【慈幼通訊社 ─ 2025 年10月17日梵蒂岡訊】 ─ 10 月 17 日星期五上午，在聖座新聞辦公室（地址：Via della Conciliazione 54）舉行了一場記者「見面會」，預先透露一些 2025 年 10 月 19 日星期日的封聖儀式。慈幼會宣福列品總申請人Pierluigi Cameroni神父出席了會議，回答了有關瑪利亞唐嘉蒂修女的提問。
瑪利亞唐嘉蒂修女是教宗良十四世冊封的第一位聖人：我們請Cameroni神父描述一下人們對這事件的期望。
2025年6月13日，在教宗良十四世的公開樞密會議上，他確定了八位真福的封聖日期，其中包括聖母進教之佑孝女會（母佑會）修女瑪利亞唐嘉蒂（1883-1969）。唐嘉蒂修女曾在厄瓜多傳教。她不僅是良十四世教宗冊封的首批聖人之一，也是繼協同創會會長聖瑪利亞道明瑪沙利羅之後，首位被冊封為聖人的聖母進教之佑孝女會修女。對於整個教會，特別是Méndez宗座代牧區（厄瓜多爾）、慈幼會以及母佑會而言，這無疑是一份非凡的恩典，也是希望的象徵，因為她以堅定的見證，將生命和信仰傳遞給了新一代和原住民。
為什麼她是一位「真正熱愛耶穌」的女性？
瑪利亞唐嘉蒂是一位快樂的女性，她對耶穌充滿熱情。她常常在夜深人靜和黎明破曉之際向主祈禱，讓自己的心充滿主的愛和祂對窮人的憐憫。每天清晨三點或三點半，她都會來到聖堂，誦念苦路十四處。白天，她手中常握著玫瑰念珠，與她的病人一起祈禱。每個星期六，她都會滿懷愛意地誦念「黎明玫瑰經」。
在初學的筆記中，她寫道：「主啊，我現在屬於祢，我願永遠屬於祢。耶穌，我捨棄了我最珍視的一切，來侍奉祢，請聖化我的靈魂，拯救我的靈魂。是的，我捨棄了一切。只有祢留存，有祢已足夠。耶穌，求祢使我成為良善的人，賜予我堅忍，堅守祢所呼召我的使命；願我永遠忠心地侍奉祢。」
她與聖母瑪利亞進教之佑是什麼關係？
對聖母進教之佑的愛與信賴貫穿了瑪利亞唐嘉蒂的整個聖召和傳教生涯。 1915年6月25日，意大利Varazze發生洪水，瑪利亞修女與另一位修女奇蹟般地獲救，她曾向聖母瑪利亞祈禱：「聖母進教之佑，我向您承諾，如果您能救我脫離這場洪水，我將成為一名傳教士。同時也請您救救我的弟弟Giacomino。」Giacomino是一名士兵，他也同樣獲救。瑪利亞修女信守對聖母進教之佑的承諾，請求她的長上派遣她前往傳教區。
1969年7月4日，一些白人拓居者放火燒了慈幼會傳教站，因為他們認為慈幼會是舒阿爾（Shuar）人的「保護者」。這令唐嘉蒂修女覺得很痛苦。她決定將自己獻給天主，成為她深愛的兩個族群之間和解的犧牲品。 8月5日，唐嘉蒂修女懷著真正的神性喜樂參加了Macas聖母節。之後，在一次私密的時刻，她悄悄地告訴她的同伴Pierina Rusconi修女：「聖母告訴我做好準備，因為我很快就會遇到一件大事。」僅僅過了二十天。 8月25日，當她離開團體前往Quito進行退省時，她凝視著仍然驚魂未定的修女們，安慰她們說：「很快，真的很快，和平與安寧就會重來。我向你們保證！」她抵達簡便機場時，那架用來運送貨物和乘客的小飛機已經啟動了引擎。起飛後數秒鐘，飛機墜毀，塔台的警報聲響起，宣布了小飛機的墜毀。遇害者的寓言實現了。
瑪利亞唐嘉蒂是如何接收到她的傳教使命召叫的？
瑪利亞唐嘉蒂的老師每月都會收到一份《鮑思高家庭通訊》，上面記載著慈幼會傳教士在遙遠國度取得的福傳成就。受這些見證的鼓舞，她寫信給總會長彌額爾盧華神父，請求加入母佑會。但她必須等到成年後才能實現這個願望。
在世界傳教日，我們如何申明她是一位「傳教士，和平與和解的締造者」？
值得一提的是，瑪利亞唐嘉蒂修女將在世界傳教日和鮑思高神父於1875年發起的第一次傳教派遣禮150週年紀念日被冊封為聖人。瑪利亞唐嘉蒂修女是一位傳教士，因為她不僅照顧人們的身體，更以真正母親般的愛治癒他們的靈魂。她是一位和平與和解的締造者，因為她有寬容的心，並始終致力於促進白人拓居者和原住民之間的和解，甚至奉獻自己，以期這兩個族群之間能夠實現和平。
Simone Baroncia
來源：ACI Stampa
Fr. Cameroni, SDB: “Sr Maria Troncatti, the saint who was passionate about Jesus”
(ANS – Vatican – Vatican City, 17 October 2025) – On the morning of Friday, 17 October, a “Meeting point” with journalists was held at the Holy See Press Office, Via della Conciliazione 54, on the canonizations of Sunday, 19 October 2025. The Postulator General for the Causes of Saints of the Salesian Family, Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, was available to answer questions about Sr Maria Troncatti.
