REV. MOTHER MARY AURORA, SSpSAP - the first Filipina and fourth Superior General of the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters

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Mother M. Aurora, Josefina Marasigan, was born on 15 March 1923 in Manila.  Josefina had five brothers and sisters; she herself was the third youngest.  Her brother Vincent, 3 years older than herself entered the Jesuits.  From May 1946 Josefina began thinking of entering a contemplative order and she decided for the Cloistered Sisters in Baguio.  Having the approval of her parents on 6 November 1947 she bade farewell to her native place in order to live a life of seclusion and adoration.

She pronounced her first vow on 21 November 1950.  She served as a simple Sister in the convent in Baguio, from July 1959 first councilor in Baguio and from July 1965 superior in Cordoba.  At the General Chapter in 1969 she was elected to the highest office of the Congregation.  

Mother Mary Michael is the first Superior General, Mother Mary Ancilia , the second, and Mother Mary Ignatia, was the third.

Mother Mary Aurora requested the capitulars not to reelect her again due to advance age and health, so they elected Sister Mary Cecilia (Elvira Hocbo), a Filipina, as the fifth Superior General.  Sister M. Cecilia insisted not to address her as Mother but Sister instead.

 

 

 

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Mother Mary Elizabeth was elected Superior General in November 2015 as the 6th Superior General.

In July 2019, Mother Maria Magdalena, a German, was elected as the new Superior General(7th).  She was a former Superior of the Adoration Convents of Slovakia, Poland and Berlin.  She served as Procurator General in 2011.
 

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Mother M. Aurora was one of the national hero Marcelo H. Del Pilar’s granddaughters.  She served as the Mother General of the Pink Sisters for 34 years, leading the religious institute four times until reaching the age of 80. She was also a spiritual adviser to the late president Corazon Aquino during the People Power Revolution of 1986.
 

 

Mother Mary Aurora Passed Away

On November 10, 2016, our dear Mother Mary Aurora, 4th Superior General of our Congregation, went to her eternal reward at the age of 93. She had led our Congregation from 1969 to 2003 with wisdom and broadmindedness, with kindness blended with firmness, with selfless dedication and with a love of a mother who is solicitous for the welfare of her daughters.

A faithful daughter of the Church, she had guided and accompanied the congregation through the difficult and challenging times of the post-Vatican Council. She had expanded the congregation by founding and establishing new adoration convents in Asia, in South and North America, in Europe and in Africa. A true and faithful spiritual daughter of St. Arnold Janssen and Mother Mary Michael, she continued to promote the external and internal growth of our congregation.

Though already sickly and bedridden yet still possessing a clear mind, she put to good use her talent for languages: she worked in the Generalate as one of the translators. Her edifying example of patience and silence in the midst of sufferings and her wise advice and counsels in any situation were valuable to many who had known her and had lived close to her.

Grateful for her service to the Church and the Congregation, we accompanied her to her final resting place on earth. On November 16, 2016, her body was brought from Bad Driburg, Germany to the Motherhouse in Steyl, Netherlands to be interred in the convent cemetery there where our Co-foundress, Mother Mary Michael, and the two other Superior Generals before her were buried. Her family members who still traveled from other parts of the world, her many friends and benefactors far and near, and several SVD Priests and Brothers and SSpS Sisters attended her funeral. Fr. Patrick Casino MSP celebrated the Requiem Mass together with four other concelebrants.

It was remarkable that it was raining the whole morning. It was cloudy and cold. The mood of the day seems to go with the occasion. Until before 2:oo p.m. it was still raining that we were worried for the visitors. Besides, it will be wet and muddy in the cemetery. But after the Requiem Mass, it was a miracle. The rain had stopped, the ground was dry, and the sun was peeping cheerfully out of the clouds. It was a beautiful weather. Surely our Lord had granted this favor to Mother Mary Aurora and for the sake of all the guests.

As we pray for her eternal repose, we also ask her to pray for us. With her passing away, we have certainly gained a new intercessor in heaven.

 

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The convent in India is the first she founded during her term as Superior General.