While in Italy she nursed victims of the 1915 Avezzano earthquake , people in the slums of Rome , and joined the Italian Red Cross to nurse war wounded ( though she was not able to join a frontline unit ) . She displayed a New Zealand St John Ambulance medal , which she passed off as the medal of a registered nurse . In April 1917 — four years and four months after Aubert arrived in Rome — Pope Benedict granted the Decree of Praise to the Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion . It was the only Catholic congregation born and growing to maturity in New Zealand , and the smallest congregation in the world ever to have attained this status
1915 Avezzano earthquake
1915 Avezzano earthquake
Suzanne Aubert