SISTER MARÍA ROMERO MENESES, FMA · beautiful co˜ee plantation in front of Maria Auxiliadora...
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SISTER MARÍA ROMERO MENESES, FMA LIFE She was born in Granada (Nicaragua) on January 13, 1902, and died in Las Peñitas, León (Nicaragua) on July 7, 1977. Her parents Félix Romero Arana and Ana Meneses Blandón were very rich, so she was afforded a life of privilege and comfort. Maria had thirteen siblings. When she was 8 years old (December 8, 1909) she made her First Commu- nion. The following year, the missionaries of Don Bosco, Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA) arrived in Nicaragua. They were very poor but nice and always smiling. This was the starting point from which the Holy Spirit infused her with the vocation to leave everything behind for the Lord. This congregation was an important part of Sister Maria Romero for the rest of her life. She was one of the first to be enrolled in the newly founded school. She attended it with sister Chila. Currently, the college has a museum room with the bed where the Blessed nun slept during her stay in Nicaragua, before leaving to Costa Rica. At the beginning of 1920, at the age of 18, María Romero moved to El Salvador (Santa Tecla). She decided to attend the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. On March 19 of the same year she began to use the black habit. This characterized her for the rest of her life and, she was formally called "Sister María Romero". She was designated as a music teacher during her candidacy at the order. On May 24 she was awarded the postulant medal and on Epiphany s day, January 6, 1921, Sister Mary became a novice. On January 6, 1923, Father José Reynieri, received the religious profession of Sister Maria Romero. During her stay in Nicaragua she began to carry the "black booklet", writing on it her prayers, the feelings that she kept in her soul, phrases and thoughts of many religious authors such as St. John of the Cross, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Augustine, St. Teresa of Jesus, and so on. The book “Escritos Espirituales” (Spiritual Writings) contains the notes of this notebook. In 1931 the congregation sent her to San José, Costa Rica, where she dedicat- ed her life to serve people in need and she spent 46 years there. Despite her love for her “second homeland” Costa Rica, Sister Maria Romero never gave up her Nicaraguan citizenship. On December 25,1938 the outdoors mission of Sister Maria began. It covered all of Costa Rica. Sister Maria fed the hungry, visited the naked and gave shelter to the homeless. She also brought health to the sick, building medical clinics for the poor and vulnerable. Her main works were developed in Costa Rica, but in Nicaragua many people have faith in her miraculous works. According to the Lady Mina Burgos, every time the nun came to Granada, her hometown, thousands of believers came in pilgrimages to see her. Everyone wanted to talk to her, asking for a miracle, especially healing. When she started her work in Costa Rica, Sister Maria would always see a beautiful coffee plantation in front of Maria Auxiliadora College in San José. She dreamed that this land would be bought and she would make a shrine, in which a chapel would be built for Maria Auxiliadora. She also wanted to build a medical clinic with a pharmacy inside and a a house and a school for poor girls. That dream did eventually come true. Costa Rica was spiritually abandoned. There were many slums that no one would enter. Sister Maria would not stand for this because God was constant- ly propeling her toward serving the poor. That's how the oratories came up. In all, Sister Maria built 58 oratories serving the poorest and most vulnerable communities all around Costa Rica. SOCIAL AND SPIRITUAL WORKS Among her most important social and spiritual works in Costa Rica are the following ones: • Medical Consultant Centers, which provide free general medical services and basic medications to those without social security protection. Consultations with dentists, ophthalmologists, pediatricians and general practitioners.
Transcript of SISTER MARÍA ROMERO MENESES, FMA · beautiful co˜ee plantation in front of Maria Auxiliadora...
SISTER MARÍA ROMERO MENESES, FMALIFEShe was born in Granada (Nicaragua) on January 13, 1902, and died in Las Peñitas, León (Nicaragua) on July 7, 1977. Her parents Félix Romero Arana and Ana Meneses Blandón were very rich, so she was a�orded a life of privilege and comfort. Maria had thirteen siblings.
When she was 8 years old (December 8, 1909) she made her First Commu-nion. The following year, the missionaries of Don Bosco, Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA) arrived in Nicaragua. They were very poor but nice and always smiling. This was the starting point from which the Holy Spirit infused her with the vocation to leave everything behind for the Lord. This congregation was an important part of Sister Maria Romero for the rest of her life. She was one of the first to be enrolled in the newly founded school. She attended it with sister Chila. Currently, the college has a museum room with the bed where the Blessed nun slept during her stay in Nicaragua, before leaving to Costa Rica.
At the beginning of 1920, at the age of 18, María Romero moved to El Salvador (Santa Tecla). She decided to attend the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. On March 19 of the same year she began to use the black habit. This characterized her for the rest of her life and, she was formally called "Sister María Romero".
She was designated as a music teacher during her candidacy at the order. On May 24 she was awarded the postulant medal and on Epiphany s day, January 6, 1921, Sister Mary became a novice. On January 6, 1923, Father José Reynieri, received the religious profession of Sister Maria Romero.
