Maria Giuseppina Amalia Sofia Iaconis

In 1893, Sister Maria Eufrasia was sent to Argentina with seven companions to manage the Italian Hospital of Buenos Aires. Despite initial tensions, she stabilized the work and attracted numerous vocations. She founded a novitiate and the College of the Immaculate Conception in 1896. Following the dissolution of her original congregation by the Holy Office in 1901, she demonstrated great strength of soul, revised the constitutions, and founded a new autonomous institute: the Daughters of the Divine Mother, approved in 1904. With the agreement of Pope Pius X, the institute resumed the name of Daughters of the Immaculate Conception of Buenos Aires. In 1912, she also founded a house in Milan.

Afflicted with stomach cancer starting in 1914, Mother Maria Eufrasia endured the illness with heroic patience. She passed away on August 2, 1916, in Buenos Aires at the age of 48. Initially buried in the Chacarita cemetery, her remains were later transferred to the chapel of the Mother House in Buenos Aires. Her growing reputation for holiness led the congregation to introduce her cause for beatification in 1995. The diocesan inquiry took place in Buenos Aires from 2004 to 2012.

On May 13, 2019, Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Maria Eufrasia Iaconis, thereby officially declaring her a Venerable of the Catholic Church.

The spirituality of Maria Eufrasia rests on an absolute trust in Providence and a filial devotion to the Immaculate Conception. Her legacy is perpetuated through the Congregation of the Daughters of the Immaculate Conception of Buenos Aires, active in education and assistance to the sick in America, Europe, and Asia. Notably, she provided spiritual formation to Blessed Maria Pierina De Micheli.