Mother Maddalena was at the Poor Clare monastery in Marseilles, where they stayed for a few weeks before sailing for America. She became friends with the Abbess, Mother Theresa. Maddalena wrote to her sister, Matilda, on August 29, 1875: There was in our hearts something extraordinary, something that we could never explain: in every person, but above all in the holy Mother, [the Abbess Mother Theresa] there was a calm. She was solicitous for all our needs, and for us she would deprive herself of all she had. We saw in her the true spirit of God, for we were often with her and could see how far she had advanced in perfection and in perfect union with God. When alone with us, she gave us many salutary counsels which in due time were very profitable to us.