Saint Marie-Catherine Troiani

Maria Caterina Troiani (19 January 1813 – 6 May 1887) was an Italian Roman Catholic charitable worker who assumed the name of "Maria Caterina of Saint Rose" when she became a nun. Troiani established the Franciscan Missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She was a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis. Pope John Paul II beatified her on 14 April 1985 and the cause of canonization still continues pending another miracle needed – there is one now under investigation. Maria Caterina Troiani was born in Giuliano di Roma in 1813 as the third of four children of Tommaso Troiani and Teresa Panici. She was born in the Napoleonic period. She was orphaned at the age of six when her mother died. She approached the Bishop of Ferentino and asked him if she could be received into a convent as a nun. She lived and learned the Franciscan path with Francis of Assisi as a guide and dedicated herself – with her fellow novitiates – to education and the care of girls. On 8 December 1829 she took the religious habit of the institute and changed her name to "Maria Teresa of Saint Rose" in honor of Saint Rose of Viterbo. Troiani made it her mission to promote the gospel abroad. She indicated to North Africa for this mission. In 1852 the Apostolic Vicar of Egypt requested that a Franciscan institute be opened in Cairo with the aim of providing education and vocational training to girls. The emphasis was on the poor. She and four others left on 25 August 1859 and met Pope Pius IX on 4 September who blessed them. The five embarked at Civitavecchia and Giuseppe Modena accompanied them. The group arrived in Malta to learn that the Apostolic Vicar of Egypt died suddenly. On 14 September the group entered Cairo. In 1868 various agreements between the Order of Friars Minor and the Congregation of Propaganda Fide ensured that the institution she established in Cairo was named as the Third Order Franciscan Sisters of Cairo.