Anna Teresa Caterina Lussana

The major work of Maria Margherita Lussana is intimately linked to the foundation and development of the Congregation of the Ursuline Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Asola.

In 1892, Countess Bianca Liberati Stanga of Gazzuolo (in the province of Mantua) requested the Bishop of Bergamo, Msgr. Guindani, to provide nuns capable of opening a private school for studies and needlework for the young girls of her commune. The Bishop turned to the Institute of the Ursulines of Somasca. The Superior General accepted the request but set a strict condition: the sisters sent to Gazzuolo had to detach themselves from the motherhouse of Somasca, adopt a new rule, and change their name.

On September 5, 1893, a group of seven nuns, led by Sister Maria Ignazia Isacchi and including Sister Maria Margherita Lussana, arrived in Gazzuolo. On December 7, 1893, the new community was canonically erected as an institute of diocesan right under the name of the Ursuline Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On September 5, 1894, Msgr. Geremia Bonomelli, Bishop of Cremona, approved the first constitutions of the institute, adapted from the rule of Somasca.

During the first general chapter of the congregation on October 20, 1894, Sister Maria Ignazia Isacchi was elected Superior General and Sister Maria Margherita Lussana was appointed Vicar General. The latter took charge of the Santa Clara school in Gazzuolo and supervised all the educational activities of the young congregation. In 1900, the administration of Seriate entrusted her with the direction of the new Bolognini asylum, a large facility hosting more than 250 children, where she applied innovative pedagogical methods inspired by the Montessori method.

On February 1, 1917, the motherhouse of the congregation was transferred from Gazzuolo to Asola, in the Diocese of Mantua, where the sisters were welcomed by the Bishop, Msgr. Origo.

On October 2, 1924, faced with the declining health of the foundress, Mother Maria Ignazia Isacchi, the general chapter elected Mother Maria Margherita Lussana as Superior General of the congregation. She assumed this office with wisdom and devotion for ten years, consolidating the works of the institute and overseeing the spiritual and intellectual formation of the sisters.

After leading the congregation for a decade, Mother Maria Margherita Lussana retired due to her advanced age and declining health. She returned to Seriate, her hometown, where she passed away peacefully on February 27, 1935, leaving behind a reputation for profound holiness, humility, and heroic charity.

The cause for the beatification and canonization of Mother Maria Margherita Lussana was introduced a few decades after her death, in parallel with that of the foundress, Mother Maria Ignazia Isacchi.

On February 28, 1989, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints granted the Nihil obstat decree for the opening of the cause. On May 3, 1990, the diocesan inquiry into the life, virtues, and reputation of holiness of the Servant of God was officially opened in the Diocese of Bergamo. It was closed on May 3, 1996. On March 6, 1998, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued the decree of validity for the diocesan inquiry. In 2019, the Positio, a summary document demonstrating the heroic nature of her virtues, was officially published.

The process reached a decisive stage on February 23, 2023. During an audience granted to Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Maria Margherita Lussana (born: Teresa Caterina). By this solemn act, she is officially declared Venerable.

For her beatification to be pronounced, the official recognition of a miracle attributed to her intercession by the Holy See is now required.

The spirituality of the Venerable Maria Margherita Lussana is deeply Eucharistic, Marian, and centered on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She lived a life of austerity, humility, and temperance, characterized by a total detachment from material goods and an unreserved gift of self.

Her legacy continues today through the Congregation of the Ursuline Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Asola. The religious sisters continue the educational and charitable mission defined by the foundress and the co-foundress: the Christian instruction of youth, the management of schools and orphanages, the animation of oratories, as well as assistance to the sick and the elderly, both in Italy and in mission lands (notably in Burundi).