At Montevideo in Uruguay, Blessed Maria Francesca of Jesus (Anna Maria) Rubatto, virgin, who in the town of Loano near Savona in Italy founded the Institute of the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters, and, having set out for Latin America, devoted all her care to serving the poor.
Lifespan: 1844–1904
Beatified: 10 October 1993 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized: 15 May 2022 by Pope Francis, Rome
Memoria liturgica: 6 August
She learned not only to serve the poor, but to become poor herself.
Life and Works
Maria Francesca of Jesus Rubatto (in the world: Anna Maria Rubatto) was born in Carmagnola, in the province of Turin (Piedmont), on 14 February 1844. At the age of four she lost her father, and at nineteen she lost her mother as well; following these bereavements she decided to move to Turin. From her earliest years she had cultivated a deep spirituality, the fruit of a love for God learned in the daily rhythms of family life.
In the Piedmontese capital she became a lady-in-waiting to the noblewoman Marianna Scoffone, and from 1864 to 1882 also assisted her in the administration of her substantial estate. During these years she devoted herself to works of charity, to catechetical instruction, to visiting the sick at the Cottolengo, and to those most disadvantaged in Piedmontese society.
In the summer of 1883 she travelled to Loano for a seaside convalescence, and one day, as she was leaving the church she habitually visited each afternoon, she heard the cries and groans of a young labourer who had been struck on the head by a stone fallen from scaffolding. Anna Maria immediately went to his aid, washed and tended his wound, and on parting gave him money equivalent to two days’ wages, sending him home to recover from his injury. The building at which that labourer had been working was destined for a women’s religious community then seeking a directress: the Capuchin father Angelico (Martini) of Sestri Ponente, who was supporting the initiative, immediately recognized in Anna Maria the ideal person for this delicate charge.
Anna Maria received Father Angelico’s proposal with surprise, for she was now forty years old and had a well-ordered life, structured around daily work, prayer, and works of Christian charity. There followed an intense period of discernment in which she consulted her spiritual director and Saint John Bosco, with whom she was engaged in oratory work. After much prayer, Anna Maria at last resolved to join the new religious family then taking shape.
The Institute of the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of Loano — which in 1973 would take the new name Capuchin Sisters of Mother Rubatto — was founded on 23 January 1885, when five women began their life in common in service to the Church and to the people of God. Anna Maria took the name Sister Maria Francesca of Jesus and, by mandate of Archbishop Salvatore Magnasco of Genoa, became the first superior of the Community.
Within the space of only three years the Institute began to expand, opening new houses at Genova-Voltri, Sanremo, Portomaurizio, and Levanto. In 1892 Mother Francesca brought her sisters to Montevideo in Uruguay, and from there, within a short time, to Argentina and Brazil. She crossed the ocean no fewer than seven times to accompany, visit, and encourage her beloved daughters, and many journeys between Argentina and Brazil marked the eight years she spent in that part of the world.
In 1899 she opened the house at Alto Alegre in northern Brazil, in support of the “Saint Joseph of Providence” mission of the Capuchin Friars Minor. Only eighteen months after the sisters’ arrival, on 13 March 1901, all seven of the religious were killed together with four Capuchin friars, two tertiaries, and two hundred and forty of the faithful, at the hands of indigenous people incited by malicious individuals. It was a grievous blow to Mother Francesca’s heart, yet she did not give way, but continued to form her sisters and to accompany them in their self-offering to the Lord.
In 1902 Mother Francesca undertook a new journey from Genoa to Montevideo — a pastoral visit that should have lasted only a few weeks, but which was prolonged for two years. At Montevideo, Sister Death came to her on 6 August 1904. She left a luminous witness of fidelity to the Gospel, of love for Christ, of service to the Church, and of total gift of self to the poor.
Progress of the Cause
a) Towards Beatification
The reputation for holiness that Mother Maria Francesca of Jesus had enjoyed during her life continued and grew after her death; accordingly, on 21 November 1941 the Ordinary Process was opened at the Archdiocesan Curia of Montevideo, concluding on 16 May 1945. On 27 January 1947 the Ordinary Process was opened at the Archdiocesan Curia of Genoa, concluding on 17 April 1948. On 21 November 1944 the Rogatorial Process was opened at the Diocesan Curia of Albenga, concluding on 28 March 1946.
On 22 July 1952 the decree concerning the writings of the Servant of God was issued, and on 13 April 1967 the decree of Introduction of the Cause was promulgated. The Apostolic Processes took place in Montevideo from 25 July 1967 to 8 September 1970 and in Genoa from 10 May 1968 to 12 May 1970. Once the decree of juridical validity for the Informative and Apostolic Processes was issued on 12 December 1975, the Positio was compiled for the process established by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
The Special Congress of Theological Consultors, held on 22 December 1987, returned a positive response to the question concerning the heroic exercise of the virtues. The Ordinary Session of Cardinals and Bishops, meeting on 12 April 1988, expressed the same judgement. The promulgation of the decree on heroic virtue took place in the presence of the Holy Father on 1 September 1988.
The extraordinary event presented for the beatification had taken place on 8 April 1939 and concerned the inexplicable healing of a boy suffering from septic shock complicating post-tonsillectomy sepsis resulting from purulent inflammation. The Diocesan Inquiry was conducted at the Archdiocesan Curia of Genoa in 1951, and the juridical validity of the Inquiry was recognized by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints by decree of 12 November 1991. The Medical Board, on 8 October 1992, judged the healing to be inexplicable. The case was examined with a unanimously positive outcome by the Theological Consultors on 11 December 1992. At the sitting of the Ordinary Session on 9 March 1993, the Cardinals and Bishops judged the case to be a true miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Maria Francesca of Jesus. The decree was promulgated on 2 April 1993, and the solemn beatification took place in the Vatican Basilica on 10 October 1993.
b) Towards Canonization
On 24 March 2000 in Colonia, Uruguay, there occurred the inexplicable healing of a young man who had suffered a cranioencephalic trauma with severe subarachnoid haemorrhage, deep coma, intracranial hypertension, and diffuse axonal injury. The Diocesan Inquiry was conducted at the Archdiocesan Curia of Montevideo (Uruguay) from 11 May 2005 to 21 August 2006, and the decree of juridical validity was issued by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on 24 May 2013.
The Medical Board, on 24 January 2019, expressed a unanimously positive opinion concerning the inexplicable absence of neurological sequelae. The Congress of Theological Consultors gave its ruling on 29 October 2019, unanimously and in the affirmative, concerning the miracle and its attribution to Blessed Maria Francesca of Jesus. The Ordinary Session of Cardinals and Bishops, convened on 18 February 2020, reached the same conclusions. Pope Francis then, on 21 February 2020, ratified the judgement of the Cardinals and Bishops, authorizing the promulgation of the Decree super miraculo.