By Maria Eugenia Biord - La Voz Catolica
Photographer: MARIA BIORD | LVC
Sr. Anunciata Fernandez, 96, with her sewing machine, helping the sick and doing handicrafts. A member of the Oblate Sisters of Divine Providence in Miami Beach, Sister Anunciata is celebrating 75 years of religious life that began in her native Cuba.
MIAMI | Her life is a testimony of humility, dedication, resilience and compassion that began on November 6, 1928, in Havana, Cuba. At nearly 96 years of age and with the strength of her 75 years of religious life, Sister Anunciata Fernandez, shines as a beacon of faith and unconditional love for others under the charism of the Oblate Sisters of Divine Providence.
Her days are filled with prayer, community work and human warmth at St. Patrick’s Parish in Miami Beach, where she has lived for more than 20 years and where she attends Mass every day.
Along with Sister Claudina Sanz, she brings Communion to the sick and helps serve the needy. She also does handicrafts and sews “the white lace capes used for baptisms in the parish.”
Photographer: COURTESY
First communion of Sister Anunciata Fernandez in Cuba.
“The secret of life is to trust in the Lord and to understand that what we do is not us, but Him,” she explains with a peaceful smile and a calm gaze. For seven and a half decades, Sister Anunciata has witnessed transformations both inside and outside the Church. “Times change,” she said, recalling many memories, but she immediately stated that the key is “to let oneself be guided by God and to know how to understand others.”
She lost her mother at a very young age. With sadness in her eyes, she still remembers when Sister Josefita took her and her sister in front of the image of the Miraculous Virgin and told them: “She is now your new mother.”
Since then, she has always remained with the Oblate Sisters of Providence, a religious congregation founded in 1829 in Baltimore, Maryland, by Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange, with the main goal of providing Catholic education to girls who were excluded from the educational system because of their race or their financial situation.
The education program of the Oblate Sisters arrived in Cuba at the beginning of the 20th century and remained on the Caribbean Island until their forced departure in 1961, when the communist government expelled priests and nuns.
Photographer: COURTESY
Youth photo of Sister Anunciata Fernandez, of the Oblate Sisters of Divine Providence, who celebrated 75 years of religious life at her congregation's convent in Miami Beach.
Sister Anunciata attended the Oblate Sisters’ elementary school and attended the Escuela Hogar (boarding school). Her face lights up when she talks about entering the novitiate. “I arrived in Baltimore in 1947 and two years later I professed my vows.” She recalls with great emotion the date of August 15, 1949. “I was 19 years old and they gave us the habit, but with the white veil.”
She smiled as she remembered how challenging the language barrier was. Somewhere between “good morning” and the occasional word, she caught herself speaking English one day. “I didn’t even notice.”
“Hardship teaches you,” she said, reflecting on her ministry in Cuba, Baltimore, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and finally Miami. Her work has primarily been teaching catechism, but she has also taught sewing, knitting and handicrafts.
She has many memories from each place. “In Costa Rica, we helped with pastoral work during Holy Week.” In the Dominican Republic, she remembers working in the nursery and assisting teenage mothers: “I had to cook rice and beans and make bread pudding.”
“I also learned nursing,” she said, explaining that she worked as a nurse for 17 years at the Motherhouse in Baltimore. She learned how to dispense medication, bathe the sick, feed them and “give injections with Sister Barbara.” She remembers an older Sister who did not want to receive an injection, and when the Sister asked her where she had learned, she mischievously told her at the University of Havana. Then the Sister allowed her to take care of her.
Photographer: MARIA BIORD | LVC
Sister Anunciata Fernandez, a member of the Oblate Sisters of Divine Providence, celebrated 75 years of religious life that began in her native Cuba. At the age of 96, she assists the sick, does handicrafts and is part of St. Patrick’s Parish with the other sisters of her congregation.
She did her work with joy. “I made the sisters laugh and did tricks like throwing myself on the floor to make them laugh,” said Sister Anunciata, stressing that joy is very important, as is coexistence. “We are all the same,” adding immediately that “there will be things I won’t like about someone, but there will also be things about me that others won’t like. It’s about understanding others and treating them with love, knowing that God is present in everyone.”
When she talks about Cuba, her face reflects the pain. With a sigh she recounts the days leading up to her departure. “Leaving was my biggest challenge,” she said softly, remembering the pain of leaving the girls at the Oblate school. She also left her family and went 18 long years without being able to hug her sister and three brothers.
With the use of technology and her tablet, she keeps in touch with her beloved island. “I watch the Mass at the Shrine of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre which the Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba celebrates every Sunday,” she said, and her voice regained the emotion to reveal that she also watches videos, news and previews of the reality show Exatlón.
Sister Anunciata loves going to the Keys because she feels close to her homeland. She prays that the Lord will forgive her if she has done something wrong, thanks the community with her sisters and prays to the Virgin Mary “to protect us in these difficult times.” She said she would not change anything in her life. “I have been happy” and the secret is “to trust in God and let ourselves to be guided by Him.”
