BLESSED MARIA TRONCATTI

( a longer outline of her life)

Blessed Maria Troncatti's life was marked by a strong missionary imprint which was her zealous spirit initially, until she was in her early thirties, and then for the rest of her life until her death at 86 years of age, total self-giving. Maria Troncatti was born on 16 February 1883 at Còrteno Golgi, a small township in Brescia province, 1000 metres above sea level, beautifully framed by the Val Camonica, Adamello and Col d’Aprica. Her family, which was large but which had also experience of infant mortality (Maria was the second of six survivors after another eight had already died), lived a peaceful active life at home, dividing her time between the sheep and goats and the alpine countryside according to season. She was confirmed when she was but three. As soon as she turned six she received Communion thanks to her teacher who had prepared her well, but also thanks to her Christian awareness. She was the youngest of the group of first communicants in the primary class. The teacher had recognised Maria's openness and liveliness and took particular care to guide her to finish her primary schooling, given that in the village there were only the first four years of primary classes. Her first encounter with the Bread of Life was an important moment for her thanks to the undefinable attraction her soul had already begun to perceive, almost a spiritual instinct: She became accustomed to daily Mass and received communion three times a week, as was allowed at the time. In her childhood, as well as the example of her parents and the care she received from the Parish Priest, her sister Catherine had special influence on her. She was four years older and became her friend, confidante and 'accomplice', especially in guiding her during her teenage years. Lively and playful, Maria also had a tender sympathy for her father, James, her used affectionately call her el me car taramòt (= my dear little earthquake) Her sisters would recall her years later as “a joker” but very sensitive towards the poor and anyone who needed help. She had her place in the family then, with her special ability to tell stories amongst her relatives or friends about how her teacher used give her things to read that would help her learn. Amongst these was the Salesian Bulletin with its letters and stories from mission lands as well as news of the Salesian Society in various parts of the world. Missionary life fascinated Maria's lively imagination and she was won over by the idea of bringing God's love to anyone who did not yet know about tit. Another component of her spiritual growth was undoubtedly her life in the parish, her regularity at catechism which opened her to God's fatherly love and generated sentiments of loving and reassuring trust. When she turned 14, the Parish Priest founded the Daughters of Mary Association. By the time she was 15 she had joined and gave it all her enthusiasm and lively initiative. The demanding set of rules did not scare her off. Anyone who did not abide by the rules was immediately got rid of. This was the period in her life when she felt in her heart the leanings to total consecration to God But she had to wait until she became of age – 21 then – to be taken in as a novice, knowing that her father was dubious about the idea and was only convinced, though under sufferance, after patient effort by the Parish Priest.

On 15 October 1905 Mary bid farewell to the family in what relatives describe as a “funereal atmosphere”. Her father fainted from the sorrow of separation as soon as Mary left the house. But she did not look back, fearful that if she did she might not have the strength to carry out her resolve. It was her memory of that, that convinced Sr Maria, by now missionary and advanced in age, never to accept going back home despite the invitation from her cousins at home who only knew her by correspondence. Just as trying would be her time of early formation, as postulant in preparation for the novitiate, and during the novitiate. Her health, which had to adapt, gave her problems during the novitiate and her Superiors were in some doubt as to her future. But the novice herself had none! She was sure this was the road the Lord was calling her to follow. Many in the community came to appreciate her “loving observance and faithful fulfilment of any duty no matter how small”. Her novice directress proposed her as a model for other novices for the intense love of God she showed in her every day efforts. Sr Maria was conditionally admitted to profession and on 17 September 1908 she made her first vows for a year: A trial year. But it would be a trial for other reasons: Amongst which an infected finger which doctors, after futile treatment, indicated might need amputation Sr Maria was not alarmed: She put up with excruciating pain, medications and all in total abandonment to God. She recovered eventually but then caught typhoid fever and this really was a worry. Visiting the infirmary at the Mother House in Nizza Monferrato the Salesian Superior General of the time, Fr Michael Rua (Blessed) gave her his blessing and predicted a long and busy life of doing good.

She was set to Varazze, in Liguria, by the sea where she soon regained her health and energies. She spent ten years of apostolate there. The young Sister busied herself with the many tasks at the house: These were years of sacrifice and she grew in her yearning to give of herself. She wrote: “Keep God in mind in everything.. God is near. Let's talk to him then through brief prayers and exact obedience”. The First World War was about to break out (1915-18) and Sr Maria was sent to attend a nursing course for the Red Cross then later to offer a hand and comfort to wounded soldiers from the Front: young bodies torn apart, dying in the fullness of youth to the desperation of their families. These were months of painful daily sharing of comfort and personalised catechesis. Sr Maria felt all that suffering in her heart; a new motherliness matured in her, one capable of healing and relieving, redeeming and saving. During this time Sr Maria also experienced the special protection of Our Lady during her 'miraculous' salvation from a flood that struck Varazze on 25 June 1915. The water hit the surrounding wall of the place and soon swamped the house: Sr Maria and another Sister who had arrived from the hospital early that afternoon, immediately felt they were finished, but clambered onto a table spinning in the swirling waters. They prayed to Our Lady: “Mostra te esse matrem” ... (Show yourself a Mother) Sr Maria repeated her proposal: I have to become a missionary. Suddenly the table, washed against a window by a rush of water, enabled them to grab the shutters, without knowing quite how they did it, and haul themselves to safety on the first floor. At the end of the War Sr Maria was asked to go to Genoa to a home for war orphans run by the Institute. Her delicate heart was even further refined by this direct contact with innocent suffering.

