First woman rector of a shrine: Witnessing to the Gospel through listening
By Eugenio Murrali and Andrea Tornielli - Rimini
Anna Medeossi has a lively and determined gaze, gentleness in her voice and gestures, and a wisdom that is both humble and profound.
An architect originally from the Italian city of Gorizia, she might never have imagined what life would call her to do nearly a year ago: become the first woman in the world to serve as rector of a shrine.
That distinction takes on even greater significance because of where the shrine is located: Notre-Dame de Santa Cruz in Oran, Algeria, an overwhelmingly Muslim country.
Images of the shrine she oversees were seen around the world on the occasion of the beatification of the Martyrs of Algeria.
From architecture to caring for the shrine
Her arrival at Santa Cruz—where she now also lives as a consecrated virgin in the Ordo Virginum of the Diocese of Oran—was not as rector, but as an architect.
“I actually came to Notre-Dame de Santa Cruz as an architect,” she explains, “in response to a request from ...
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