[In preparation for the 90th Anniversary of the arrival of the MMB Sisters to Saipan on March 4th, we desire to share with you (with slight editing) the original series authored by Sr. Mary Ann Becmer, MMB in 2002-3. She is now a General Councilor of the community in Rome.]
We had to become missionaries! The “Dream was about to become reality! Sor Margarita Maturana, seeing the missionary fire beginning to spread within the convent of Vera-Cruz, spoke with her superior, Maria Nieves Urizar, about the “Dream”. Wouldn’t it be wonderful for the nuns to go to the missions themselves and work there to make God known and loved? Isn’t this a “new call” of the Spirit to us – a call consistent with our Mercedarian Redemptive Charism; a response to the “ signs of the times”, not to be ignored? The Spirit of God was doing “ something new” within the small community and something gigantic for the Church!
Spirit-filled dreams are not necessarily practical, nor do they have to be! They are usually filled with challenges, obstacles and risks. no less this “Dream”! The nuns of Berriz had no money to begin anything with, and they were cloistered nuns, never ex- pected to leave their Monastery. God had other plans for Berriz though and with God nothing is impossible! Soon they had an unexpected, generous benefactor, permission from Rome allowing them to leave the cloister and much help from many persons. Pope Pius XII encouraged them wholeheartedly and blessed their new endeavor.
On September 19, 1926, with the ink on their passports barely dry, the first Missionary Expedition of six nuns from the Monas- tery of Vera-Cruz, set out on the greatest adventure of their lives! They arrived in Wuhu, China and immediately dedicated themselves to studying the Chinese language and culture, forming a local group of consecrated women, and making initial plans for a school. They would eventually open a school, two dispensaries and take direction of an orphanage in Wuhu. Life in China was far from easy for these sisters – they knew isolation, sickness, deprivation of all kinds, political unrest and instability. Some years later, they would know the indignity and humiliation of exile, public trials, incarceration and finally expulsion from the country. However, their missionary vocation, sustained by God, was built on a solid basis and through long periods of prayer, they were able to consider all that was happening to them with eyes of Faith. Amid difficulties, fears and exile, they deepened their love for their new mission from the perspective of their Mercedarian Redemptive Charism and their Fourth Vow– “to lay down their lives for their sisters and brothers…”. The sisters would remain in China until 1952, when the Communist government expelled all missionaries.
With the first mission begun, the missionary fire and spirit grew within the Monastery of Berriz. Soon the sisters began to consider other mission possibilities. As early as 1920, among the community, there was a growing missionary interest in the Caroline Islands. This developed through the Jesuits, who had asked prayers for their mission there. Soon regular correspondence was established with Berriz. By 1927, the official and public confirmation of a new foundation in the Carolines, specifically to Ponape, was announced to the Community. With the same daring spirit and desires to live their Mercedarian commitment as the sisters of the first expedition, Sisters Maria Loreto Zubia, Maria Teresa Cortazar, Maria Pilar Lorenzo and Inocencia Urizar, left Berriz on the Feast of Christ the King for the Carolines. In Shanghai, they were joined by Aurora Chopitea. Soon they arrived in Tokyo where they would wait for the ship that would take them to the Islands. During this waiting period, the Apostolic Vicar changed their mission and plans! They were now on their way to SAIPAn, in the Mariana Islands.
And so, after much uncertainty and great challenges along the way, the first missionaries arrived on Saipan on March 4, 1928. Saipan was the first Mercedarian mission in the beautiful Pacific Islands! Upon landing, the sisters knelt and kissed the ground in an act of thanksgiving to God for having called them to this land so far away. They were the first religious women seen on Saipan and they received a warm and generous welcome from the people. The day after arriving found the sisters greeting the local authorities, arranging passports, receiving gifts and visits from the Jesuits and the people. The Jesuits placed before them the great desire of the people: a school for their children.
With great strength of spirit, the sisters began over- coming all sorts of difficulties, such as, their lack of knowledge of the local languages and cultures, the unfamiliar tropical climate so different from the mountains of Berriz, the great distance from their homeland. . . However, soon they settled in, formulated a work schedule, drew up plans for the school and presented all this for approval to the Church council – a group of local people whom the missionaries consulted for the most important matters. On the Feast of St. Joseph, just fifteen days after their arrival on Saipan, the school was opened with twelve Chamorro and twelve Carolinian girls. And the “Dream” continued……
…. to be continued….