The following year, 1919-1920, Sr Maria was again in Nizza in the Mother House, where once again the community had the opportunity to appreciate the hidden treasures of her humble and selfless heart, in the ordinary daily activities always and decisively carried out for God alone. Nurse, assistant, helper in the oratory, always ready to help in all the unforeseen things that happen in a large place with so many students full time, school, etc. Meanwhile Sr Maria, who had expressed her willingness to go to the Missions – she dreamed of going to help lepers – met the Mother General who told her of her destination: She would go to Ecuador. Her dream would come true when she was 39 years old. Her departure along with the other Sisters was also at the time of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the Institute (172-1922) at Nizza, at the time of the 8th General Chapter with many Sisters, past pupils and Salesian Cooperators present. They left on 9 November 1922: First to Marseilles by train, then by boat, 22 days to Panama, then on to Guayaquil where the group spent December with the community, until Christmas. For the first forty seven years were mission in the fullest sense of the word for Sr Maria, except for a short spell in Guayaquil at the Beneficencia de las señora. This latter was too big for her – she was already used to spending her years in the rainforest But she spent four years there (1934-38) with her usual generous selflessness. Her heart, she said, was still in the missions

What were the places Sr Maria loved most? First of all Chunchi, in the Andes, mostly populated by the 'Indios'. Here, appointed as the Superior, Sr Maria began her work as a doctor, setting up a clinic and a small pharmacy known locally as a botiquí. She looked after bodies and especially souls with her ever welcoming readiness to help. They came from far and wide to ask her to help, including the dying: This included a murderer who wanted to prepare himself for confession; he wanted Sr Maria by his side until the end, convinced that she could ward off the demons in his soul. Sr Maria wrote home: “If you could just see how they like me! When they see me get on the horse they say: 'Madrecita, come back soon'”. Whenever she left to go deep into the jungle to look after the sick, they would be disconsolate, thinking that she might be eaten alive by the jivaros! (the Shuar who lived in the jungle). 1925. Sr Maria and her small band had already expanded their presence in the jungle amidst is trees, creepers and rivers. With baggage porters and horses they ended up at Pailas, 3,000 metres up in dizzy heights and almost inaccessible areas, the silence only broken by birds and various rustlings amongst the trees. From there on the missionaries went on without accompaniment, along a track that is testimony to the courage of the early missionaries; muddy, slippery in the wet. They spent nights sleeping on bare ground under a covering of leaves. After a long trek through the forest they crossed the river Paute and arrived at Méndez, but found everything but restful pause there. Instead they found a group armed with bows and arrows, spears and knives at the entrance to the mission demanding certain conditions for safe entry: They had to heal a teenage girl, the chief's daughter, who had been accidentally wounded during a fight with a rival group. The local witch - the brujo – had not been able to heal her and the wound was now suppurating. It was clear: If you don't heal her we will kill you and the others. If you heal her, then you can enter. There was no room left for argument. With all the precautions that were possible, and some instruments she was lucky enough to find – a small penknife sterilised in fire, while the rest of the group huddled in prayer - Sr Maria managed to extract the bullet as if it had been removed by some invisible hand. The warriors were overjoyed and sent the message through the forest: “A white woman has come, the greatest witch of them all. Let her and her group through”. There were still four days of walking left, wading streams, crossing bridges made of creepers and bamboo, until they reached the Upano river and reached the 'sacred' hill at Macras, where the Dominican Fathers in the past had built some temporary buildings, now in near collapse, for the missionaries, along with a small church and a school. Here, in the most important centre for the Méndez Vicariate, the Salesian mission residence was built in 1924 near the ancient painting of Our Lady, la Purísima, going back almost three centuries. Sr Maria's life would now revolve around this centre from then on. She would have frequent recourse to this tender and ever vigilant Mother in difficult times and worrying situations. She gave her life over to Her after a spiritually profound experience. It was 4 December 1925 and the Feast of the 'Purissima'.

