On April 6, 1910, Father Michael Rua died. He was the first of St. John Bosco’s students to join Bosco’s fledging Order, and he succeeded St. John as General. Mother Mary Maddalena knew both of the men when she lived in Italy. Rua wrote to the Omaha Poor Clare monastery:
Rejoicing that in your community there is an ardent divine charity, I willingly petition Our Lord that that burning fire will never decrease but that if will increase evermore.