Madrecita Maria

A nun among the Indians of Ecuador. Maria Troncatti, FMA missionary in Ecuador, is one of the new saints chosen by Pope Leo XIV.

Maria was born in the province of Brescia in 1883. Her family of livestock farmers was deeply Christian, and the young Maria had no difficulty obtaining her parents’ permission to enter the Salesian family. She worked as a Red Cross nurse at the military hospital in Varazze during the Great War, but her dream was the mission. In 1925 this dream came true and she was sent to Ecuador. Together with two fellow sisters and the local bishop, she settled in the Amazon rainforest among the Shuar Indians.

For the remaining 44 years of her life she would be the madrecita of the indigenous people. Living in the Apostolic Vicariate of Méndez, in Macas, Sevilla Don Bosco and Sucúa, she never hesitated to travel to villages in the forest to bring help and support. Her work as a nurse facilitated contact with families, and with them she began a work of evangelization and human development that bore fruit. Her life came to an end at the age of 86, in 1969, due to a plane accident. The entire country mourned its madrecita…

Annamaria Gobbato
NP October 2025