{"id":33501,"date":"2026-08-25T16:17:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T23:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/?p=33501"},"modified":"2026-08-25T19:17:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T02:17:21","slug":"memories-of-maria-troncatti-bro-cossu-sdbs-testimony-as-an-unwitting-instrument-of-gods-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/2026\/08\/25\/memories-of-maria-troncatti-bro-cossu-sdbs-testimony-as-an-unwitting-instrument-of-gods-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Memories of Maria Troncatti\u2019: Bro. Cossu, SDB\u2019s Testimony as an Unwitting Instrument of God\u2019s Plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we celebrate the feast day of Saint Maria Troncatti<\/strong>, we invite you to revisit this article featuring a moving story shared by Bro. Cosimo Cossu, SDB<\/strong>, who knew her personally.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(ANS)<\/strong> \u2013 Not everyone has the grace or good fortune to meet a saint during their lifetime, much less to share years of life and mission with one. Even fewer can say that they were among the beloved friends of a canonized saint or that they witnessed the rite by which that person was officially declared a saint. Yet it is something truly unique to be able to say that, even unknowingly, one was an instrument of God\u2019s plans, helping a saint\u2019s life reach its full and complete fulfillment. Such is the story of Bro. Cosimo Cossu, SDB<\/strong>, a Salesian Brother, friend, and spiritual son of the new saint, Sister Maria Troncatti, FMA<\/strong>. In a video produced by ANS, he recounts the story in detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born in 1941, Bro. Cossu<\/strong> is now 84 and serves at the Salesian Headquarters. As a young Salesian in his early 20s, however, he left for Ecuador as a missionary and found himself serving alongside Sister Maria Troncatti<\/strong> at the mission in Suc\u00faa. This gave him a privileged view of the attitudes and daily witness of the holy Daughter of Mary Help of Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humble, charitable, and simple, but above all \u201cin love with Jesus,\u201d with whom she spoke daily, Sister Maria<\/strong> would arrive early for meditation in the chapel. This is how Bro. Cossu<\/strong> remembers her in the video interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe was extraordinarily simple, but above all, and most importantly, whoever approached her\u2014rich or poor, humble, women, children, people in rags\u2014for her, they were Jesus! The secret of her canonization is all here. She had Jesus before her!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another typically Salesian trait was \u201cher amiability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyone who approached Sister Maria felt loved. From the beginning, from the time I knew her, during those three years she revealed this to everyone she encountered,\u201d Bro. Cossu<\/strong> recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the video interview, the Salesian Brother also recounts in detail his role in convincing a reluctant Sister Troncatti<\/strong> to attend a retreat in Quito. It was for this appointment that she boarded the plane that crashed moments after takeoff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI should apologize to her because I made her die. But God used me so that Sister Maria could reach the altars,\u201d Bro. Cossu<\/strong> says today, recalling the promise Sister Troncatti<\/strong> had made shortly before to Our Lady in Macas: that she would willingly offer her life for reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and settlers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGod made use of your Cosmito so that you would offer your life,\u201d the Salesian says, addressing his<\/em> Saint Maria Troncatti directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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