Magdalene Rosa Volpato, the eighth of nine children was born on 24 July 1918 in a family of farmers at San Alberto di Zero Branco, Treviso (Italy). She was an active catechist in the Parish, a member and a leader in the Association of the Female Youth of the Catholic Action.

During the World War II, in the midst of terrible uncertainties, pains, privations and anguish, Magdalene landed in the tiny port of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Church on 23 October 1943. Mother Maria Oliva welcomed her calling her, Magdalene of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. Similar to a laborious bee, she carried out humble tasks in the convent bearing patiently the physical ailments that inflicted her. Only later on she came to know that she was suffering from a spinal tuberculosis, Pott's disease.

Magdalene was a young novice when during a celebration in St. Julian’s Church, Venice, on the occasion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, she realized that the Congregation of the Daughters of the Church had the special mission of promoting unity in the Church, and for this cause they should pray much and suffer even to the point of giving one’s life. Magdalene was taken up by this ideal and in her simplicity requested the permission of her Superior to offer her life for the unity of the Church, for which Jesus had insistently prayed to the Father: May all be one.

She offered her life to the Lord as a victim for this ideal. As the Lord always takes into consideration the love-offering of generous souls, on 25 January 1945, the last day of the Octave of Unity, Magdalene was completely bedridden with excruciating pain at the spine. After an year and a half of terrible suffering she breathed her last in the Lido (Venice) Hospital on 27 May 1946, at the age of 27. To those who told her how the Lord had taken her seriously, she replied: "But I do not regret. Indeed, I'm happy. It is enough that He gives me strength to bear the pain".

Magdalene’s body was full of sores. All the same, she continued to offer her life without any hesitation immolating herself with simplicity as a victim for the unity of Christians. To those who told her how the Lord had taken her seriously, she replied: "I do not regret at all. Indeed, I'm happy. It is enough that He gives me strength to bear the pain".

The Patriarch of Venice, allowed her to pronounce the Religious Vows on her deathbed. After an year and a half of terrible suffering she Thus, completely consumed, she breathed her last in the Lido (Venice) Hospital on 27 May 1946, at the age of 27. Her memory is alive among the Sisters and among the many devotees, especially during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.