SHE SPOKE ENCOURAGING OTHERS

A feature of Mother Felix that caught my attention was the fact that she always encouraged others. I believe that is truly the look of mercy: when you never feel judged or corrected, you never feel unpleasantness from the other … Well that’s how Mother Felix was. Particularly with the girls, with the young women: she always spoke with encouragement, which is characteristic of the Holy Spirit. There was never anything that demonstrated the intent to correct, a dislike or inner judgment. What she did was to highlighting the virtue contrary to the defect she wanted to correct; she educated by encouraging, and she corrected by encouraging, and she taught by encouraging. I always thought, when this happened that the Holy Spirit is Comforting, and it helped me a great deal to understand the Holy Spirit as an Encourager, a Comforter.

D. Antonio Cano de Santayana Ortega, presbyter

AFFECTIONATE WITH THE FAMILIES

I remember that many times, when we went to the Rosalar, Mother María Félix would come out to greet us and spend some time talking to us. From all of these times, I have keep in my memory several things:

• She was never in a hurry to end the conversation, even if the bell rang, she continued as if what she was doing was the most important thing she had at that moment.
• She always listened as if we were the most important people in the world and those who could provide her with the best information on the subject we were discussing, always providing us with her full attention without any interruptions.
• When it was time to leave there was no way of saying goodbye to her inside the Rosalar, she always insisted on accompanying us outside, to the gate, regardless of how cold it was. She went outside and waited until we started the car and started to distance ourselves from the Rosalar. Which personally worried me a lot, because I always thought she was going to catch a cold.
• As it can be deduced from the previous points, she was extremely delicate and considerate, not common traits in today’s world.

D. Fernando Vez Sixte, father of a religious

HER CONCERN, OTHER PEOPLE: DO NOT SUFFER

Sometimes the things related to the services and the suppliers in general, did not happen with the haste and in the way that we all wanted. Mother Felix, who was always aware of what was going on, during the 11 years I knew her, was never disappointed by anything. She downplayed everything, according to her none of that was significant, all of that had a solution, on the following day or the next everything would be resolved, and she always, always, always … repeated the same phrase to me, possibly the phrase that I heard her say the most: “do not suffer”.

Mr. Pedro Mesa, Industrial Technical Engineer, responsible for the maintenance of the Rosalar facilities.

A LOVE THAT LED TO GOD: “BE HOLY”

I carry it in my breviary. It is a photograph of the image of the Heart of Jesus in mosaic that decorates the entrance of the main house of the Religious of the Company of the Savior at El Rosalar (Madrid). It was September 9, 1989, only two months after my ordination and Mother Felix gave me this simple gift. I, imagining what it would mean in the future to have something “personal” that belonged to this holy woman, I asked for her to sign it for me. She did not sign her name, instead she wrote what I suspect was the motto she followed her entire life: “Be holy.” That was her signature. I keep this as a true relic. Her message is not just the spiritual advice from someone who knows you, loves you, and wants the best for you, it is the spiritual testament Mother Felix left to so many people. When I received the news of her passing, I opened my breviary and there she was. “Be holy,” I read again, and the sadness of the news became a source of inner joy when I remembered the life of this humble Religious … a constant invitation to holiness. And I started to pray … Curiously, and I say curiously because I myself was surprised, I instinctively started praying to her. Since then, I have asked God the Father for many things through her intercession and I continue to do so amid the daily chores of my priestly life. And I feel that her intercession is powerful and effective … but also discreet, non-intrusive, subtle… the same way her life on earth was.

D. José Miguel González Martín, pbro.

THE MERIT OF THE SECULAR LIFE

I met Mother Felix in 1949 when, at the age of 10, I entered the recently inaugurated Mater Salvatoris School in Lleida. My relationship with her, although discontinuous, lasted until her death. I remember her as a very intelligent, serene and balanced person, as well as intensely kind. My contact with her helped me in my personal life; simply visiting her filled me with happiness and hope. She always showed sympathy towards secular life alluding to the merit in moving forward, maintaining a family and being honest. I was always struck by her serenity and joy in life. When I asked her how she could be so optimistic, she replied that the life of a Religious was very simple, simpler that secular life, that prayer comforted her and that she left matters in God’s hands that were later resolved. She gave vital importance to prayer.

