Maria Angela Picco

Eugenia began her novitiate in Parma on August 26, 1888. She pronounced her first vows on June 10, 1891, in the hands of the founder himself, and then her perpetual profession on June 1, 1894, taking the name Sister Anna Eugenia. Within her community, she distinguished herself by her humility, piety, and absolute devotion. She taught music, singing, and French to the students of the congregation's boarding school. She also served as archivist, secretary general, councilor, and mistress of novices. In June 1911, she was elected Superior General of the congregation, a position she held until her death. During her mandate, which coincided in part with the ravages of the First World War, she displayed immense charity toward the poor, needy families, and victims of the conflict. She also focused on providing the institute with a lasting structure in fidelity to the spiritual and apostolic orientations transmitted by the founder.

Sister Eugénie's life was marked by serious health trials. She suffered from degenerative bone tuberculosis (bone phthisis) which gradually sapped her strength. Despite intense physical suffering, she maintained a deep serenity and joy, offering her pains for the salvation of souls and the good of the Church. In 1919, the severity of the illness necessitated the amputation of her right leg. She experienced this mutilation and the subsequent pain in total union with the Passion of Christ, offering herself as a victim of love. She passed away holily on September 7, 1921, in Parma, at the age of 53. Her reputation for holiness, already great during her lifetime, continued to grow after her death.

The informative process for beatification opened in Parma in September 1945. The heroic nature of her virtues was officially recognized on February 18, 1989, by Pope John Paul II, who declared her venerable.

On December 20, 1999, a decree from the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints recognized the miraculous nature of a healing that occurred on August 25, 1992, in the diocese of Uvira (then in Zaire, now in the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

Sister Eugénie Picco was solemnly beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 7, 2001, in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican. Her liturgical feast is set for September 7, the anniversary of her birth into Heaven.

The spirituality of Blessed Eugénie Picco rests upon a profound contemplation of the Eucharist, which she considered the center of her life and her apostolic action. She loved to repeat that her life should be like bread, humble, hidden, and accessible to all.

Her legacy endures through the Congregation of the Little Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, which continues her work of educating the young and assisting the most destitute, drawing inspiration from her example of joyful charity and confident abandonment to the divine will.