“It is right to keep the king’s secret, but it is honorable to reveal and proclaim the works of God” (Tb 12:7).
On December 17, the ceremony for the awarding of civic honors took place in the Cleopatra Hall of Palazzo Trotti in Vimercate. Among the recipients was Mother Orsolina Tomasini, a Canossian Daughter of Charity whom the Municipality wished to honor for a life entirely dedicated to educational and pastoral service.
The citation, read by Mayor Francesco Cereda, highlighted Mother Orsolina’s extraordinary witness of faith, generosity, and closeness to others. For more than sixty years, she has devoted herself to teaching, catechesis, and accompanying children, young people, the elderly, and the sick, offering comfort, education, and spiritual guidance with dedication and constancy.
At the moment of the award ceremony, the applause of those present turned into a long and heartfelt standing ovation, a sign of the affection and gratitude of an entire community. Born in 1938, Mother Orsolina has lived and carried out her apostolic service in Vimercate for over sixty years and has become a familiar presence for generations: children educated by her in early childhood education, young people met in the parish oratory, and elderly and sick persons accompanied with discretion and faithful care.
Received with the simplicity that distinguishes her, the honor was humbly attributed by Mother Orsolina to the service entrusted to her by the community. The Sisters, together with all those who know and esteem her, experienced this moment as an occasion of thanksgiving to the Lord, recognizing in this concrete story the fruitfulness of a charism lived in humility and charity, today as in the past—the charism that God entrusted to Saint Magdalene of Canossa, and which Mother Orsolina has welcomed into her life and continues to bear witness to all those she encounters.