Mrs. Beatriz Camino Germá, former student of the School in Lleida

ALL MINE IS YOURS

Mother’s generosity and little attachment to material things always pleased me about her. I remember that once my parents’ house was broken into and we had to stay at school until very late. The mothers prepared snack and dinner for us. I was very worried because she was the oldest and I didn’t know where my three brothers and I would sleep. Finally, at nine thirty at night my parents came to pick us up. Shortly after this Mother arrived at school and I told her what had happened to us. That day she told me that if she ever had to sleep at school she could stay at her house, because her house was also my house. After giving her a big hug and knowing that something of hers was also mine, I asked her to tell the other nuns at school because they never let us go up to that area. I was only 9 or 10 years old and that day I understood how important others were to her and that material things do not belong to those who have them but to those who need them.

Marianina Alfonso, former student and teacher at the College of Caracas

APOSTLES, DOING WHATEVER IT TAKES

She constantly transmitted to us her eagerness for spiritual apostolate and always made the most of the present moment in order to do good. In Cirajas (Valladolid) there was a small colony of workers who were in charge of the lands of the Jesuits. She sent us there, two Novices, to give Catechism and to teach women some sewing and childcare. The important thing was to help them and attend them in case they needed something, and above all to speak to them about God. I think it was during that time that she made us understand how important it those things that are close to us and that our apostolate is where God has placed us, doing whatever it takes.

M. Concepción Sagüillo,CS

WHAT I WANT IS TO SAVE THEM ALL

She was very happy to know the fruit of the work of the Company. Many times her eyes filled with tears: “we, the old, only have our hearts left …” The unspeakable the offenses suffered by God our Lord made her suffer tremendously. I believe that one of her greatest sufferings in the last years was to see how young people moved away from God in order to throw themselves unconsciously into a life of sin. Many times, I talked to her about this, and she told me that the daughters of the Company should always be concerned about what the Heart of the Savior went through: redeeming anxieties … She transmitted this even while joking.

It is well known that once, when she became aware that many girls in our school began to lose themselves to a life of impurity because of the nightlife in bad environments, she hinted, with a bit of joke but also some truth that we should open a club so that young people could have healthy fun. “Because young people need to have fun”. When we started laughing and tried to make her see that her idea was a bit bizarre, she suddenly became serious, and with tears in her eyes told us: “What I want is to save them all, and if for that we have to open discotheques, the so be it…”

M. Cristina Parejo, CS

FROM THE REARGUARD

When we went on school retreats with the students, we would always stop by her office to say goodbye and hear her counsels. She asked us how many girls were going, their age, how they were …, and then she told us that she was going to pray that we would be the transparency of God, so that the girls would see Jesus Christ in us and so that we would have a great deal of patience with them, because they are girls! When we came back, she also liked for us to stop by and tell her how it had been and she really enjoyed hearing how the girls had experienced God.

M. Marta Tiagonce, CS

VOCATIONS: FOR GOD

On several occasions, I spoke to her about girls who had shown signs of vocation, or who were already on their way to the vocation of special consecration to the Lord. She never declared a special interest for them to join the Company of the Savior, her main interest was the girls’ own good, to help them to get to know and love Jesus Christ. Therefore, her look was not a look of interest, it was an apostolic look. And with her it was always this way. It is not that I saw her manifest herself like that once or twice; it was her natural way of being, as if it was part of an acquired habit. One could tell that she lived like that spontaneously, without having to force herself. I never noticed anything forced in her; everything was natural, acquired, a whole life that made her the way she was.