During her stay in Nicaragua she began to carry the "black booklet", writing on it her prayers, the feelings that she kept in her soul, phrases and thoughts of many religious authors such as St. John of the Cross, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Augustine, St. Teresa of Jesus, and so on. The book “Escritos Espirituales” (Spiritual Writings) contains the notes of this notebook.
In 1931 the congregation sent her to San José, Costa Rica, where she dedicat-ed her life to serve people in need and she spent 46 years there. Despite her love for her “second homeland” Costa Rica, Sister Maria Romero never gave up her Nicaraguan citizenship.
On December 25,1938 the outdoors mission of Sister Maria began. It covered all of Costa Rica. Sister Maria fed the hungry, visited the naked and gave shelter to the homeless. She also brought health to the sick, building medical clinics for the poor and vulnerable. Her main works were developed in Costa Rica, but in Nicaragua many people have faith in her miraculous works.
According to the Lady Mina Burgos, every time the nun came to Granada, her hometown, thousands of believers came in pilgrimages to see her. Everyone wanted to talk to her, asking for a miracle, especially healing.
When she started her work in Costa Rica, Sister Maria would always see a beautiful co�ee plantation in front of Maria Auxiliadora College in San José. She dreamed that this land would be bought and she would make a shrine, in which a chapel would be built for Maria Auxiliadora. She also wanted to build a medical clinic with a pharmacy inside and a a house and a school for poor girls. That dream did eventually come true.
Costa Rica was spiritually abandoned. There were many slums that no one would enter. Sister Maria would not stand for this because God was constant-ly propeling her toward serving the poor. That's how the oratories came up. In all, Sister Maria built 58 oratories serving the poorest and most vulnerable communities all around Costa Rica.
SOCIAL AND SPIRITUAL WORKSAmong her most important social and spiritual works in Costa Rica are the following ones:• Medical Consultant Centers, which provide free general medical services and basic medications to those without social security protection. Consultations with dentists, ophthalmologists, pediatricians and general practitioners.
SISTER MARÍA ROMERO MENESES, FMA• Boarding School for young people in Casa María Auxiliadora, helping girls who used to live on the street.• Training in activities such as cooking, sewing and other trades for girls and women.• ASAYNE: Association of Aid to the Needy, in Ciudadela en Salitrillos de Aserrí, which consists of 70 houses to shelter families who previously lived in subhuman conditions. It was extended to San Miguel of Desamparados and San Gabriel, in the area of Aserrí.• “Wardrobe", a service that o�ers clothing at symbolic prices and, occasional-ly, free of charge.• Daily distribution of basic food baskets to people with limited economic resources.
On August 27, 1968, the UMA (Union of American Women) named her "Woman of the Year”. In 1976, she received another recognition, this time the Rotary Club of Costa Rica awarded her with a gold medal.
At the end of 1999 she was declared as one of the most famous characters in Granada of the Century and Millennium.
Maria Domenica Grassiano, of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians Institute, wrote of her work and the legacy she left; “A humble religious of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians or Salesians of Don Bosco, she founded surprising social works in Costa Rica, her second homeland. Her fame crossed the borders of Central America, the United States, and South America. And it was fame of sanctity,”
She was declared venerable on December 18, 2000, by Pope John Paul II. For many, she was considered as a feminine Don Bosco. For her people, she was an authentic Saint and fully Latin American. Both Nicaragua and Costa Rica have special a�nity to her and celebrated with great joy the day of her beatification, which took place on April 14, 2002, in a ceremony presided over Pope John Paul II during Easter of that year.
PREDICTIONSSister Maria Romero Meneses predicted the earthquake that destroyed Managua, the capital city, on December 22, 1972. Ten days before the catastrophe, she told Pablo Antonio Cuadra to make it public through the newspaper La Prensa. However, Pablo Antonio did not publish it for fear of being called crazy," said Doña Ruth Cuadra de Fuentes.
MIRACLESMany miracles presented in the process of beatification are attributed to the "little nun" praying and interceding on the behalf of those in distress. Among
those include:• The cure of a fifteen-year-old girl with leukemia• The miraculous little bells that help find a lost child• The water that miraculously healed several sick people
SPIRITUALITYSister Romero is a model and witness of devotion to Jesus and Mary, of missionary zeal and of help the faith and peace of those who are “far away” from them.
Her ideal was to love Jesus deeply, "Her King", and to spread the devotion to Jesus and to his divine Mother Mary. Her intimate joy was the possibility of bringing the children, the poor, the su�ering and the marginalized closer to the truth of the gospel. The most ambitious reward for her sacrifices was to see peace and faith flourish in a "lost" life.
Such spirituality and conviction has led this simple and obliging Nun to be considered a "Don Bosco in Feminine".
ROLE MODEL FOR YOUNG PEOPLE• Avoid fall into consumerism or materialism• Detachment• Discover Jesus in the poor• Attitude of service and aid• Concern for the sick and marginalized• Living faith in Jesus Christ• Filial devotion to Mary•Combine sanctity with commitment to life
