Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bogota (Agenzia Fides) - The Institute of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart, a fruit of Salesian mission among lepers in the Colombian district of Agua de Dios was a response to a need for a vocation for a group of young women who felt called to serve the Lord but were unable to do so because they or one of their family suffered from leprosy. The Institute was founded in 1905 by Blessed Luigi Variara (1875-1923), at the time a young Salesian priest from Viarigi (Italy): the first community consisted of 6 Sisters, four suffered from leprosy and two were healthy daughters of fathers with leprosy. The first of these two sisters Oliva Sànchez was the first mother superior who died 100 years ago this year.
The Institute has flourished. At the beginning for about thirty years the sisters worked at the leper colony assisting and teaching the children with leprosy born of parents with leprosy. Later, as vocations flourished and many were not connected with the disease, the institute became a real missionary endeavour as the founder had wished. Today there are communities of Daughters of the Sacred Heart in 12 countries, including eight in Latin America, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, and since 22 December 2006 also in Peru. They are a present in Africa in Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon, and in Europe in Italy and Spain caring for the sick with the assistance of lay women with the same charisma. This year the institute has responded to the call to mission ad gentes with two new communities in Colombia, in Catatumbo, and in Brazil, in Corumbà. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 6/7/2007; righe 23, parole 305)