D. Antonio Cano de Santayana Ortega, pbro.

IF IT IS GOD’S WORK, HE WILL GIVE THE MEANS

I always saw the Mother as a very intelligent person, serene, transparent, talkative, educated, with a spirituality that was very deep, but also very simple. When talking about the Company of the Savior, about its relationships, its projects, its difficulties, etc. she always did it with absolute objectivity, as if it was a work that did not touch her directly. When speaking of her future projects, especially of schools, she manifested absolute confidence that the means –that were not available then – would become available in the right time. She spoke of that without not boasting providentially, but as if, it was the most natural thing in the world. Her way of speaking used to express this idea: If it is the work of God, He will give the means to achieve it.

Card. Urbano Navarrete Cortés, SJ

“YOU WILL SEE HOW MANY STUDENTS WILL COME!”

In 1957 the Mater Salvatoris School of Caracas (Venezuela) was founded, the first institution of the Company of the Savior in American lands. M. Felix, as Superior General, encouraged and accompanied with her presence the first steps of the school.

As soon as the boat arrived, we began to prepare the school year. M. Aige and I were distributing propaganda in the neighborhood. The name of the school was: “Children School Mater Salvatoris”. The first visits began. The Mother, with the sympathy that characterized her, would have a warm conversation with the families until one of them asked about the price. Immediately the Mother would say: “Look, since she is one of our first registrations, the girl will be a guest of honor”. Those of us who heard how she convinced the families to accept the offer, we were surprised. M. Aige with her common sense asked the Mother: “But how are we going to live if the students do not pay?” And Mother Felix would answer like a naughty girl: “You’ll see… many students will come”. And there would be laughter and no strains. M. Aige would give up and trust that Mother Felix was a prophet, and so it was. We finished that first school year with 25 students and we had to find a new and bigger house. We ended up with more than a hundred students and the we kept growing until we moved to the Quinta Gladys, which was the first of the new Quintas: Sacromonte, Lola, Bellita … that around Gladys formed a small colony, with Gladys’ garden in the middle.

M. Concepción Sagüillo, CS

LAME SAINTS, BUT SUPPORTED ON CHRIST

The Mother trusted God also spiritually. She knew how to make comparisons when talking about the spiritual life and she did it a lot. Talking about a defect, she said that it was like being lame and that, of course, no one likes being lame, but we don’t have to want to be beautiful and perfect saints without defects, we have to accept that we are lame. And, being lame, that causes us to fall from time to time. So, the solution is a good crutch on which we lean so as not to fall. This crutch is Jesus. We must always be supported by Jesus Christ.

M. Pilar Lorente, CS

SHE DID NOT WANT TO BE RE-ELECTED: I AM JUST THE POSTMAN

Despite having unquestionable leadership in the Company and knowing that many were willing to present her candidacy at the General Chapter of 1971, where she would most likely win, as the Founder, she did everything she could for them not to present it. After the election and until the year of her death, thirty years later, her obedience and deference to the two Superiors General who succeeded her (one of whom was a former student at the school in Madrid and who met Mother Felix at the age of ten) stood out. She always avoided notoriety, and when she was introduced as the Company’s Founder she used to say: “I’m like the postman who delivers a letter, and how important is the postman?”

M. María Cruz Vaquero, CS

LET’S SEE IF I LEARN

I was always impressed by her humility, which had nothing to do with shyness. For the first time, I had the opportunity to live with a person full of human qualities and who, nevertheless, was very aware of her own misery before God. Many times she told us the anecdote about Beaudenom’s book, A Path of Humility: how her spiritual director recommended it to her, and when she returned it, saying that she liked it very much, that priest told her to read it again, because she had learned nothing: it was not about reading it, it was about living it…

Once I asked Mother Felix if, at ninety-three, she had already learned what humility was. “Just a little bit,” she replied, with a smile. But I keep reading that little book from time to time, to see if I learn a little more… I think that’s why I’ve reached eighty, because it takes me a long time to learn. I, then, laughed: “Mother, but you’re already ninety!” “Really? Can you imagine that, my daughter, I’m clumsier than I thought?”

