prayer, with a deep devotion to the rosary, that inspires us to live out our faith in dramatic ways. And while her life was filled with heroic virtue to prove her sainthood, we also have two beautiful documented miracles to prove her presence in heaven.

The first involves a woman named Josefa who caught a deadly case of malaria. She was released from a hospital to die peacefully at home, surrounded by loved ones. As Josefa was in a coma, her family prepared for her death. The priest who had arrived to perform Last Rites urged the family to pray for the intercession of Bl. Maria Troncatti. The next morning, Josefa awoke and was able to feed herself. Her recovery only continued—anyone who saw her remarked that she had come back from the dead.

Then, in 2015, a man named Juwa suffered a serious and tragic farm accident. His skull was fractured, his brain exposed, and he was unable to walk or talk. He was flown to multiple hospitals for treatment, eventually being operated on by a neurosurgeon. During his recovery, his family asked for the intercession of Maria Troncatti and placed  a painting of her nearby. Juwa was in a coma, but he dreamed of her coming to him, administering treatment and assuring him that he would walk and talk in the morning. She even mentioned that there was a picture of her near his bed, which he could not have known. He awoke the very next morning. His recovery was gradual, but certain.

Even now, from Heaven, Madrecita is taking care of the sick and the injured.

Father, who enkindled an active love in the heart of Blessed Maria Troncatti, ready to spend her life without reserve for the good of every person, grant us the graces that we ask through her intercession, and make us capable of imitating her faith and her ardent love for you and our neighbor.
Through Christ Our Lord.
Amen.

– Prayer via the Salesian Sisters in Ireland

Header image via Istituto FMA.

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Since an early age, writer Beckie Gautreau has been lost in a world of imagination, writing fantastical tales of adventure and virtue. Since the same early age, she has had a deep love for God and things of heaven. You could say that her head is in the clouds in more ways than one!

From high school until the present, she has been joining whatever writing clubs she could, starting them when necessary. In college, she majored in Drama and Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX, while taking as many creative writing classes as possible.

Being a homeschooling mom of four, she doesn’t have a lot of free time, but she uses the little she has on writing fiction and fantasy novels and meeting God in her garden.