Sr. ZOIA, Giovanna (Giannina) FDCC
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Death of Mother Giovanna Zoia

Mother Giovanna Zoia died at the Canossa Hospital on 16 January 1963, after an extremely short illness, at the relatively early age of 52.

Mother Giovanna entered the Canossian Novitiate at 21 years of age. In 1934 she was sent to China and assigned to the Caonssian Mission in Hankow, where she worked in the various schools until 1949, that is, until the Communists took over. The heavy bombing of the city during the war in 1944, completely destroyed the convent compound and the large hospital. Many people lost their lives, including four of the Canossian Sisters on duty at the hospital. One of these four was Mother Giovanna’s own sister. The shock was too great for her, and her health was undermined by the sad tragedy.

In Hong Kong Mother Giovanna worked for some years in the Canossian Convent, Caine Road, and at St. Francis Canossian College. Last year she was transferred to the Holy Family Canossian Convent, Kowloon City; there she was taken suddenly ill on 11 January, at the evening community prayer. She was removed to Canossa Hospital, but her case was declared hopeless, and though she lingered for a few days, she never recovered consciousness. The end came, quietly and peacefully – the epilogue of her gentle, quiet, unassuming life.

25 January 1963


◆ 先賢錄－－香港天主教神職及男女修會會士 (1841-2016), 天主教香港教區檔案處, 2016.