LEDÓCHOWSKA, MARIA THERESIA. - Born at Loosdorf (Austria) on 29 April 1863, died at Rome on 6 July 1922. Of exceptional intelligence, she was versed in letters and the arts. Called to the court of Tuscany (1885), she remained there for five years. In 1890, after the appeal of Cardinal Lavigerie “to Christian women,” she left the court, devoting herself to the struggle against slavery and assisting the African missions. Highly active, she developed an ingenious propaganda campaign to form public opinion on the problem of Africa, moving with the times and boldly launching appeals throughout the world.
She was a pioneer of the indigenous press, founding (1888) a missionary journal, Echo of Africa, published in various languages. She subsequently added a supplement for youth: The Negro Child for the various nations; both are still issued in about ten languages. She established polyglot printing presses wholly entrusted to the Sisters of St Peter Claver—from which millions of pamphlets and volumes were produced in 140 languages and dialects of Africa; she promoted and subsidized the establishment of printing presses in mission lands. Having gathered around herself cultured and generous collaborators, she refined her undertaking through experience, giving life to a missionary religious congregation (1894) of a distinctive structure: the “Sodalizio di s. Pietro Claver,” of
which she was superior general until her death. Her cause of beatification is in progress.