Sister María Troncatti, Salesian nun who evangelized Ecuador, and the miracle that will make her a saint

Juwà Bosco is the indigenous Ecuadorian carpenter and protagonist of the miracle that will make the Salesian nun Sister María Troncatti a saint, who gave her life evangelizing the Shuar people in Ecuador.

Bosco is already in Rome, where he arrived on October 15, to participate in the canonization Mass in which Pope Leo These last two will be the first saints of Venezuela.

Juwà Bosco arrived in Rome accompanied by his family and a group of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (HMA) from Ecuador, to which Sister María Troncatti belonged, and was received at the General House of the congregation by the superior general, Mother Chiara Cazzuola, the general councilors and the local community.

With them, the indigenous Shuar—a people of the Amazon in southern Ecuador and part of Peru—prayed before the relic of the future saint, according to the salesian news agency.

The miracle that allows the canonization of Sister María Troncatti

Juwa Juank Kankua Bosco was born in 1975 in Tuutin Entsa, a rural parish located in the Taisha canton, in the province of Morona Santiago (Ecuador). He is married to Natalina and has six children.

Martha Riccioli, Argentine HMA nun, recounts in the salesian bulletin that on the morning of February 2, 2015, when he was sharpening the blade of his wood sanding machine, the indigenous man was violently hit in the front of his head, causing him to lose brain mass and leaving him unconscious.

He was immediately helped by his son Romel and two companions, who took him to a local health post, from where he was transferred to the Macas Hospital. There he was bandaged and intubated, to be transferred again, this time to the Ambato Hospital, where he was diagnosed with “open head trauma, with exposure of brain tissue.”

With the prognosis reserved and the seriousness of his condition, his brother-in-law Pedro placed a picture of Sister María Troncatti under his shirt and prayed to her like this: “Mother Troncatti, you who loved the Shuar so much, do what you can, do not let him die, and if you take him, do it quickly so that his children do not suffer.”

“I addressed Blessed María Troncatti as a friend: Sister María Troncatti, I give you your son. I know that you will be with him in the operation, do not leave him alone because he has many children who need him,” said Leticia Tsere, Bosco’s sister-in-law, before another card of the nun, which had been given to her by the Italian missionary Luigi Bolla, whose cause for beatification was opened in Peru in 2021.

Juwà Bosco underwent surgery and, in the end, the doctor told Pedro that there was no hope but, if he managed to survive, he would never return to normal.

Bosco was taken to a house in Macas and, in front of his bed, they placed a large painting of Sister María Troncatti, so that the family could pray for him.

The protagonist of the miracle recognizes that “I felt everything they said around me, but I couldn’t speak, walk, be moved. In my heart I said: ‘I put myself in your hands’. I had not been good in life, but at that moment I said to God: ‘I offer you my body and my hands’. I prayed for my children and I told Blessed Maria Troncatti: ‘Don’t take me, because I want to live until my children are grown up.'”

Bosco’s dream with Sister María Troncatti

Between the end of March and the beginning of April 2015, Juwà dreamed of a woman dressed in white who claimed to be Sister María Troncatti: “The mother told me: ‘I am Sister María Troncatti.’ Does it hurt?’, and he massaged me where I pointed to him: my neck, my left leg… saying: ‘Tomorrow you will walk’; and he didn’t massage my shoulder, he said that my wife should massage it… Sister Maria asked me: ‘Why don’t you talk?’ I responded that what they had put on my neck hurt and she replied: ‘That’s not why’; He patted me on the mouth and said, ‘Tomorrow you will speak’. He sat next to me and told me: ‘Little by little, you will improve’; He massaged my mouth and neck and told me: ‘Tomorrow you will talk and walk’; At that moment I felt good, I felt happy.”

When he woke up, he felt like he could move his leg and arm. With the help of his wife he began to walk and was able to say a few words. From that moment on he began to improve noticeably.

A radical change of life

The doctors found no reason for the recovery, since apart from a few physical therapies, there was no other type of treatment to explain it.

Juwà Bosco’s sister says that “before the accident, he was not a proper person. Now he is dedicated to his family and God.” His wife Natalina shares for her part that “when they see my husband, people say that what happened is a miracle from God.”

“After this incident,” she concluded, “my husband changed completely: before, he gave little importance to God and prayer. Now he is the first to pray and to make me pray. That was a radical change in his life.”