On February 16, 1883, Maria Troncatti was born into a large family of farmers and livestock breeders at Corteno Golgi, in the province of Brescia. She grew up happy and industrious between working in the fields and caring for her younger siblings in a warm family atmosphere. Her parents were exemplary .

The Salesian Bulletin arrived at Corteno, and Maria, grounded in Christian values, was inspired to follow a religious vocation.

At the beginning, her father did not agree with her

choice, but as soon as his daughter reached 21 years

of age, he gave his approval.

Maria asked to be admitted to the Institute of the

Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, and made her

first profession at Nizza Monferrato in 1908.

While at Varazze during World War I, she attended the course for health assistants, and worked as a Red Cross nurse in the military hospital. .

Istit. S. Caterina - Varazze

Following a violent tornado, Maria promised Our

Lady that if she were saved, she would become a

missionary.

Our Lady heard her promise, and Sr. Maria asked Mother General to be allowed to work among the lepers. Seven years later instead, Mother Catherine Daghero sent her to Ecuador.

In 1925 she landed in Guayaquil Bay and reached Chunchi where she acted as nurse and pharmacist for a short time.

Acccompanied by the missionary Bishop Comin and a

little expedition, Sr. Maria along with two other Sisters

went into the Amazon forest.

Their mission was among the Shuar people in the southeastern part of Ecuador.

As soon as she arrived in Mendez, Sr. Maria

earned the esteem of the Shuar tribe by

operating with a penknife on the daughter of a

chief who had been wounded by a bullet.

A communal dwelling deep in the Amazon forest

They settled in Macas, a village of colonists surrouded by the communal dwellings of the Shuar. The Sisters had a little house high on a hill. Just as Don Bosco was father and teacher, Sr.Maria became mother, and for 44 years she was to be known by all as la Madrecita.

She began the difficult work of evangelization surrounded by every type of danger. She was nurse, surgeon, orthopaedist, dentist, and anaesthetist, but especially a catechist, rich in marvellous resources of faith, patience, and Salesian loving kindness.

Her work for the advancement of Shuar women resulted in hundreds of new Christian families, formed for the first time on the free personal choice of the young couples.

She carried out her activity especially in the field of formation and health in the Pius XII hospital of Sucúa and in numerous clinics. She was “mother of the missions” in the apostolic Vicarate of Méndez: Mácas, Méndez, Sevilla Don Bosco, and Sucúa, with untiring movement in the Selva.

On August 25,1969, Sr. Maria boarded a plane to go to Sucúa for her spiritual retreat. A short time after takeoff, the plane went down . The radio of the Shuar Federation gave this sad announcement: “Our dear Mother, Sr. Maria Troncatti is dead”. Her body rests in Macas, Equador.