(ANS – Rome) – Bro. Cosimo Cossu, a Salesian Brother has emotional memories of that Monday 25 August 1969, the day Sr Maria Troncatti died. Then just 28 years old, Bro. Cossu had great confidence in the woman who is about to be beatified; he used to call her “abuelita” (grandma) and she for her part called him “Cosmito”.

Fr Angelo Botta, at the time the Salesian Provincial of Ecuador, was in Quenca, following the arson attempt that destroyed the Salesian residence on the night of 4 July. He left Bro. Cossu and Fr Krovina in Sucùa and sent Fr Pedro Gabrielli and Fr Jan Shutka to the coast.

On the morning of 25 August 1969 Bro. Cossu received a call from the FMA Superior, Sr Margaret Haro, to resolve a small problem: Sr Maria did not want to depart for the Retreat. A landslide had blocked the road and so it was necessary for her to go by plane. That was going to be costly and Sr Maria was not happy about that so she preferred to fly with TAO rather than SAN; but that morning there were no TAO flights scheduled.

Bro. Cossu succeeded in convincing Sr Maria. “Thank you, Cosimo, I knew she could not say no to you”, the Superior said when she found out the result of his mediation. While Sr Maria was getting ready for the trip, Bro. Cossu, along with Dr Contreras, a young doctor who had just graduated and was working in the Salesian hospital, went to the airport about 3 and a half kilometres away, to buy the ticket.

When they got back they found Sr Maria waiting at the door. The jeep turned around quickly and picked up the three Sisters, Sr Maria, Sr Blanca and Sr Imelda, then quickly headed to the airstrip stopping just a few metres from the aircraft boarding steps. To their surprise it was a TAO aircraft. “Abuelita, you are flying with TAO! Are you happy?”, Bro. Cossu said; “Ah Cosmito, how nice. Now I'm happy!” Sr Maria replied.

While the aircraft was taxiing, Bro. Cossu and Dr Contreras headed back to the Salesian community. But as soon as they had got back and begun their work again, news came of the tragic and terrible crash.

Dr Contreras arrived at the place where the aircraft had crashed before Bro. Cossu. The aircraft had just taken off, and was about 15 metres off the ground when it began to lose stability; a desperate manoeuvre by the pilots to avoid a tree caused it to hit the ground and the fuselage broke apart. “The seats where Sr Maria and Sr Blanca were sitting were still together but had broken loose and were thrown out; Sr Maria died instantly, while Sr Blanca had a broken back”, Bro. Cossu describes “and Sr Imelda, still sitting in the plane, was unscathed, in shock, not even a scratch. One of the motors was still running and making an infernal racket as well as being a danger to everyone. The people were afraid”.

Dr Contreras, had seen that Sr Maria was already dead, “but the good doctor that he was, he simply said: ‘She's fainted. Bring her to the hospital’”. So while Sr Blanca, the two pilots, the stewardess and a boy were hastily taken to Cuenca in a SAN aircraft, Bro. Cosimo arrived in the meantime and not knowing what the real situation was, brought Sr Maria's body to the hospital.

“I travelled at 20 or 30 kilometres an hour not wanting to cause her any further injury, between one hole or another along the dirt road. It seemed she was still moving; we were convinced she was still alive” Bro. Cossu tells us. “We were unable to speak for the ten minutes it took to get to the hospital; we were afraid of waking her!”.

Once she had been laid on a table in the hospital everyone was asked to leave the room. Meanwhile people in Sucùa began gathering out the front of the hospital asking for news: “We want to see her! We want to know how she is! Sr Maria is also ours! We want to see her!”.

Dr Contreras called for Bro. Cossu telling him the real state of things: “Cosimo she died on impact. I could not say anything about it!”. So Bro. Cossu, suffering deeply, went out, and seeing the people of Sucùa there gave them the sad news of Sr Maria Troncatti's death.

“Looking back 43 years”, Bro. Cossu concludes, “and seeing her now raised to the altars, this sorrow has become consolation, the sadness has become a holy and healthy and uncontainable joy instead of the suffering and sorrow that her Sisters, the Salesians, the people of Sucùa and the whole Province had gone through”.

The Salesian Sisters in Ecuador have a section on their site dedicated to Sr Maria Troncatti. On Saturday morning 24 November at 10:00 (GMT-5) it will be possible to follow the direct transmission of the Beatification on the same site. Cardinal Angelo Amato, sdb, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints will be presiding.

Published 22/11/2012