The celebration was on April 2, 2016, at 10 am, in the Chapel of the Parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, at the Polytechnic Institute of Our Lady of Mercy, in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, Caribbean region of the Brazil-Caribbean Province.
The date is very significant! On April 2, 1869, 147 years ago, Mother Candida, then Juana Josefa, praying before the altar of the Holy Family in the Church of the Rosarillo, receives from the Virgin Mary the inspiration to found the Congregation of the Daughters of Jesus.
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The Eucharist was presided over by the Most Reverend Freddy Bret\u00f3n Mercedes, archbishop of the diocese and uncle of Johanna. Sister Sonia Regina Rosa, our provincial superior, received with joy and hope the votes pronounced by the neo-professed, Johanna and Massiel.\u201c… In the presence of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God … and of all those here present, I, …vow to Almighty God … perpetual chastity, poverty and obedience … and I vow to go to any part of the world … to teach the Catechism of the Christian doctrine and to perform all other tasks pertaining to the same Congregation.\u201d
In the entrance procession:
\u2022 The picture of the Rosarillo, before which Mother Candida heard what God told her: \u201cThis is my chosen one\u201d, for a work that seemed impossible were it not for the promise that \u201cthe work is not yours, but God\u2019s\u201d\u2026
\u2022 The Provincial Superior, accompanying Johanna and Massiel … who in this act represented the Superior General, and with her, symbolically, all the Daughters of Jesus in the world, the Church, as witness and support to the two neo-professed;
\u2022 The relatives of Johanna and Massiel … Every vocation is born within a family, the first church which we joined by baptism, where their values and life testimonies nourish the seed of vocation.
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A great assembly! More than 500 people came to the celebration: families, sisters, religious, educators of our apostolic works in the Caribbean and many friends witnessed the commitment of these two young women and prayed so that, in fidelity to the God who calls, they would continue keeping firm the \u201cYes\u201d that on this date they prophetically dared to say, in the way of following Jesus as his Daughters.Congratulations, Johanna and Massiel! We, the Daughters of Jesus, and the great family of St. Candida, embrace them with love and gratitude, always wanting to be in their lives, sisters, friends and colleagues, support and commitment in their fidelity to God’s will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"