M. Cristina Parejo, CS

«WE DO NOT WANT TO SEE IT BEING TALKED ABOUT»

On March 7, 1995 I received a letter from the Director of the Dizionario degli Instituti di Perfezione, published by Edizioni Paoline (Rome, 1985). He sent a brief message from the founder of the Company of the Savior, for a new edition of the work, so that we could return the proof duly corrected and updated. When I showed the letter to M. Félix, she visibly expressed her displeasure; It was her usual reaction, whenever someone thought to mention her role as its founder. Shortly after, she brought me a response written by herself. I signed it, just so as not to upset her: “Nothing can be published about this founder because she is still alive and we do not like to see anyone talking about her.” As expected, and to our great joy, her objections were ignored in Rome.

M. Amelia Lora-Tamayo, CS

GOD HAD MADE HER SMALL AND HUMBLE

The impression that Rosalar and the Compañía del Salvador made on me was extraordinary. There you can breathe an atmosphere of faith, hope, prayer, apostolic ardor, love for the Church… that seemed unprecedented to me. The gratitude and esteem I have for Mother Félix began with that first meeting. To whom does the Church owe all this? She asked me. One of the nuns explained to me the career of Mother Felix, her veneration for Saint Ignatius and her desire to imitate her. I imagined her then as an exceptional woman, with frenetic activity and human leadership, a “conqueror” of wills, in the style of Joan of Arc… but the Mother Félix that I met later was far from being all of that. The times I visited the Rosalar, the Mother Félix came out to meet us to greet us with admirable humility. She took the priests’ hands, and with a respect full of veneration she showed interest in the apostolic occupations of these priests, without stopping to tell of her own occupations and concerns. This first aspect of her personality caught my attention powerfully: she was a nun whom the Lord had made small and humble. She was very delicate in her treatment and extremely discreet: she did not arrive the first, nor necessarily the last, she appeared in a hallway, greeted with modesty and cordial affection, she did not lavish herself with long goodbyes, and she always had a smile for everyone.

D. Manuel Vargas, Cano de Santayana, pbro.

LOVE FOR THE POPE

Any “weaknesses”? Her love for the Pope. I remember as if it were yesterday her last visit to Rome on June 2000, and the moment she received the Holy Communion from the Holy Father, immortalized in the photograph that we all know. I am a personal witness to the doubts that invaded her noble spirit in the days before that moment. “I’m not worthy,” she hissed almost obsessively with redness in her eyes and a somewhat displeased face. In the end, the only argument that we could exert to convince her was obedience. I think I remember her saying something like “It’s okay … I’ll go, in obedience to my Superior.” Her fidelity to the will of God was incarnated in her obedience to the hierarchy and the Magisterium of the Church. I also remember being surprised by the speed and depth with which she read each encyclical, exhortation, letter, speech or intervention of the Holy Father.

D. José Miguel González Martín, pbro.

HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, HOLY

I met Mother Felix, being a seminarian, when I went to a celebration of Mass. I was greeting some of the nuns, when the elevator opened and Mother Felix appeared accompanied by others. They introduced me saying that I was a future priest. As soon as she heard that, she grabbed my hand tightly clapping firmly with her other hand on to mine, while she repeated one word: “Holy, holy, holy, holy!” She said it a few times and ended up kissing my hand. I was so surprised I didn’t know how to react, and she continued to greet other people. That image has remained deeply engraved in my memory. I was so impressed by her poise, her conviction and the firmness of her words. It implied that everything else was superfluous, and that the only important thing in a priest of Jesus Christ was the sanctity of life. Something that she radiated with her presence.

