Presenza FMA Mision de La Merced_ENG

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WALKING TOWARDS THE PANAMAZON SYNOD
“Amazon: new paths for the Church and for an integral ecology”
PRESENCE of the FMA in “LA MERCED”
Saint Rose of Lima Province
PERÙ
State primary, elementary, middle, and high schools – Oratory on the outskirts – Catechesis – ADMA –
Past Pupils Union – Salesian Cooperators.
The presence of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in La Merced, Peru goes back to
1917. A request was sent by the President of the Republic, Mr. José Pardo and by the Bishop and
Apostolic Vicar of San Ramón, Msgr. Irazola to collaborate in the areas of health and instruction.
The missionary expedition was made up of: Sr. Teresa Taparello, Sr. Honoria O’toole, Sr. Maria
Luisa Hermosa. They were accompanied by the Superior, Sr. Decima Roca and Sr. Hortensia Muga.
One year after the foundation, Sr. Honoria O’Toole contracted yellow fever which forced her to
leave the mission. Sr. Teresita Priswerk arrived to replace her. She was a sister of heroic charity,
always standing beside the sick. She spent days and nights like a real mother, offering relief and
comfort to everyone. She was soon struck with a terrible malaria that she sought to hide at its first
manifestations so that she would not be transferred someplace else. A few days before dying she
said to Sr. Josefina Recagno who was working with her, “I want to die close to my dear ‘chunchos’
(as she affectionately called her patients), and like them, to be buried beside the river under the
shade of the palms”… She flew like an angel to Heaven on the vigil of the feast of the Immaculate
Conception. To the great wonderment of everyone, after the death of this dear sister, the scourge of
yellow fever ceased completely and for many years, the hospital of La Merced did not register even
one case of this sickness, which before had provoked so much illness in the valley of Chanchamayo.
The Lord accepted the heroic sacrifice of this generous sister. After her death, the mission began to
prosper so much that it was incredible. This land is also blessed by the body of Sr. Hortensia Muga,
who is considered a saint by the colonies and is called, ‘the mother of the people’.
Presence of the Sisters ... A journey toward Heaven.
At La Merced there was a prison for very dangerous criminals, called SEPA.
One day three policemen arrived at the
hospital escorting a gravely wounded criminal.
Those who saw him ran away because his face was
really malevolent.
A nurse Sister (unfortunately the Cronaca
does not mention the name of this holy woman!)
took care of him with much gentleness. In spite of
the surgery, there was no hope for this man’s life
who was more or less 40 years old. The sister accompanied him moment by moment, speaking to
him of God’s love, of the Father who always forgives.

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After two days of agony, the criminal confessed to the sister that he had killed his wife, his
mother-in-law, and his sister-in-law and had buried them under the kitchen… crying, he asked for a
priest to reconcile himself with God. After receiving forgiveness, he received the Eucharist and died
embracing a crucifix.
In 1942, the Kindergarten was opened as a work
connected to Mary Help of Christians School. From then, it
also functioned as a pre-professional school for women
where they were offered technical instruction, besides the
common primary school courses.
Today the primary
school has 175 boys
and girls and the
school has 220 girls
at the primary level
and 204 at the
secondary level.
Since 1975, the community of Pampa Michi
welcomes the Sisters with affection and gratitude,
because they transmitted the faith to them and still
today are involved in catechesis and in
accompanying the people to participate in the
sacraments.
Today at Pampa Michi, the sisters work with about 125
indigenes, a total of 42 families. The indigenes have stands or
kiosks where they sell handcrafted items of the ‘campas’, their
ethnic group. The profit is shared among all the participants.
The Provincial, Mother Angélica Sorbone,
Sr. Maria Bertolo and Sr. María Fernández
with a Campa family in the territory of
Pampa Michi, at the beginning of FMA
presence.
Conversing with Nuria (daughter of the deceased head of the Campas Capurro ethnic group)
Sr. Eliana Velapatiño (at right), Animator of the La
Merced Community, with Sr. Catalina Campoverde and Sr.
Doris Gonzales, Province coordinators for the Missions Sector,
met to speak with some indigenes women. Among them there
was Nuria.

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We are all Catholic because the “WIND” (the Holy Spirit) wants this...
Nuria tells us that, one time many years ago, people of a religious sect
arrived, and without asking permission, installed their well-equipped hut with
benches, speakers, microphones ... etc. Then they invited all the indigenes to
participate in their celebration. Suddenly, without knowing how, a very strong
wind formed and blew away even the loud speakers. From that moment the sect
moved away from their territory. Nuria concluded: "We belong to Mary Help of
Christians".
On March 24, the ‘campería’ of Pampa Michi was honored
for the first time in its history by the presence of the
Apostolic Nuncio in the person of Msgr. Nicola Girasoli
who celebrated the Eucharist and blessed the new temple
built thanks to the collaboration of the Belgian Church in
the person of Deacon Beltran, who for three years was
working for the evangelization of the territory.
We must thank the Lord, our dear Mother Mary Help of
Christians, Sr. Teresita Priswerk, and Sr. Hortensia Muga and
the many missionary Sisters of the heart who with their life
were able to lay solid foundations of love in the souls of this
group of natives belonging to our Peruvian jungle.
Sr. Doris Gonzales collaborated
July 2019