MARIA TRONCATTI, DAUGHTER OF MARY HELP OF CHRISTIANS, BLESSED

On August 25, 1969, in Sucúa (Ecuador), the small aircraft that was carrying Sister Maria Troncatti to the city crashed a few moments after takeoff at the edge of the jungle that had been her “heartland” for almost half a century, a place of her tireless giving of self among the “Shuar”. Sr Maria had made her final takeoff: one that would lead her to Paradise! She was 86 years of age, thoroughly worn out through her gift of love. She used to write: “I am happier every day about my religious missionary vocation!”

She was born in Corteno Golgi (Brescia) on February 16, 1883. It was a large family and she grew up happy and busy between the fields and looking after her younger siblings in the climate of warmth and affection created by her parents. She regularly attended parish catechism and the sacraments, and the teenage Maria matured with a deep Christian sense of things that was open to a religious vocation. The Salesian Bulletin used to come to Corteno and Maria, with her good sense of Christian values, gave thought to a religious vocation. Out of obedience to her father and the parish priest, however, she waited until becoming an adult before asking to be admitted to the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. She made her first profession in 1908 at Nizza Monferrato. During the First World War (1915-1918), Sr Maria took a number of health care courses at Varazze and worked as a nurse with the Red Cross in the military hospital: an experience that would prove invaluable during her long missionary work in the Amazon region of Ecuador.

Following a violent storm, Maria promised Our Lady that if she saved her life she would leave for the missions. Our Lady heard her, and Sr. Maria asked the Mother General to go among the lepers. After many years of waiting, her request to be a missionary was accepted. Mother General, Caterina Daghero, sent her to the missions in Ecuador in 1922. She would never return home from there. She spent three years at Chunchi.

Accompanied by Salesian missionary Bishop Comin and a small expedition, Sr. Maria and another two Sisters entered the Amazon jungle. Their mission field was the territory belonging to the Shuar, in the south-eastern part of Ecuador. As soon as they arrived in Mendez, Sr. Maria won the respect of the tribe by operating with a pocket knife on the daughter of a chief who had been wounded by a bullet. The Sisters finally set themselves up on a house on a hill in Macas, a settler village surrounded by Shuar habitations.

She carried out a difficult work of evangelization with the other Sisters amid risks of every kind, including those coming from animals in the jungle, and the dangerous whirlpools in the rivers that had to be forded or crossed on fragile bridges of liana vines, or on the back of the Shuar themselves. Macas, Sevilla Don Bosco, Sucúa are some of the still flourishing “miracles” wrought by Sr Maria Troncatti’s activity: nurse, surgeon, orthopedist, dentist and anesthetist, but above all catechist and evangelizer, a person with marvelous resources of faith, patience, and love for her brothers and sisters. Gradually, and through hard work, Sr Maria Troncatti went out to the huts to look after the sick; she spoke of Christ in the local language. Her work for the advancement of Shuar women flourished in hundreds of new Christian families, coming for the first time from the free personal choice of the young married couples. She was nicknamed the “Doctor of the Selva,” and fought for human advancement, especially of women. The women gradually began learning to sew, make clothes, keep the house in order; the men learned to cultivate the land. When the smallpox epidemic spread, Sr. Maria moved from place to place to fight against the disease, to help and support. She proclaimed and testified to the Father’s love in the Ecuadorian jungle or Selva. She was the “madrecita”, ever concerned with going out not only to the sick but to all who needed help and hope. From a simple and poor dispensary she went on to found a real hospital and trained the nurses herself. She was a “doctor” for the body and the spirit: while she treated or distributed medicines, she advised and evangelized. With motherly patience she listened, fostered communion between the people, and taught forgiveness to both natives and settlers.

“One look at the Crucifix gives me life and courage to work.” This was the certainty of faith that sustained her life. In every activity, sacrifice, or danger, she felt sustained by the motherly presence of Mary Help of Christians. Sr. Maria’s generous missionary work was expressed through her life given for the evangelization and human and social advancement of the Shuar people in the Amazon jungle in Ecuador. All her work was marked by the demands of fidelity to God’s love. In his name, Sr. Maria was transparent understanding and mercy towards all those in need in body and spirit. Her dedication also showed a strong love of fidelity to the Church, which was also expressed in her concern for God’s ministers: she was always ready to help them in the difficulties of the mission.

Her body lies in Sucúa, in the Province of Morona (Ecuador). One of the missionaries of that time, Fr Giovanni Vigna, left us with this testimony regarding Sr. Maria Troncatti: “She was the very embodiment of simplicity and evangelical shrewdness. With what exquisite motherliness does she win hearts! She finds a solution to every problem which, in the light of the facts, always turns out to be the best solution. She never forgets that she has to deal with weak and sinful human beings. I have seen her treat human nature in all its aspects, even the most miserable: she treats them with the mastery and kindness that is spontaneous and natural to her. What surprises me is that in everything and always she has remained exquisitely the woman. I would say that the more virgin she is, the more she is a mother.”

PRAYER

Merciful Father,
through the work of the Holy Spirit
you raised up motherly charity in Blessed Maria Troncatti, virgin, in proclaiming Christ to the people.
Grant that we may be
instruments of reconciliation and peace
and grant us the graces that we ask for
through her intercession.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source: Pierluigi Cameroni. Like Stars in the Heavens. PDF ed., 2022, pp. 113–114.