D. Javier Siegrist Ridruejo, pbro.

JOY FOR THE CONFIRMATION OF THE CHURCH

In June 2000 I was invited to give a mini-course on ecclesiology to the religious in their formation period: postulants, novices, juniors. Like one more, almost like a Saint Ignatius with his thirty years learning Latin, but she with a few years older, the Mother also appeared to me sitting at a desk, always eager to learn. When at a certain point I spoke of pontifical infallibility I alluded to the fact, sometimes little known, that this is not exercised only in the solemn proclamation of a dogma of faith. There are also other occasions, I added, such as canonizations or approvals of Constitutions of religious Congregations in which this prerogative is put into action. That brought great comfort to Mother Felix. It was not she, but the judgment of the Church, that guaranteed that the Constitutions were a path whose faithful living led to secure holiness. And the Mother Church had sealed with her authority the itinerary carried out until then.

D. Pablo Cervera Barranco, pbro.

LOVE TO PRIESTS

After my priestly ordination, I went one day to celebrate Holy Mass at the Rosalar. I had a lot to thank God for, and I also wanted to thank the Mothers of the Company for their prayers and attention during the Seminary years. That time I was dressed in a cassock. Although I was very embarrassed to appear like this, I was so excited! It was the day of Saint Stanislaus of Kostka. As on previous occasions, Mother Félix came to greet us in the Rosalar room. She saw us, and I seem to remember that she was visibly moved… Even though I was wearing a cassock and had been ordained, I was the same young man as a few weeks before (that’s what I thought). But she took my hands, and kissed them with a love and faith that was obvious to everyone. That moved me: I don’t remember having seen such faith in the priesthood of Jesus Christ as that of Mother Felix. Although I have felt very loved by her (I don’t know how to explain very well why) that gesture was not only of personal affection: it was love for the Church and its ministers, it was humbly recognizing Christ the priest under that poor appearance.

D. Manuel Vargas Cano de Santayana, pbro.

FOR HER, IT WAS, ABOVE ALL, SAINT IGNATIUS

Oh, how much love Mother Felix had for Saint Ignatius! Many times, while explaining spiritual matters, she mentioned him in order to learn from his teachings, and it was funny how she intoned it: by naming him, out of pure devotion, she put more emphasis on the “Saint” than on the “na” of Ignatius. On the other hand, she did not bear to be reminded of the Saint’s youth, in which he himself confessed he was “a soldier torn and vain”. When a school chaplain reminded her of that jokingly, she threatened him, also jokingly, with her cane since she did not want to hear a word of it. For her, it was above all SAINT Ignatius.

M. Pilar Lorente, CS

SHE ASKED FOR HIS BLESSING

Sometimes, while passing in front of the image of Saint Ignatius, she would look at him and cross herself. One day she told me that she asked for his blessing.

M. Paula Martínez, CS

RESOLVED: THE CHICKS

In the month of May 1951, the novitiate moved from Barcelona to Madrid. We made the trip by train with Mother Felix and Aige. We travelled second class, and we occupied a train coach. We were taking some chicks that the Mothers had bought in order to have a small hen house in Madrid. The chicks were in a large cardboard box. Mother Felix wanted to feed them and so she put on an apron and placed the chicks on top of her skirt. While she was doing that there was a knock on the door, the ticket collector entered and the Mother folded the tip of her apron on the chicks, covering them. Were we allowed or not to bring chicks in second? The fact is that the ticket collector looked very surprised at the Mother’s skirt because “she was wriggling”, although the chicks did not make any noise. He did not say anything, but when he left, there was broad laughter, and the first to laugh was Mother Felix.

M. Pilar Basallo, CS

GENEROUS TO THE POINT OF EXAGGERATION

It is true that she was generous to the point of exaggeration. I remember that one of the postal workers that used to come by the house, always asked for “that nice older nun” when he came by, knowing that seeing her meant that he would get an incredible tip. On another occasion, she gave some builders twenty-five thousand pesetas each just to drive a nail into the wall! When Mother Lora tried to hold her back, she said: “Whatever you want, my daughter. But we have never failed to give, and it will be bad for the Company if we seek our own security before the needs of others. We have gone through difficult times and economic hardships, but we have never failed to give…”

After one of her operations, she invited all of the doctors and nurses from the Puerta de Hierro Clinic to come and have a snack at our home in order to thank them for their attention.

