Final profession of Sister Juliet Mantos TC

Last Saturday, 25 July, Sr Juliet Mantos TC (left in photo with Sr Maria Elena S. Echavarren TC) made her final profession as a member of the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family in Cagayan de Oro City, located in northern Mindanao.

As Sister Juliet offered her life for ever to God two of her companions, Sr Neri Rama TC and Sr Wennie Puyco TC, shower petals on her in St Augustine Metropolitan Cathedral.

Sister Juliet makes her vows in the presence of Sr Maria Elena, the superior of the Vice Province that includes the Philippines along with a community in India and another in Korea. Sister Elena is a former Superior General of the congregation and is from Spain. Also in the phots is Sr Luz Maria Buitrago from Colombia.

Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma SJ of Cagayan de Oro places the ring on Sister Juliet's finger.

The Sisters sing their Congregational Hymn during the ceremony.

Sister Juliet with her parents and other members of her family after Mass.

Taken on 8 February at Mater Dolorosa Formation House, Talisay City, Negros Occidental after the first profession of Sr Antonieta Napone TC . She is the shortest Sister in the middle row and, at 57, became the oldest Filipino Sister. She is an inspiration to the young women, some of them from China, preparing to follow in her footsteps and those of Sister Juliet.

God has been blessing the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters abundantly since they came to the Philippines in 1982.

I had my first assignment in the Philippines, even if only for Holy Week in 1972 while I was still studying the Cebuano language in Ozamiz City, in St Augustine's Cathedral. Archbishop Patrick Cronin, a Columban, was the second archbishop, serving from 1970 until 1988. For 15 years before going to Cagayan de Oro he had been the first bishop of Ozamiz. He was one of the first batch of Columbans to go to Mindanao in 1938.

Archbishop Cronin was truly loved by priests, religious and people. He spent the years of the Second World War in the mountains, sharing the hardships of the people and had a wonderful memory for names.

When I arrived in the Philippines in 1971 the Columbans had quite a few parishes in the archdiocese, most of them taken over from the Jesuits, as far as I know, in the early 1950s. We have only one parish now, in the city itself.

Thanks to Sr Alma Alovera TC for the photos.