Father Kleber, Mother Maddalena’s biographer, observed that Mother Maddalena was impressed with the citizens she met when she first landed America. Although she was convinced of the truths of the Faith, she nonetheless acknowledged that Americans – at that time – were more religious than those in Italy:
Upon her [Mother Maddalena's] arrival on American soil took up the study of the English language, but also that later, when American novices joined her, she at once made English the official language in her community and demanded of her novices that they teach her the English language, instead of demanding that they learn the Italian from her. Moreover, she was quick to pay tribute any good national trait that she perceived.  The following quotation from a letter to Matilda, written on July 5, 1876, serves to illustrate the point still more.  
“On Sunday, yesterday, they did not give out letters, all the shops were closed, and there was one train only in the morning and one in the evening. The telegraph office was closed except in case of a death or of ship arrivals. At Rome it is not so.  What a difference —(and) they are Protestants.”