M. Cristina Parejo, CS

HE ALWAYS BROUGHT ME SOMETHING NEW

In the approximately 15 years that I enjoyed her friendship, like many others, I always considered Mother Félix as someone who always brought me something new. Her simple and intelligent words never left me indifferent. Her wise advice, her bold intuitions revealed the deep spiritual life of this woman. And when I say spiritual life I am saying union with Christ. Doing the Father’s will was her obsession… like Christ. Both came into the world to do the will of the Father. She was generous like no one else and with an iron will, she confidently gave herself to Divine Providence at every moment and, without expressly telling you anything because she was extremely respectful and delicate, she invited you to trust in the same way. I never heard a personal criticism of anyone nor did I hear disproportionate praise. She was a balanced woman who knew how to listen as if she only had to listen to you and speak to you sweetly as if she had nothing else to do during the day. She never looked at her watch… I don’t even remember if she had a watch.

Mr. José Miguel González Martín, pbro.

BIG IN THE SMALL

She was magnanimous, in desires and deeds, determined and daring for anything that was for the greater glory of God (and she even proposed unimaginable things, such as a healthy disco for our young people). She was spirited about everything, but at the same time serene. Her words were sometimes accompanied by a serious, attentive and deep look; others, a happy and almost mischievous look that made us laugh. In her advice she was wise, prudent and broad-minded; in its correction, it is at once firm and delicate, sharp and gentle, patient, but without allowing a trace of any defect that could be a detriment to the glory of God. With everyone, with those inside and with those outside, she was tremendously welcoming, very generous to the point of shocking, kind, self-sacrificing, deeply motherly, self-sacrificing and a lover of self-denial. She had a giant heart that loved everyone with overflowing affection, and above all, a humble heart and a deeply simple soul. I don’t know why I speak in the past tense, because he has all this now, and much more, participating more fully in the love of God and all his virtues.

M. Pilar Lorente, CS

I HAD SOMETHING SPECIAL

I met Mother María Félix when I was five years old when I entered the Mater Salvatoris school as a student. Between the ages of five and eight, when I was at school, I saw her with some regularity. Then only when I came to Lleida in the company of my father’s sister, mother Carmen Aige, whom we were going to visit. They were both complementary, the “alter ego” of each other, my aunt was pure energy, intelligence practice; I remember her frank laughter while her black eyes penetrated you, understood you and looked at you with affection. Mother Mary…was different, different from anyone she had ever known. Sitting in front of her, I perceived something of a spiritual nature, difficult to define, that communicated a feeling of peace that covered you like a winter blanket.

My brothers and I commented – it remains in their memory – that one day Mother Mary would be elevated to the altars by the Church.

Mr. Francisco Aige, nephew of M. Carmen Aige

APHASIA

It was the morning of March 12, 1965: the Mother woke up unable to speak. In the face of our concern, she tried to cheer us up with her smile. She was diagnosed with aphasia and the neurologist said that possibly some brain cells had died. She would have to create a new language center in her brain and that was almost impossible. This discouraged us, but the doctors didn’t know the Mother’s disposition. She was aware of what was going on and tried to communicate with us in any way she could. When we understood her, she celebrated it with joy.

The recovery must have been a true martyrdom for her, but she never let pessimism overcome her. The doctors were surprised by the results and the speech therapist was deeply impressed by the Mother’s personality. He had not had any patient who managed a recovery like that. The most significant aspects of her illness were her tenacity, will, work and acceptance. She accepted her illness with joy and even with a sense of humor. She told us that sometimes God sends us gifts that don’t look or feel like gifts, but that they really are. Those of us, who were lucky enough to be by her side, trying to help her, felt her gratitude, tenderness and affection and her conviction that God was with her.

M. Concepción Sagüillo,CS

A 5KG LIPOMA!

