Antonia Colombo was born in Italy in 1935. She made her first profession in the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in 1959, at the age of 24. In the same year, she obtained her law degree from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan. Next, you will be liscensed in Applied Psychology at the Catholic University of Louvain, in Belgium. From 1966 to 1989, she lived in the community of the Pontifical University of the Science of Education – the Auxilium covering teaching assignments and other responsibilities at the religious and academic levels.
She was President of the Faculty from 1983 to 1989, when she was appointed Provincial of the province “Sister Teresa Valsé Pantellini” of Taranto. In 1990, during General Chapter XIX, Mother Antonia was elected Visiting Councilor and, six years later at General Chapter XX, she was elected as Mother General. She was elected to a second term at the XXI Chapter, and concluded her term of service on October 23, 2008, at the end of the second term.
LINES OF GOVERNMENT
In the twelve years of her term, Mother Antonia tried to achieve, with her Council, the “prophecy of togetherness,”witnessing our love for Jesus and our commitment to Him through a solid life in community. One of the most valuable insights of her government was this point of witnessing by how we live together. This thought was the nucleus of her animation and government, and was seen in Mother Antonia’s ability to draw the Institute together. The value of working together “the prophecy of togetherness” was also experienced in meetings with the General Council of the Salesian Priests and Brothers, the SDB. Our brothers were also convinced of the necessity of mutual collaboration.
One of the fruits of the reflection of many Sisters is the rewriting of our “Ratio” or our Plan of Formation. The request, issued by the Holy See for all religious to re-write the documents for those in training, resulted in a rich sharing by all in the Institute, and the production of a document that enriches each Sister. In 2001, Mother Antonia participated as an auditor at the 10th Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, where she had the opportunity to confirm her love for the Church. She traveled thousands of kilometers to various continents, reaching the opposite side of the earth, and our first missions in Tierra del Fuego.