Maria Olga Tambelli

In September 1907, at the age of 23, Sister Teresa was sent to Sardinia, a land then considered a mission territory. She arrived in Cagliari to join the Asilo della Marina (the Marine Asylum), a historic charitable and educational institution located in the working-class Marina district. She would spend 57 years there, that is to say, the rest of her life.

From 1914, she collaborated closely with the superior of the house, Sister Giuseppina Nicoli (now Blessed). Together, the two religious sisters deployed intense pastoral and social activity among the most destitute populations of Cagliari. They founded several major works: the Scuola di religione (School of Religion); the Associazione delle Dorotee (Association of the Dorothées), a mixed group intended for young students and workers; the Circoli Santa Teresa (Saint Teresa Circles) for young women; and the Associazione delle Zitine, a mutual aid and training organization for domestic workers.

They dedicated themselves particularly to the relief of the piccioccus de crobi (or marianelli), extremely poor street boys who survived by carrying baskets at the city market. Sister Teresa approached them with patience, offering them food, clothing, instruction, and catechism.

In 1925, following the death of Blessed Giuseppina Nicoli, Sister Teresa succeeded her as superior (Sister Servant) of the Asilo della Marina. She modernized the institution's schools and created embroidery, sewing, and repair workshops to offer a professional future to young girls. In 1941, she opened a middle school (Scuola Media) and a teacher training institute (Istituto Magistrale) recognized by the State.

During the period of the Fascist dictatorship, Sister Teresa had to face the interference of the president of the civil administration appointed by the regime, who also served as commissioner of the Asylum. The latter, hostile to the religious sister's influence, obtained her expulsion from the city from the prefect. On January 1, 1934, Sister Teresa left Cagliari for a forced nine-month exile that took her to Olbia, Turin, and then Milan, where she served the poor alongside Blessed Cardinal Schuster. Faced with the mobilization of the inhabitants, families, and religious authorities (notably Archbishop Ernesto Maria Piovella of Cagliari), she was finally authorized to return on September 27, 1934, the feast day of Saint Vincent de Paul.

During the Second World War, Cagliari suffered terrible bombings in 1943. Sister Teresa opened the doors of the Asylum wide to welcome and feed the victims. When the community was forced to retreat to Uras, in the hinterland, she immediately organized a soup kitchen there, opened school classes, and continued the catechism. After the war, she actively participated in the material and moral reconstruction of the city.

Sister Teresa Tambelli died suddenly on February 23, 1964, in Cagliari, just after attending Mass. Her death sparked immense emotion throughout the city, and an innumerable crowd of the poor and citizens came to pay their respects before her remains. Initially buried at the monumental cemetery of Bonaria, her body was transferred in 2019 to the chapel of the Asilo della Marina, on Via Baylle, where she now rests alongside Blessed Giuseppina Nicoli.

Her cause for beatification was officially introduced at the diocesan level on November 6, 2016, by Archbishop Arrigo Miglio of Cagliari, after receiving the Nihil Obstat from the Roman Curia on July 8, 2016. The diocesan inquiry, closed after collecting 60 testimonies and hundreds of documents, was transmitted to Rome.

On June 20, 2025, during an audience granted to Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Pope Leo XIV authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Maria Olga Tambelli (Sister Teresa). She is thus officially declared venerable.

The spirituality of Sister Teresa Tambelli is deeply rooted in the Vincentian charism: to see the face of Christ in every poor person and to serve Him with humility, gentleness, and joy. Nicknamed the "angel of the Marina" or the "mother of the Marianelli," she was distinguished by her absolute trust in Divine Providence and her unconditional love for the most neglected. Her entire life was a heroic putting into practice of the commandment of love. Today, the Asilo della Marina in Cagliari remains a place of memory and active charity, housing a museum dedicated to the work of the Daughters of Charity and to the spiritual legacy left by Sister Giuseppina Nicoli and Sister Teresa Tambelli.