Sr. Maria Troncatti, Artisan of Peace

Sister Maria Troncatti

Artisan of peace and reconciliation

Sr. Maria Troncatti in front of the Pius XII Hospital
with the SDB provincial and Bp. Dominic Comin

(ANS – Rome – October 2, 2025) – “Craftswoman of peace and reconciliation” is the third element of the motto chosen for the canonization of Sister Maria Troncatti, FMA, scheduled for October 19.

Highlighting this dimension of the Salesian sister, in a video promoted by the Historical-Spiritual-Liturgical Commission specially created for the canonization, is Bishop Pedro Gabrielli, SDB, bishop emeritus of the vicariate apostolic of Mendez, Ecuador.

The prelate was born on March 17, 1931, in Pove del Grappa (Vicenza), Italy. He arrived in Ecuador in 1958 and was sent to the jungle, where he worked passionately for the indigenous Shuar people and the settlers of Morona Santiago. He met Sister Troncatti in the 1960s, when she was working intensively at the Pius XII Hospital. He admired her great sense of motherhood and her self-sacrificing dedication in defense of the physical and spiritual health of everyone.

He remembers, first and foremost, “the sensitivity she had in all the activities we did at Sucua, with the teachers, with the patients, with the people.... In a word, she made herself co-responsible for all the activities that the mission promoted, for social growth and promotion.”

At the time, the social context was tense, particularly in relations between the indigenous people and the settlers, who fought over the land, the main source of livelihood for everyone at the time: “Relations, unfortunately, were not the most desirable nor the best,” he recounts. “Sister Troncatti wanted peace, and for peace, tranquility, and collaboration, I believe she gave her life, offering her existence so that there might be greater harmony and peace between the two ethnic groups.”

On July 4, 1969, a large fire was set in the Salesian house, probably by some settlers. Everything was burnt, but fortunately there were no victims.

How did Sister Troncatti react? “She reacted like a real mother,” recalls the bishop emeritus. “We left the house with what we had on us, because the flames of the fire were raging everywhere. . . . She acted with incredible promptness: she ran away in the night, despite her swollen feet and physical discomfort. She went to open the only clothes shop there was in Sucua to buy us immediately something with which to protect ourselves from the cold of the night.”

She showed an equal love and care for all, Bishop Gabrielli testifies: “For me, Sister Maria Troncatti was a true blessing. She was the benefactor, the nurse, the helper of everyone, both colonists and Shuar; everyone turned to her. Therefore, expressing one’s love and gratitude to Sister Maria Troncatti necessarily meant considering the relationships she cultivated. Sister Maria Troncatti loved the settlers and desired their good, their health, their lives. At the same time, she loved the Shuar because they were the heart of the mission, her children, and they were the object of her care and accompaniment.”

Mother Troncatti also sought help from outside so that they could help her, and she favored the work of many young volunteers of Operation Mato Grosso within the mission, for the development and growth of the indigenous population.

“She was at the service of everyone: if she could do something for the Shuar, she did it; if she could do something for the settlers, she did it. So attentive was she to all the needs that when she saw that some Shuar were not receiving treatment at the Pius XII Hospital she directed because it was too different from their environment, she immediately had two tents erected on either side of the hospital, where even the proudest natives could find hospitality.”

The video with the interview with Bishop Gabrielli, entirely in Spanish, is available here.