Photo and Slogan for Sister Maria Troncatti's Canonization

Photo and Slogan for Sister Maria Troncatti’s Canonization

(ANS – Rome – January 9, 2025) – On Wednesday, January 8, Mother Chiara Cazzuola, mother general of the Salesian Sisters, announced the photo and slogan that will accompany the canonization of Sister Maria Troncatti, FMA missionary.

On November 25, 2024, the Holy Father authorized the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree concerning the miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Maria. The date of canonization is currently awaited.

Like every saint, the figure of Sister Maria has several facets, some of which have been focused on to present her in today's context and to the Church. And from Fatima, Portugal, during the Good Night delivered to her sisters participating in the three-year Evaluation of the Interprovincial Conference on Europe and the Middle East, Mother Chiara illustrated the choice made.

The image is an authentic photograph that shows her smiling. “In agreement with the General Council,” Mother Chiara explained, “we have chosen this photo, in which she is already well-advanced in life, that expresses, from the features of her face, the maturity she has achieved and the motherliness that was recognized in Sister Maria Troncatti by the local people. After the first approaches with them, she earned the title of ‘Madrecita,’ a very tender nickname that in Spanish means ‘mama,’ something very deeply felt. And so she was called until the end of her life and is still remembered today with what, I would say, is the most beautiful of nicknames.”

“There were many other beautiful photos,” Mother Chiara said, “but this seemed to us the one that most expresses the fullness of life in Jesus, the fullness of the gift and also the fullness of motherhood.”

The slogan reads: “Mother and missionary crafter of peace and reconciliation.” In this case too, Mother Chiara gave reasons for the choice: “Sister Maria Troncatti is a Mother, first of all. She is a missionary, because what she did with the strength of God and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, only a missionary with a large and generous heart can do. She is a crafter of peace and reconciliation because, in her constant mission, she always tried to bring the settlers and the Indians together, because there was a war going on between them. Her life was offered precisely to heal a fratricidal struggle that could have brought many victims. It was offered so that there would be peace between these two populations.”