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This Friday’s mission hero is a woman who served God in the missions of North Africa in the 19th Century. Her name was Maria Caterina Troiani.
Maria Catarina was born on January 19, 1813 in Giuliano di Roma, Papal States, the third of four children. At the age of six, she was orphaned and sent to be cared for by the Sisters at the Monastery of St. Clare of Charity in Ferentino, south of Rome.
At the age of 16, Maria Catarina became a novice in that monastery and took the name Maria Catarina de Santa Rosa de Viterbo. Her primary task was to educate girls of the area.
In 1835, she discerned that God was calling her to be a missionary. So, when the Apostolic Vicar of Egypt, Bishop Guasco invited missionaries to his country, Maria Catarina jumped at the chance. On August 25, 1859, Maria Catarina and four other Sisters left to begin their missionary adventures. On September 4, the met with Pope Pius IX who gave him his blessing. Traveling with them was a priest, Fr. Giuseppe Modena.
When they arrived in Malta, they learned that the Apostolic Vicar who had invited them had died suddenly. But they continued their journey and arrived in Cairo, Egypt on September 14.
The group established themselves as a new religious congregation called the Third Order Franciscan Sisters of Cairo. Later, the name was changed to Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Egypt, and in 1950, it became known as the Franciscan Missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the name it still has today.
Sr. Maria Catarina and her group devoted themselves to educating girls with the primary focus being on poor girls.
Sr. Maria Catarina died on May 6, 1887 in Cairo, Egypt. She was beatified on April 14, 1985.
Blessed Maria Catarina’s feast day is May 6. She is a patron of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
