At 2:21 p.m. today (local time), one of the members of our Alberione Home, Pasay City, Philippines, ended her Pauline race: Cabucos Cecilia – Sr. Maria Giacomina, born in Mambaling (Cebu), Philippines on 17 August 1942.
Sr. M. Giacomina transmitted to our communities her deep love for the Pauline charism and for pastoral work for vocations. As a young professed, she vibrated with joy whenever she described the fruits of her vocation work, above all when she observed that the house of formation “lacked the air and space to breathe” due to the many young women from the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore who were entering the Institute. She wanted to work intensively to make it possible for many Pauline missionaries from the province to invade the world with their freshness and love for the Gospel. And she rejoiced when she saw that this dream was coming true.
She entered the Congregation in Cebu, Philippines, on 16 July 1962, at the age of twenty. After a short time there, she was sent to Pasay City (Manila) to undergo her initial formation and then to Lipa to make her novitiate. This stage of her Pauline journey ended with her first profession on 30 June 1967. In Davao, she dedicated herself for some time to the itinerant mission to families and afterward returned to Pasay to work in the technical apostolate, at which she excelled.
In 1974, Sr. M. Giacomina was transferred to Legaspi and later to Davao, where she was placed in charge of the diffusion apostolate and book center. In that same community, she also carried out the service of local superior for two consecutive terms, animating the sisters to welcome young women and communicate to them the wealth of the Pauline vocation. With daring faith, she made a pact with the community to send at least one vocation to the circumscription’s formation house each year. And the Lord rewarded her simplicity of heart by punctually granting this request.
In 1990, Sr. M. Giacomina was assigned to the Divine Master community, Pasay City, where she was placed in charge of vocation work for that zone. In 1994, in light of her experience in the field of formation, she was appointed to the provincial council. Afterward, she had the great joy of participating in the first course of formation on the Pauline charism organized for the Pauline Family (1997-1998), which was held in the Via dei Lucchesi community, Rome. It was a truly blessed time for her, since it gave her the chance to experience the universality of the PF and deepen her grasp of Pauline subjects, which she assimilated enthusiastically. Upon her return to the Philippines, she received the additional gift of obtaining a baccalaureate degree in religious sciences in Manila.
In Davao, she was placed in charge of the Junior professed sisters and passed on to them her love for the Pauline spirituality, together with the spirit of hard work and responsibility that characterized her own life. Following this, she was assigned to the provincial house, where she made a valuable contribution to promoting the recently-opened Paulines Communication Center.
She then served once again as superior of the Legaspi community, after which she returned to Davao, where she worked primarily in the local bursar’s office. She also coordinated a group of more than 30 Pauline Cooperators, contributing very effectively to their spiritual and apostolic growth, and encouraging their creativity in the diffusion and television apostolates. More recently, her book center experience enabled her to collaborate in the editorial sector, especially in the choice of books by other publishers.
In these last years, Sr. Giacomina’s health worsened due to acute coronary syndrome, hypothyroidism and, finally, a broken leg. She returned to the Father today as a result of a pulmonary embolism.
It is beautiful to imagine that, in harmony with today’s liturgy, the Apostle Paul had been carrying this fervent apostle in his heart so that what was begun in her could reach completion in the radiant light of the resurrection.