Luisa Guidotti Mistrali

In May 1960, Luisa requested to join the Women's Medical Missionary Association (now the International Health Association - AFMM), an association of consecrated laywomen founded in 1954 by Adele Pignatelli with the support of Msgr. Giovanni Battista Montini (the future Pope Paul VI). The members of this association, who are healthcare professionals, take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience to serve God through the care of the most destitute in mission lands. After specializing in radiology and physical therapy in Rome, Luisa received the missionary crucifix on August 1, 1966, from the hands of the Archbishop of Modena, Msgr. Giuseppe Amici. She flew to Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe) on August 9, 1966. She began her service at the 'Paul VI' hospital in Chirundu, managed by the association. In 1967, she completed her training at the government hospital in Salisbury (now Harare), then returned temporarily to Europe to make her definitive incorporation into the association at the Benedictine abbey of Metten, in Germany. Upon returning to Africa, she worked briefly at the Regina Coeli mission hospital, near the border with Mozambique. In December 1969, she was assigned to the 'All Souls' mission near Mutoko, an extremely poor region. As the only doctor in this vast area, she also took charge of the Mtemwa leprosarium (where she collaborated with John Bradburne) and the Chikwizo dispensary. Thanks to her tireless dedication and the financial support of her Italian friends, she transformed the rudimentary All Souls hospital into a modern medical center capable of treating thousands of patients each year. Nicknamed 'Happy Doctor' by the local population because of her constant smile and deep compassion, she identified fully with the Shona people.

From 1964 onwards, Rhodesia was torn apart by a violent civil war between black nationalists and the white minority government of Ian Smith. Despite the growing dangers and pressure from those around her, Luisa categorically refused to leave her post, affirming her desire to remain a "layperson among laypeople" to care for all those in need, without distinction of political or ethnic affiliation. On June 28, 1976, she was arrested by the Rhodesian police on charges of having treated a wounded young guerrilla fighter without informing the government authorities. Facing a heavy sentence, she was finally released at the end of August 1976 thanks to intense international diplomatic mobilization led by the Holy See and the Italian government. Despite the constant hostility of the colonial authorities, she immediately returned to All Souls Hospital to continue her mission. On July 6, 1979, while transporting a pregnant woman whose life was in grave danger to Nyadiri Hospital by ambulance, her vehicle was targeted by a Rhodesian military patrol at a checkpoint near Mutoko. Struck by a burst of machine-gun fire, she was left without immediate medical assistance and succumbed to her wounds before reaching the public hospital in Mutoko.

The reputation of holiness and martyrdom of Luisa Guidotti Mistrali spread immediately in Italy and Zimbabwe. In 1983, the All Souls Hospital was officially renamed in her honor. On October 23, 1988, at the request of the Archbishop of Modena, her remains were transferred from Africa to the Cathedral of Modena, where she now rests. The cause for beatification was officially opened in 1995 under the pontificate of John Paul II, after obtaining the nihil obstat decree on April 21, 1995. The diocesan inquiry, conducted by the Archdiocese of Modena-Nonantola with a rogatory commission in Harare, took place from 1996 to 2013, and its solemn closure took place on November 23, 2013, at the Church of San Domenico in Modena. On December 17, 2022, Pope Francis authorized the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognizing her heroic virtues, thus conferring upon her the title of Venerable.

The spirituality of Luisa Guidotti Mistrali is that of a consecrated laywoman whose faith was nourished by Catholic Action and a deep devotion to Saint Thomas More, whom she had chosen as her spiritual guide. She conceived of her medical profession not as a career, but as a total configuration to Christ the servant and the suffering: "I want to go on a mission as a doctor, to go forever, remaining a laywoman among laypeople." Her legacy remains alive through the International Health Association and the ongoing activity of the Mutoko hospital. Her missionary style, characterized by a humble, joyful, and fully inculturated presence ("Shona with the Shona"), remains a model of evangelization through concrete charity and the gift of self to the very end.