A path to sainthood
The Congregation for the Causes of Saints has officially recognized a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Servant of God Maria Ignacia Isacchi, founder of the Ursuline Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Asola. This decree, signed by the Pope, is the final step required for her upcoming beatification, following the proclamation of her heroic virtues as venerable in 2022.
The founder and her legacy
Maria Ignacia Isacchi, born Angela Caterina Isacchi in 1857 in Stezzano (Italy), entered religious life with the Ursulines of Somasca. In 1893, following the instructions of the bishop of Cremona, she founded a new community that would become known as the "Ursulines of Asola," establishing its mother house there. She led the congregation until 1924, when she resigned for health reasons, passing away a decade later. At the time of her death, the order had 19 houses and 120 nuns, a testament to the growth of her work.
The extraordinary event
The recognized miracle occurred in 1950, sixteen years after the founder's death. Ursuline Sister Maria Assunta Zappella was suffering from severe enterocolitis, probably of a tuberculous nature, which did not respond to medical treatment and was rapidly worsening. A nun who was accompanying her proposed to begin a novena asking for the intercession of Mother Maria Ignacia. At the end of the novena, the sick woman experienced a sudden improvement and was able to eat and drink. An X-ray the following day revealed the regression of the disease, and in the days that followed, the doctors confirmed a complete and inexplicable cure.
Validation process
The healed nun declared that she had dreamed of Mother Ignacia, who urged her to commit herself and work hard. Forty-five years later, the diocese began the canonical investigation. Two doctors visited Sister María Asunta, who remained cured and recounted all the details. After her death in 2018 from causes unrelated to that illness, the medical committee of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints declared in 2024 that the healing had no scientific explanation, thus fulfilling the criteria to be considered miraculous.
Expansion and other decrees
Currently, the Ursulines of Asola have about eighty religious sisters and fifteen communities in Italy. For fifty years, they have also been doing missionary work in Africa, particularly in Burundi, where they receive an average of ten new postulants or novices each year. In the same session, the Pope recognized the heroic virtues of four other Servants of God: the nuns Maria Tecla Antonia Relucenti and Crocifissa Militerni (Italy), Maria Imaculada de la Santísima Trinidad (Brazil), and the Italian layman Nerino Cobianchi. The martyrdom of the Guatemalan Franciscan Fray Augusto Ramírez Monasterio was also recognized.
Original source: www.religionenlibertad.com (published January 22, 2026)
