On 17 July 2026, at the House for elderly and ailing sisters in Bragança Paulista, Sr. Maria Augusta Zandonadi made her definitive Paschal passage. With her passes away one of the first Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate to have carried the Gospel to Guinea-Bissau — a life entirely woven of dedication, of departure and return, always in service, always attentive.
The Roots and the Call
Maria Augusta was born on 4 August 1948 in Cruzália, in the State of São Paulo, into a family of Italian origin. Hers were humble, rural roots, marked by the simple and concrete faith of those who work the land and recognise in it the sign of God.
The call came early. On 21 January 1966 she entered the Missionary Family in Assis, and on 12 January 1969 she made her first religious profession. On 1 February 1976, again in Assis, she pronounced her perpetual vows: from that moment her life belonged entirely to mission.
In the Brazilian Pastoral: Vila Prudenciana
In 1983 she was sent to the community of Vila Prudenciana (SP), where she immersed herself in the various parish pastoral activities and took up the role of community coordinator. These were years of silent and generous service, in which she learnt to stand among the people, to know their struggles and their hopes.
Guinea-Bissau: The Heart of Africa
On 13 September 1986 Sr. Maria Augusta received the mission ad extra: Guinea-Bissau, in Africa. It was there that her charism expressed itself with greatest intensity. She worked tirelessly with young women, accompanying them in their human and religious formation; she dedicated herself to the first proclamation in the aldeias, bringing the Gospel to places where few voices had yet carried it.
Fr. Jaime, a PIME missionary now serving as parish priest in Bissau, bears witness with deep emotion: “From what one hears, from the people who knew her, one can touch with one’s own hands the good and blessed work she did here in Guinea-Bissau”. He adds, with gratitude: “If today I am a priest, it is thanks to the witness and dedication of you missionaries to the people among whom you are present”.
Service to the Home Province and Congregational Governance
In June 1997 Sr. Maria Augusta returned to Brazil for the period of service to her province. In November 2000 she was elected General Councillor and departed for Rome, where she remained until 2006 — a discreet and precious service at the very heart of the Congregation.
Upon her return to Brazil, she was sent in 2007 to the community of Antônio Gonçalves (BA), where she once again devoted herself to pastoral work. In 2013, at the Assembly of the Southern Province, she was elected Provincial Councillor.
The Formation of New Generations
In 2014 she was entrusted with a delicate and beautiful responsibility: forming the novices at the interprovincial novitiate of Vila Missionária. She embraced it “with great affection and dedication” and carried out this role until 2017. During those years she also gave her attention to the Cre-Ser Project, an initiative in favour of young people with dependencies — the menos favorecidos, the most fragile, to whom she never ceased to turn her care.
Sr. Sunitha, who came to know her during that period, recalls with tenderness: “The days when we celebrated our birthdays together at the Provincial House, the moments when she accompanied me to discover the lanes of Vila Missionária, the mission in Campinas, the prayers shared in moments of joy.” And further: “Her missionary spirit, her courage, her sacrifices and her willingness to go beyond her own limits to bring the Word of the Lord to the people of God continue to inspire me”.
The Final Years: Illness and the Smile
During the Covid period, still at Vila Missionária, her missionary spirit remained undiminished. Sr. Emanuela recalls: “She was an indefatigable, tenacious missionary, always busy and always reaching out towards proclamation. During the difficult period of Covid, Maria Augusta, with an almost restless spirit, would grieve that she could not go out to visit families, that she could not go and ‘do her mission’, as she used to say”.
From 2022 Sr. Maria Augusta was transferred to Bragança Paulista, where she spent her final years. The illness advanced, words grew ever more difficult — until they ceased altogether. Yet those who cared for her do not forget her smile: constant, luminous, rewarding. On 17 July 2026, with the same peace with which she had lived, Sr. Maria Augusta made her definitive Passover.
Sr. Fátima, with the simplicity of one who knows the weight and the grace of mission, wrote: “Go in peace, warrior. You have fulfilled your mission. Heaven is rejoicing, and we accompany you, with hearts full”.
