Sister Ascenza Tizzano has bid farewell to New Jersey to take on new responsibilities in Rome.
“Personally, I look to my new role as one of presence and connection with the sisters I will be serving,” she said.
Until recently, Sister Ascenza had lived in Villa Walsh, Morristown, where she served as the provincial superior for the St. Lucy Province of the Religious Teachers Filippini Sisters. In July, she was elected as the order’s general superior. She relocated to Rome in September to begin a six-year term in which she will be responsible for overseeing the works and ministry of the more than 500 Religious Teachers Filippini who serve throughout the world.
“Presence is powerful! It is my hope that as I travel to the various countries I could be a source of encouragement to the many sisters who continue to serve with zeal and joy,” said Sister Ascenza, whose title will be mother general.
Sister Ascenza said her vocation was nurtured as a young child growing up in Holy Redeemer School, Cleveland, which was staffed by the Filippinis. “Although very unaware of the power of their warm, simple daily greetings, a religious vocation was blossoming as I interacted and learned from them,” she recalled.
Wanting to be a teacher similar to the sisters who taught her, Sister Ascenza entered Villa Walsh at an early age and went about embracing the community’s motto, “Go teach the Word of God.”
Sister Ascenza made her final profession in 1960. She holds a bachelor of science degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in administration from Seton Hall University, South Orange. Most of her teaching experience was at the junior high level in the Archdiocese of Newark, and she was a school principal in the Newark Archdiocese as well as the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for 18 years.
In 1988, she returned to Villa Walsh, where she remained until departing for Rome.She ministered as supervisor of the Filippini schools, was superior of the Villa Walsh Motherhouse and was provincial superior for two terms – from 2001 to 2007 and from 2013 to 2019. In the interim years – she was vicar for religious in the Metuchen Diocese.
Although Sister Ascenza never held an assignment in the Diocese of Trenton, she was familiar with the schools where the Filippini sisters worked. including, St. Joachim, Trenton; Villa Victoria Academy, West Trenton; Holy Innocents, Neptune; St. Jerome, West Long Branch, and Holy Family, Lakewood, as well as St. Joseph by the Sea Retreat House, South Mantoloking. Sister Ascenza noted that St. Joachim Parish and School, is where the Filippini Sisters first arrived from Italy in 1910.
“Many events and significant celebrations took place in St. Joachim through my years in office, particularly the celebration of our 95th and 100th anniversaries in America,” she said.
“These occasions allowed me to gain a deep respect and appreciation for the priests, vocations and people of faith in this parish,” she said.
St. Joachim School eventually closed, and as part of a 2005 merger, St. Joachim Parish became part of Our Lady of the Angels Parish, Trenton.
Reflecting on her new role, Sister Ascenza expects to be responsible for the government of her order’s institute, officially representing it for both ecclesiastical and civil law. She will exercise authority over the provinces, vice provinces, regions and delegations and over its members individually and collectively.
“The general superior is both the bond of unity and guarantor of fidelity to the Church, the constitutions and rules and to the spirit of our holy foundress, St. Lucy Filippini,” said Sister Ascenza.
“The general stimulates its growth, promotes its spiritual life and fosters the unity of its members and the vitality of its apostolic works,” she said, then cited that Filippini provinces are in the United States and Italy; a vice province is in Brazil, and there are regions in England, Ethiopia, India and Albania.