Virginia de Brincat

In 1879, Father Giuseppe Diacono transformed this association into a small religious community called the "Franciscan Tertiary Mistresses" (Maestre Terziarie Francescane), established in a modest house in Victoria. Virginia was admitted there on February 5, 1881, and received the religious habit on February 20 of the same year. She pronounced her first vows on August 15, 1883, and was entrusted with the position of secretary of the young congregation. On December 8, 1887, Virginia pronounced her perpetual vows and took the religious name of Sister Margherita of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Margherita del Sacro Cuore di Gesù). In 1889, when she was only 27 years old, she was elected superior of the congregation. It was at this time that the institute went through a major crisis: discouraged by serious financial difficulties and misunderstandings, the founder, Father Diacono, decided to dissolve the community. While she was in Birkirkara (Malta), where she was teaching and directing a new house opened in 1885, Sister Margherita felt an inner inspiration calling her to return immediately to the motherhouse in Gozo. Upon arrival, she found the sisters ready to leave. Strongly opposing this dissolution, she took full responsibility for the work upon herself, thus saving the congregation. Under her leadership as superior general (a position she held until April 1924), the institute developed and became structured. She fostered the expansion of the congregation beyond Gozo and Malta: foundations were established in Corfu (Greece) to assist Maltese emigrants, a house she personally directed from 1911 to 1917; other communities were born in Sicily and Rome (notably the "Cristo Re" house founded on May 21, 1927); in 1925, the first mission outside of Europe was opened in Eritrea. The congregation, affiliated with the Order of Friars Minor on October 12, 1903, received the Decree of Praise (Decretum Laudis) from the Holy See on July 2, 1937, before obtaining the definitive approval of its constitutions on December 23, 1946, under the name of "Franciscan Sisters of the Heart of Jesus" (Suore Francescane del Cuore di Gesù).

After leaving her position as Superior General in April 1924, Margherita of the Sacred Heart continued to bear witness to her virtues within various communities: the Casa dell'Adorazione in Malta, the community of Xagħra in Gozo, and then the novitiate in Rome. In 1940, she was struck by a serious heart condition. She spent the final years of her life in the infirmary of the motherhouse in Victoria (Gozo), in a small cell adjoining the chapel, from where she continued to follow the life of her institute through prayer and the offering of her sufferings. She passed away holily on January 22, 1952, in Victoria, at the age of 89.

On May 30, 1988, the Bishop of Gozo, Mgr. Nikol Cauchi, published the decree opening the diocesan informative process for her beatification and canonization. This process officially began on July 4, 1988, and concluded on January 22, 2000, the day of the 48th anniversary of her death. The cause was then transferred to Rome to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. On April 12, 2013, the theological consultants of the Congregation unanimously recognized the heroism of her virtues. On January 27, 2014, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing her heroic virtues, thus declaring her venerable.

The spirituality of the Venerable Margherita of the Sacred Heart is deeply Eucharistic, reparative, and Franciscan. She made joyful poverty and confident abandonment to Divine Providence the pillars of her religious life. Her most ardent desire was to make known and loved the infinite Love of God manifested in the Heart of Jesus, often exclaiming: "Amiamo l'Amore!" (Let us love Love!). She ensured that the Blessed Sacrament was exposed in every house of her congregation so that the sisters could draw from it the strength for their apostolate among the young, the sick, and the elderly. Today, the Franciscan Sisters of the Heart of Jesus continue her work of education and charitable assistance in many countries around the world, notably in Malta, Italy, Greece, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Kenya, Ethiopia, Israel, Pakistan, and the Philippines.