The testimonies about Maria Grazia Delaidini‘s life tell of a work devoted to Charity and service to the poorest. Her goodness was disarming.

The testimony of Laura B.

When you are asked who was this Friend of yours who is no longer here, you are still incredulous, because you thought of her that she was immortal.

This is how I would describe sister Maria Grazia: a courageous, capable, multifaceted, generous, empathetic woman. Her heart was always turned to the last. A woman without judgment and prejudice. A person capable of leading a hospital with determination, dedication and a spirit of sacrifice.

The photo of her at Sermig, in Turin, with that phrase behind her, totally represents her. Her goodness was disarming.

Laura B.

The testimony of sister Claudine B.

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails”.

St. Paul

This biblical passage from 1Cor 13 can help me try to describe in words who sister Maria Grazia Delaidini is, was and will be for me.

After a few years of study and experience spent in Italy, I returned to my Central African Province. As an obedience, I was sent to N’gaoundal Mission and specifically to the St. Jeanne Antide Thouret Hospitaller Complex. I lived and worked with sister Maria Grazia for three years.

We shared moments of joy and difficulties. But what struck me and strikes me in her was the boundless love for everyone and the passion for the work. I am young and so after my studies, I returned full of pride with my theories and wanted to change everything! But she, always smiling, looked me in the eyes and said: “Clo, put your feet on the ground, look at reality, I didn’t study like you, my accounting and management are practical and related to reality. Because I learned in the field with good will and simplicity, either by asking or observing. Don’t close yourself only in theory, try to always be open in learning”. These words repeated again and again helped me work on myself and I began to collaborate and open my eyes to concrete reality.

Sister Maria Grazia taught me so much in these three years: the importance of meditation and prayer before starting work, fraternal life in community, passion for work, and love especially for the poorest. She used to say: “First cure and afterwards find suitable strategies for each patient to pay his bills. If one day I come to know that you have not cured a poor person because of money, that same day I will leave”.

Sister Maria Grazia taught me competence in personnel management, finance with transparency and work organization. Until her last sigh, she was always thinking about the salary of the staff. Sister Maria Grazia for me is the concrete example of the embodiment of our charism: loving God and neighbor.

Thank you for all that you were and will be to me. I can never forget you and the only way to pay tribute to you is to continue to live and pass on all that I have learned from you. The void left behind is great, however, we believe that you are and will always be with us!

Goodbye sister Maria Grazia and intercede for us!

Sister Claudine B.