I was impressed by how quietly she suffered with the huge lump that grew on her left thigh. The Mother had a big lump of fat on her thigh, which was operated on several times, but which came out each time more bulging. However, she never complained, and it must have hurt her a lot. When you asked her about it, she would touch it and smile.

Myriam Cámara, Architect

Once again, when I asked her about the lipoma and the discomfort that it must cause her, the Mother answered: “Since I’m not much of a penitent, God gave me this, so that I have something to offer Him “.

M. Amelia Lora-Tamayo, Superiora General de la Compañía del Salvador

SPEECHLESS

I wish to underline the impression it made on me the only time I saw the Mother after she had the thrombosis. She was at the Aravaca School. I think it wasn’t long ago that she had had the serious mishap. But she was already living a normal life and we talked for a long time in the hall. M. Aige was present. M. Félix spoke with notable difficulty. Her words did not always obey what she wanted to say. Well, she impressed me with the extraordinary serenity that her face reflected and her way of expressing herself, without particularly pondering what had happened. When not a word came to him, without being the least bit impatient, with great self-control, he even outlined a serene smile, a reflection of the deep peace of his soul and an expression that the cross – very heavy and with serious consequences for his apostolate – It was totally accepted. Many years have passed since this visit and I remember it as if it were yesterday. Such was the impression she made on me of peace, self-control, Christian strength, total acceptance of the will of God, which reflected the entire attitude of the Mother in the face of the hard trial she was going through.

Card Urbano Navarrete Cortés, SJ

FRATERNAL CHARITY: MATTRESSES AND ROPES

She urged us to be charitable to one another; she said that we had to be like a “mattress” to face the unpleasant things that others told us. If someone throws a ball on a mattress, it does not bounce, nor does it make any noise, it just falls silently and nothing happens … She also said that we had to be like a three-strand rope, very tightly together, the three-strand rope is very strong, it’s very difficult to break it. Let everyone know, and especially our own, that we have their backs well covered.

M. Pilar Basallo, CS

HER CORRECTIONS

Many times when she corrected us for small things she asked us for forgiveness, since she was under the impression that she was always upsetting us. She would say something like: “this old lady is already spoiling everything … But what I want is for you to be perfect!”

On one occasion, talking about this, she said that when someone left her office crying, she would stay in the office and cry. Certainly, it must have been very hard for her to correct others, but she did it without hesitation if she saw that it was for the Glory of God.

M. Pilar Lorente, CS

THE PEARL OF MOST VALUE

When I asked to join the Company, I first met with M. Aige, who asked me about my vocation and then M. Félix came down. Among the things she told me, she told me that religious life was like the valuable pearl that that merchant found. That he gave everything to get her. There are white pearls that are beautiful and the most common in color, but there were other, rarer black pearls. These, due to their scarcity, were not so common, but they were of great value, much more than the white ones. Thus in the days of religious life there were going to be black and white pearls. It seems to me that he perceived that I did not understand the matter very well and he told me: “I’m going to give you another comparison. “Oil in Venezuela is black gold, its color and other characteristics are not attractive, but we cannot be carried away only by impression or disgust.” She again stressed to me the meaning of dark or difficult moments.

It seemed to me at that time that this was not very inspiring for someone who was asking to enter religious life. However, I deeply appreciate the sincerity and clarity of his words, his honesty and above all for teaching me to value and offer what can humanly cost the most as valuable in the eyes of God. I always remember how graphic black pearls and oil are and I can’t help but smile as I agree with him.

M. Emma Reyna, C.S.

HE WANTED TO GO TO HEAVEN TO DO MORE FOR THE COMPANY

After Midnight Mass, Christmas 2000, I accompanied her out; It was very cold and I told her about it, but she answered me: no, daughter, but if I got cold and God took me, from heaven I could do more for the Company. This stuck in my mind since he died the following month and also because I considered it a sign of great humility.

Mrs. Elena Bigeriego, mother of a nun