Mother Maddalena was struggling as she strove to establish the Poor Clare way of life in America. Her superior had written to the Poor Clare Colettines in Holland about making a foundation in Cleveland. She wrote to her sister on September 2, 1877: I thank God for all that which has been done and for all that which will be done, because if this reaction had not come, months and years would have passed by and one would have gone ahead saying, ‘Let us wait as to doing,’ ‘Let us be satisfied with the little,’ ‘One does a little at a time.’ It is better to see the order of Poor Clares established, even by the Germans (Hollanders). God willed of us that with our suffering we could achieve the opening of a convent, the actual life and the regularity He now wills to be accomplished by others; and I am glad of it. Let us thank the Lord who has ever protected us with His own hands. Let Him do His Will.