Sr. Maria's activity soon extended beyond the area around the river Upano (weekly journeys that were dangerous and difficult for Maria of Aprica!), to where Sevilla de Oro would rise up from: This would be the Don Bosco Sevilla mission Medical treatment and proclamation of the Gospel gradually won over the Shuar; but it was not long before some of the colonial residents began to show their intolerance, fearing loss of authority (they had become the 'owners') amongst the Shuar in their ignorance. Word was spread that the missionaries were spreading deception, to the disadvantage of the local youngsters whom they said they wanted to educate. Sr Maria never lost heart through it all: She went from house to house in Macas, speaking 'from the heart', and with bitter tears to the point that those who had done wrong felt the need to make reparation. Meanwhile in 1930 for the first time at Macas there was a Christian wedding between two young Shuar, of their own free choice and no longer decided by family agreement. Under the ashed however, there were other coals and new sparks. The old law of 'vendetta' was not dormant and in fact exploded into a flame that would see the mission burned to the ground (1938) but the Gospel work would not be eliminated. The missionaries rebuilt but faced new deprivations, a life of extreme poverty and hunger, yet a communion of spirit grew through their daily apostolic effort. Fr Sr Maria there was a serious emergency for the health of the people: After an epidemic of black plague in 1933 that had carried off many victims, Upano valley was struck by other diseases that meant more work and much sorrow and death (1940). A serious form of measles, which meant many more deaths, saw Sr Maria working for a long time in one village, in almost total isolation for months on end. In 1944 Sevilla Don Bosco was established on the other side of the Upano river and Sr Maria transferred the boarding house there from Macas. Here too Christian marriages were soon to be celebrated. But here too there was another outbreak of smallpox and the 'doctor' was busy with the sick. Many children had to be buried. (1945). By now life was well organised in Sevilla with some thirty homes occupied by Christian families, a small garden for cultivating yuca, maize and flowers; they even tried to grow rice. They then had to leave all this to go to Sucúa in a “valley of enchanting beauty” (as Sr Maria described it in letters to her family), broad and bright, lying between the Upano and Tutanangoza rivers. It was 1947. The missionaries had been coming there for a time for about ten years by this stage: Settlers and local Shuar were happy that “they were taught to pray”. Now they began to set up a community, to improve the work of evangelisation with a school and boarding section, as well as the clinic for the sick and needy from the local area and from the mountains where there was no communication, only horse and mule. The missionaries' efforts began to show results. The first Christian marriages were celebrated and the isolation of the verdant valley was broken with the construction of the first airfield in the forest to serve the missionaries (August 1948). Already seventy, in 1954 Sr Maria had the joy of seeing the first brick-built hospital up and running (up until then everything was in wood with thatched roofing). She was able to take in patients, and thanks to the accommodation look after spiritual as well as physical ills. There was no truce for epidemics, however: Measles in Borgo M. Mazzarello (1955), smallpox in the Upano valley (1959). Youngsters from the boarding house died and Sr Maria had to suffer yet more sorrow. Her life was constantly bound up with both the joys and sorrows of the mission. To guarantee greater efficiency at the hospital she organised nursing courses for interested young adults; for others she ran courses in sewing, hygiene, childcare, cooking – and marriage preparation (1960-62). She was always interested in formation and development for women, something she felt was always penalised in Shuar culture cue to dependence on the 'husband-owner', or exploited through overwork without regard for the problems of motherhood and looking after the children. When she had already turned 80 she left the running of the hospital but continued her efforts as madrecita or abuelita buena advising, listening, comforting people of every category and age and circumstance as well as the young volunteers in the Mato Grosso work.

In 1969 there was an “Agricultural Cooperatives Week” (28 June-4 July) which brought early hints then open threats against the missionaries. The intimidation became real on 4 July when the Sucúa mission was burnt to the ground destroying all the missionaries' efforts. Sr Maria suffered deeply; and felt that there had to be a deep offensive of charity in response to evil. She begged the leaders of the Federation to forbid any kind of vendetta and to quieten people down: She was prepared to offer herself as a victim to pacify things. These were words she had already said when the difficulties first broke out. “Peace and the life of a priest are worth much more than my life”. At other times, after the fire, the Sisters heard her say that “these two races will never find reconciliation unless there is someone ready to be burned on their behalf”. On 5 August Sr Maria took great spiritual delight in celebrations on the fiesta jurada the Virgin Most Pure of Macas, and was present for the priestly ordination of two deacons particularly linked with the mission. Then, in a moment of confidence, she quietly told Sister Pierina Rusconi – asking her to say nothing until something happened: “The Purísima has told me to get ready because soon something serious will happen to me”. There were just twenty days to go. On 25 August, saying goodbye to the Sisters in the community before going to Quito for the Retreat, looking intently at the Sisters she reassured them with words of strange certainty: “Very soon peace and tranquility will return. I assure you!”. She arrived at the airfield when the small aircraft which carried goods and people, already had its engines running. She quickly said goodbye and climbed aboard. This was the take-off that led to her death. A few seconds later there was a loud noise and the control tower sirens indicated that the small plane had crashed The victim's offer had been accepted. From then on everyone, settlers and Shuar, people from every group, were caught up in a common sorrow and had one single way of expressing it: “A saint has died.... Our mamita is no longer!” On 8 November 2008 the Decree of heroic virtue was declared regarding this exemplary missionary of peace and life. On 24 November 2012 she was declared Blessed in Macas, Ecuador.

(Sr Giuliana Accornero FMA).