Sending off Sr. Imma from this place, from these hills, among the poor, God’s little children

Sr. M. Immaculata Antigua RGS was laid to rest in Cebu City on September 29, feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.

Sr. Immaculata passed on to eternal life on September 26, she was 85 years old.

The interment at the Queen City Garden was preceded by a concelebrated Mass in Banawa Hills.

Sr. Milagros Santos RGS, local leader of Villa Maria Community of Good Shepherd Sisters in Cebu City said, Sr. Imma, as Sr. Immaculata  was fondly called, had her mission assignments in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao which were in Quezon City, Buhi, Camarines Sur, Manila, Lantapan, Bukidnon, Batangas City and in Banawa Hills, Cebu City.

We express our heartfelt THANKS to SR. MARY IMMACULATA ANTIGUA, R.G.S. For the following SAINTHOOD PROJECTS that she initiated for the GOOD of BANAWA PEOPLE  The building of ALLIANCE of TWO HEARTS PARISH CHURCH The building of BANAWA HEALTH CLINIC Giving NAMES of ALL SITIOS of BANAWA Sitio Lomboy Sitio Sambag Sitio Caimito Sitio Tambis Sitio Kawayanan Sitio Santa Ana Sitio San Remedios Sitio Riverside Sitio Panagdait, etc. FEEDING PROGRAMS for MALNOURISHED CHILDREN LIVELIHHOD PROJECTS Basket Weaving Sewing Shellcraft, etc. Creation of the following Clubs Mother Club/Homemakers Club Youth Club/4-H Club Dramatics Club Sports Club Banawa Community Club Nutrition, etc. FORMATION of BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES Bible Study Prayer meetings Dawn Rosary, etc. SPECIAL PROGRAM for OUT-OF-SCHOOL YOUTH Card Making Baking (Angel Cookies) Cooking/Catering Dress Making Altar Bread ( Added by the Contemplatives)

In Sr. Imma's 52 years as religious, Sr. Milagros said, "one community in the Good Shepherd Philippine Province that claims to have enjoyed Sr. Imma at her best. That was the community that laid  the foundation for the mission in the Bicol Region at Buhi, Camarines Sur. It was materially poor, yet its earliest memories were of the happiest of times. Its written narratives tell of Sr. Imma’s creativity to cook. When all that was available was donated box of sardines, those sardines never looked the same when she served them at the table for a period of an entire month. Dessert was not only in the form of food. Sr. Imma regaled the community with her endless jokes and stories. “Where did she manage to store all that?” the Sisters would ask. Well, that’s the treasury that she handed back to God on September 26, 2010. It had done its share of making the world a happier place."

 

"It seems so fitting that we are sending off Sr. Imma from this place, from these hills among whose people, especially the poor, especially God’s little children, she expended everything she had; every ounce of energy, every new idea, every inspiration. To this place she drew her friends, believing that they, too, should discover the joy and peace that comes from giving oneself."  (Please read the full text: Click)

During the wake, Contemplative and Apostolic Good Shepherd Sisters in Cebu, family and friends prayed together for Sr. Imma who spent her religious life caring for the poor.

 

On behalf of all the people whom she helped in her many years as religious, a lay person spoke and enumerated the programs that Sr. Imma helped establish. The programs she said showed how Sr,. Imma worked so that the poor may experience fullness of life.

 

Sr. Immaculata was born on April 25, 1925, in Opon, Cebu City to Marcial Antigua and Paciencia Ycong.

Her siblings include: Marcial Jr., Francisco, Arthur, Leonor (M. Estelle RGS), Anunciacion (M. Marcia RGS), Tomasita (Sr. M. Tomasita RGS) and Gemma Karganilla.

A teacher by profession, Sr. Immaculata  finished Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of the Philippines in 1951. Before joining the Good Shepherd Sisters, Sr. Immaculata taught from June 1951-March 1957 at the Colegio de la Immaculada Concepcion in Cebu City where she was a teacher in college and high school.

 

 

View: Photo Gallery