Anything under the Sun
Mother Rosario (6)
VI. Virtuous Life
Mother Rosario was a soul full of charity. Her love for God was expressed clearly in her love for neighbors. Her love for the poor, the needy and the sick was outstanding. She herself would care for the sick Sister. If hospitalization was needed she would call her brother Mariano, a physician at St. Paul Hospital, and ordered the best food for the sick Sister. She treated her Sisters equally.
She was patient and understanding of the human frailties. On one occasion the Sisters reported to Mo. Rosario that they were being bothered by the snoring of a Sister when she was asleep. Mother Rosario said, “Do not be disturbed. She is serenading our Lord.” She was truly sympathetic of human weakness.
As she advanced in years she also advanced in the love for poverty. She was very observant of the vow of property. Her love for simple things and her detachment from material and worldly goods did not go unperceived. She used and took good care of her belongings and that of the community. She used darned and patched clothing, although she only had a few them. A scion of affluence, yet she modeled the religious poverty and simple life. Her simplicity enabled her to share what she had with the poor, sometimes even giving to the sick neighbors the food prepared for her. Vanity did not have a place in her heart. Despite her position and patrimony, she never boasted of them. She preferred the obscurity of the convent life. She was strict but had a listening heart to the needs and concerns of her Sisters and other people she encountered.
As a religious, she was an example in the observance of the vows, Holy rules and community life. She was strict in discipline but only because she herself lived it.
During the celebration of 25th death anniversary of Mother Rosario, the late Jaime Cardinal Sin, then Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Manila cited her, saying: “For me, Mother Rosario personifies the religious woman of today... a woman of God, a woman of prayer, a woman of continuous conversion, a sign of salvation, a witness of community and communion of life in the imitation of the Trinity, a daughter of the Church and a Faithful administrator of great heritage.”