Sr Maria Troncatti is Pope Leo XIV’s first saint: we asked Fr Cameroni to describe the anticipation surrounding the event.
On 13 June 2025, in the Ordinary Public Consistory, the Holy Father Leo XIV set the dates for the canonization ceremony of eight blessed individuals, including Sr Maria Troncatti (1883-1969), Daughter of Mary Help of Christians, missionary in Ecuador. Not only is she one of the first saints canonized by Pope Leo XIV, but she is also the first Daughter of Mary Help of Christians to be canonized after the co-founder, Saint Mary Domenica Mazzarello. For the whole Church, especially for the Apostolic Vicariate of Méndez (Ecuador), for the Salesian Family and in particular for the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, it is an extraordinary grace and a sign of hope for her strong witness in transmitting life and faith to the new generations and to the indigenous peoples.
Why was she a woman ‘truly passionate about Jesus’?
Maria Troncatti was a happy woman, passionate about Jesus. She prayed before her Lord in the silence of the night and at dawn, allowing her heart to be filled with his Love and his predilection for the poor. Every morning, at 3 or 3:30 a.m., she was already in church to pray the Way of the Cross. During the day, she kept the Rosary in her hand and prayed it together with her sick patients. On Saturdays, she devoted herself with filial affection to the prayer of the ‘Rosary of Dawn’.
In a novice’s notebook, she wrote: “I am now yours, Lord, and I want to be yours forever. O Jesus, I have left everything I held most dear to come and serve you, to sanctify my soul, to save souls. Yes, I have abandoned everything. You alone remain, but you are enough for me. Jesus, make me very good, give me perseverance in the state to which you have called me; grant that I may always serve you faithfully. Grant that I may be forgotten by all, remove me from everyone so that I may be yours alone. Give me much love, much spirit of sacrifice, humility and self-denial so that I may be an instrument of good for so many poor souls.”
What was her relationship with Mary Help of Christians?
Love and trust in Mary Help of Christians marked the entire vocational and missionary life of Maria Troncatti. On 25 June 1915, during the flood in Varazze, Sr Maria, together with another nun, was miraculously saved: ‘Mary Help of Christians, I promise that if you save me from this flood, I will become a missionary. I promise you, but also save Giacomino’, her younger brother, a soldier, who was also saved. Faithful to the promise she made to Mary Help of Christians, Sr Maria asked her superior to be sent to the missions.
On 4 July 1969, some settlers set fire to the Salesian mission because they considered them to be the ‘protectors’ of the Shuar. Sr Troncatti suffered greatly because of this event. She decided to offer herself to God as a victim of reconciliation between the two peoples she loved so much. On 5 August, Sr Troncatti participated with true spiritual joy in the feast of the Most Pure Virgin of Macas. Then, in a moment of intimacy, she secretly confided to her fellow sister, Sr Pierina Rusconi: ‘La Purísima told me to prepare myself, because something serious will happen to me soon’. Only twenty days passed. On 25 August, as she took her leave of the community to go to Quito for spiritual exercises, she looked intently at the nuns, who were still in shock, and reassured them: ‘Soon, very soon, peace and tranquillity will return. I assure you!’ She arrived at the airstrip when the small plane, that used to transport goods and people, already had its engines running. A few seconds later, there was a crash, while the sirens of the control tower announced the fall of the small plane. The victim’s offering was fulfilled.”
How did Maria Troncatti feel her missionary calling?
Once a month, Maria Troncatti’s teacher received the Salesian Bulletin, which recounted the peaceful achievements of Salesian missionaries in distant lands. Enthused by these testimonies, she wrote to the Rector Major, Fr Michele Rua, asking to be accepted among the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. She had to wait until she came of age to fulfil her wish.
On the World Mission Day, how can we affirm that she was a ‘missionary, artisan of peace and reconciliation’?
Significantly, Sr Maria Troncatti is being canonized on World Mission Day and on the 150th anniversary of the First Missionary Expedition promoted by Don Bosco in 1875. Sr Maria Troncatti is a missionary because while she cared for bodies, she healed souls with the love of a true mother. She is an artisan of peace and reconciliation because she was a woman who was inwardly reconciled and always sought to bring the settlers and the indigenous people together, offering herself so that there might be peace between these two populations.
Simone Baroncia
Source: ACI Stampa