TROIANI, COSTANZA DOMENICA. – In religion, Mother Maria Caterina of St Rosa of Viterbo, foundress of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, formerly of Egypt, was born at Giuliano di Roma (diocese of Ferentino) on 19 Jan. 1813 and died in Cairo, Egypt, on 6 May 1877.
Educated in the monastery of St Clare of Charity at Ferentino, under the care of the Franciscan Sisters, she entered their institute on 8 Dec. 1829. Her ardent desire to go on mission led her to accept the invitation of the apostolic vicar of Cairo, who wanted religious women for the education of girls. In 1854 she departed with a group of sisters who, upon reaching Cairo, settled in Clot-Bey and devoted themselves to teaching, to universal satisfaction, so much so that they had to open additional schools. They were also entrusted with the care of the Pious Work for the Redemption of Black Women, founded by the priests G. B. Olivieri and B. Verri, and with that of exposed and abandoned infants. Since the monastery of Ferentino no longer wished to send other sisters and had even obtained complete separation from the mission of Egypt, the group in Cairo became independent and was established as a family of the Regular Third Order of St Francis. Maria Cristina devoted all her efforts to the new foundation, to drafting the rules and adapting them to local needs; she is therefore regarded as the foundress of the new family. In 1885 she was also able to open a house in Jerusalem. The universal grief at her death, the holiness of her life, and the benefits bestowed from heaven led to the introduction of her cause of beatification on 23 June 1944.