English 
Sr. Ignazia spent thirty years in India. On 8 August, at the age of 86, she passed away. She was a witness of humility and joy in proclaiming the Gospel.
The first memory that many Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate have of Sr. Ignazia is her humble, quiet, but attentive and helpful presence. This was said by the young women in formation whom she accompanied as an assistant in the novitiate, and it is also affirmed by the people she helped in India and the sisters with whom she lived in India and Italy.
Born in Brianza in 1937 into a large family of great faith, Carla, her baptismal name, grew up with a great desire to devote herself to proclaiming God’s love for every brother and sister, a love she experienced in her family and in her parish community.
At the age of twenty, she left everything behind and asked to join the other young women at Villa Boschetto who aspired to missionary work, but she had to wait and prepare herself to give her best wherever she was sent.
After her first profession in 1960 and a period as an assistant formator in the novitiate, she began her professional training: first she obtained her diploma as a professional nurse and midwife, then, to her great surprise and joy, she was sent to Fontilles, Spain, to specialise in the care of patients with Hansen’s disease, the sick whom she would privilege and to whom she would give all her attention.
She wrote from Fantilles: “I often think back to those deformed feet, those stumpy hands, and above all their gaze, which accentuates in my heart the desire to love them more. Yes, soon I will set sail across the seas and reach India to put into practice what I have learned here in this wonderful leprology course”.
Finally, at the beginning of 1966, she was assigned to the mission in India, where she joined the sisters who were already offering their service and witness with great commitment in hospitals, schools and villages.
Sr. Ignazia was happy; she was where she had always wanted to be. She worked in various hospitals and centres for Hansen’s disease sufferers, but with a preference for the little ones, the orphans, the abandoned children for whom she felt like a mother and to whom she opened her heart with simplicity, a sign of her profound maternal sensitivity.
In a letter, after describing her commitments as a nurse, she recounts with amusement the exploits of her little orphans: “The apostolate of little orphans is one that requires dedication, patience and, above all, sacrifice, because it intensely engages my life and demands a lot of attention. However, it gives me the joy of feeling like a collaborator in evangelisation, fulfilling my vocation among them, my little orphans!”
On 8 August 2023, at the age of 86, Sr. Ignazia passed away. She spent almost thirty years among her sick and her orphans in India and was a witness of humble, generous and joyful life in proclaiming the Gospel.
Sr. Paola Vizzotto
