“How can I ever thank the Lord for all He has given me?”
With this simple, heartfelt question, Sister Ermanna Mirandola leads us straight to the essence of her vocation — and to the deeper meaning of more than three decades spent in mission between São Tomé and Angola. It is a life shaped by departures and homecomings, by daily service that often demanded ingenuity and resilience, and by a faith lived out in the most practical form of problem-solving imaginable.
“I was always rather shy,” she confides with a modest smile. “I never thought I’d be able to do it. But, thankfully, the desire to follow the Lord and help others overcame every fear.”
When Pope John Paul II issued his great missionary call in 1990, Sister Ermanna had already spent twenty years in religious life. She decided to say yes — a yes spoken with trembling conviction — and that quiet assent became the guiding thread of her entire existence.
A Home for Those Without One
Her first destination was Santana, a small tropical village — now a diver’s paradise — on the island of São Tomé. There, together with a group of visionary and inspired Canossian Sisters, she founded a refuge for young girls who lived too far from school and were at constant risk of dropping out.
“We didn’t have much,” she recalls, “but our hearts were boundless.”
Over the years, Sister Ermanna’s journey would take her from Luanda to Cassenda, from Golfo to Sapú, before returning once again to São Tomé. Wherever she went, she left behind traces of warmth, compassion and education — forming novices, accompanying the young, comforting the sick, and supporting families in the poorest outskirts where poverty still clings stubbornly to daily life.
Luena: Two Small Women and Eight Young Dreams
Today, Sister Ermanna lives in Luena, deep in the heart of Angola, in a small community she describes through the words of their foundress, Saint Magdalene of Canossa:
“Two small women, but with hearts as large as the world.”
Luena played a crucial role in the 2002 peace accord that finally ended Angola’s long civil war and changed the country’s destiny. Today it is a lively city crossed by the Benguela railway — once a route for mining exports, now a vital artery for local economies. Children walk home from school barefoot, laughter echoing through streets that hum with life and languages. Chócues, Ganguelas, Ovimbundos and Luvales all coexist in a rich mosaic of traditions, making Luena a small cosmos of worlds within worlds.
This is a city in transformation: alongside the old brick houses now rise new schools, social centres and even a solar power plant — tangible signs of a sustainable hope. In this changing landscape, Mother Ermanna, her fellow sister and eight young novices move briskly between children, the elderly seeking company and food, and families in need — a living presence of practical love.
A Faith That Becomes Presence
There is nothing heroic in Sister Ermanna’s tone. For her, service is simply the natural expression of faith — a daily act of gratitude.
“I thank the Lord with all my heart for what He has worked in my life,” she says quietly. “Everything is grace; everything is love.”
After thirty-one years in mission, her smile still bears the light of one who has discovered that true joy lies not in receiving, but in giving — day after day, in the calm and industrious silence of service.
The Canossian Sisters in Africa
The Daughters of Charity of Canossa are active today in more than thirty countries worldwide, including twelve across Africa. Their work ranges from education and healthcare to pastoral and social initiatives.
In Angola and São Tomé, they promote education, women’s empowerment, basic healthcare, and spiritual accompaniment within local communities. The Canossian charism, born from the heart of Saint Magdalene of Canossa, continues to take shape each day through quiet acts of love and service — especially among the poor and the forgotten.
The “Missionary Call” of John Paul II
During the 1980s and 1990s, Pope John Paul II made a passionate appeal to both religious and lay people: the Church, he said, must renew its missionary spirit, particularly towards Africa, Asia and Latin America.
It was the age of globalisation’s first surge — but also of vast inequality, war and poverty. The Pope urged the Church to step beyond its comfort zones, beyond the safe boundaries of the Western world, and go out to the peripheries.
His encyclical Redemptoris Missio (7 December 1990) gave voice to this call, affirming: “Mission renews the Church, strengthens faith and Christian identity, and gives fresh enthusiasm and new motivation. ” (Redemptoris Missio, no. 2)
Throughout his pontificate, John Paul II made more than forty apostolic journeys to Africa alone, urging men and women of faith to serve not only by preaching the Gospel, but also by teaching, healing, accompanying, and building — schools, hospitals, and hope.
