(The following is the tribute of the Philippine Province of the Good Shepherd to Sr. Mary Estelle Antigua RGS, read by Sr. M. Corazon Demetillo during the Mass of the Resurrection on October 29, 2011.)
Thank you, everybody, for coming today to join us in bidding farewell to our dear Sr. Mary Estelle who left us for a better world last Saturday, October 27.
Sr. Estelle was born November 1st, 1923 and was baptized Leonor. She was the eldest of 8 children of Marcial Antigua and Paciencia Ycong. Her childhood was spent in Lapu-Lapu City where she completed her elementary schooling. High school and junior college were in Cebu then she transferred to Manila to finish BSE in the UP College of Education. Her college years were interrupted by the Second World War and one of her favorite stories while at the Maria Droste Infirmary was about catching the last boat to Cebu before the Japs bombed Manila.
After the war, she went back to UP to finish her degree, then became college instructor, first in UP Cebu, then in UP Diliman. At the same time, she went on for graduate studies, completing her MA in English in 1956.
She was nurturing a call to religious life amid the many duties and work as college instructor under the spiritual guidance of Fr. James Moran SJ. She was also influenced by the Catholic activities of the other faculty members and the UP Catholic Student Action under the dynamic leadership of Fr. John P Delaney SJ. She finally answered the call and entered the Good Shepherd convent in Los Angeles, California in 1959. A younger sister had preceded her to Los Angeles the year before but Sr. Estelle called her entering “just on time, God’s own good time.” Here we must pause to thank the Antigua family for giving not just two daughters to the Good Shepherd, but four! After Sr. Estelle, followed Sr. Marcia in 1963 and Sr. Tomasita in 1966. We guess Vic was wise enough to discover Gemma before the Shepherd hooked her also into the fold!
There are many more good and interesting things we could say about Sr. Estelle’s apostolate in the Good Shepherd. After all, she had the joy of celebrating her Golden Jubilee as an RGS in 2009,
Most of her work in the Congregation centered on education, not only as a teacher (and she was an excellent one) but also as principal, college dean, and librarian. She also served as community coordinator which we used to call local superior in the old days.
But we think the best tribute we can pay our dear Sr. Mary Estelle as we say goodbye today is to read her very own words from her vocation story. In it she allows us to have a glimpse of her deep spirituality and her joy in living the Good Shepherd charism for 53 years. So here’s Mary Estelle speaking to us:
God’s call for me has been unique in its ordinariness. It was not late; neither was my response delayed. Looking back, I realize that it was just “on time,” His own good time. He made me experience “the extravagance of His favor” before the actual call. Fr. James P. Moran SJ was His instrument in directing me in my impatience to follow Him as an RGS. I left for the novitiate at Los Angeles, California at such amazing speed, to the surprise of my friends and relatives, but not to my father with whom I had been faithfully sharing my feeling and plans about my decision through weekly letters. He respected my logical presentation and reasons. He had trained me indirectly to the responsible use of my freedom in many ways.
My family and big clan of relatives’ love for me is the seedbed of my understanding of sacrifice and generosity in loving. I am the oldest of eight children and a product of the public school from Grade I to graduate studies. My father placed us, my sister and I, in dormitories run by Catholic nuns who gave regular lessons in doctrine and the Bible. I developed as a professional in Diliman with the concepts of love and sacrifice deepening and broadening through the lived example of Fr. J. Delaney, SJ, the UPSCANS, and the Catholic faculty-residents in Diliman and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
What challenges and excites me now - are the on-going graces of getting-to-know Jesus, our model Shepherd so I can follow Him more closely and love Him deeply; above all - “being witness to the Joy which comes from being with the Lord,” especially to the young students in our classes, our teachers and alumnae.
Now she has achieved her desire—to follow her Jesus more closely and love him more deeply-- in joy.