IN MEMORIAM

S. MARIA ADELA MONTEJO MORETO, RVM

(December 6, 1921 – July 15, 2017)

S. Maria Adela Moreto was born on December 6, 1921 in Tacloban, Leyte. Her parents were Basilio Teraza Moreto and Fortunata Concilio Montejo, both school teachers and from Palo, Leyte. From them she learned to be God-fearing, observant of the commandments and generous. She was third from the youngest of eight children, but four of her siblings died in infancy.

She lost her mother on January 12, 1928 when she was still in Grade 1. Juggling between work and taking care of four young children, their grief-stricken father who did not know how to take care of them brought her together with her sister and younger brother to St. Peter’s Institution in Ormoc, Leyte where M. Maria Andrea Montejo, her mother’s sister was assigned. They stayed with her for after a year, her father who married Constancia Galenzoga, fetched them.

S. Adela continued her studies at Tacloban Central Elementary School. Experiencing the great recession, their stepmother, despite great opposition from their aunts, succeeded in moving their family to Cebu after selling the large ancestral home where they were born. After two years, their aunts from Tacloban took them back.

Her father sent her and her younger brother to Cagayan de Oro—she to study at Lourdes College where their aunt M. Maria Andrea was. She described her stay there as “very happy and fulfilling experience.” She enjoyed daily Mass, communion, visits to the Blessed Sacrament on first Fridays, benediction. She did not at first appreciate the recollections given by the Jesuits. She used to sleep during the conferences, but she believed even then that “all the spiritual exercises and religion classes were a great source of graces” for her. God must have planted seeds of vocation in her.

She went to Cebu for her first year college, then to UP, Manila. In 1941, war broke out, so they were forced to stop schooling. She spent her time going to social services where they were taught how to cook “coco delight” (bukayo). Later, UP offered a free crash course in typing and bookkeeping to their group. After six months, they were placed in jobs, and S. Adela worked as a secretary. On her way to work daily from home, she would hear the early Mass in Quiapo. Since there were few transactions in the office, she had the opportunity to call friends. Once when she had no one to call, she called up Mother Andrea who was staying in Singalong. That was the beginning of her turning point in life’s crossroads. She was invited to join a 3-day recollection which was attended by several young ladies from Manila and nearby provinces.

She continued to work in Escolta but after a few months, she found herself in Singalong as an aspirant. In June 1944, she was formally received as a postulant against her father’s will. She described her leaving home as very heart-breaking, but God gave her the courage to pursue her dream not knowing her future. On August 15, 1944, she was among the nine postulants who were clothed with the postulant’s dress with a white veil.

Due to the increasing critical situation of the Japanese occupation, they were brought to Baliuag, Bulacan with M. Ma. Pilar Fernandez who gently trained them. A few months later, they were brought to Meycauayan. When their Noviceship was nearing they walked all the way to Polo, Bulacan where the Novitiate was temporarily located.

Shelling and bombing were often their daily experience yet despite the tension, they lived in a seemingly calm situation. They were daily fed with the Eucharist. She recalled that they lived in a convent in Polo church. How Rev. M. Maria Andrea Montejo managed to feed them and let them go on, only God knows. She called their clothing day a thrilling event. The Japanese were knocking at their door, but they successfully finished the ceremony without any untoward happening. That evening, bombshells hit the convent that they had to sleep in any place in the church.

Later, they were ordered to go to Obando, Bulacan bringing only things good for two weeks. In their white veils, they walked from Polo to Obando, meeting on their way Japanese soldiers running with their fixed bayonets yet she felt so secure in their habit and veil. After a few weeks in Obando, they hurriedly fled to Meycauayan on foot. There, they were distributed to several houses because the convent was still inhabited by some evacuees.

S. Adela described herself as a vivacious person who loves to laugh aloud but devotedly observes silence when necessary. She recalled that she could even laugh and laugh with her classmates without noise. She also recounted that her love for art was evoked during their retreat in preparation for their first profession through their retreat director, Fr. Irwin, SJ who painted heaven in the simplest way by holding a simple calachuchi flower. At that time, she felt, she was ready to go to heaven so much so that she could not sleep on the night before their first profession.

She had her temporary profession on February 2, 1947 at St. Joseph’s Novitiate. Few months later, she moved to ICLH, España as a student and Prefect of Boarders until 1949. Her succeeding places of assignments were the following: Lourdes College, Cagayan de Oro City, St. Michaels’ College, Iligan City, St. Mary’s College, Quezon City, RVM Juniorate, Quezon City; Filipino Sisters’ Convent, Sacramento, California; Christ the King College, Gingoog; SMC, Tagum Davao del Norte, Betania Retreat House, Cebu City; Regional House, Cebu City; Archdiocese of Davao, Betania Retreat House, Palo, Leyte; Regional House, Cebu City, San Antonio, Texas (exclaustration/pastoral work); St. Anthony Dormitory, Singalong, Manila; Regional House, Carmen, Cagayan de Oro City, Mother House, Quezon City; then St. Joseph Home, Quezon City. She described her stay in the Motherhouse as rich in opportunities to be close to God through the daily Mass, Sacraments, Holy Hour, rosary, and Marian devotions, recollections, seminars.

S. Adela was fond of writing letters to the Mother General, mostly giving accounts of how she fared in her ministry, expressing her concerns, and asking permissions on important matters. In her letters, one can glean her exemplary virtue of humility. When she was assigned as Superior in one of the communities, she wrote: “As Superior, the assignment is a heavy one, and I don’t deserve it at all. I do not practice what I preach... When I look at myself, I cannot reconcile the fact that now I am supposed to be superior in everything – especially that of virtue and good example… It scares me, I’m really afraid. It’s very hard to be responsible for the souls in one’s immediate charge.”

In 1994, and later after her golden jubilee in February 2, 1997, God allowed her to join a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Italy and other places in Europe with the help of her family and friends. She wrote in her prayer: “Lord, what return can I make to you? All that I am, and all that I’ll ever be, I offer now to you.”

S. Adela was one of the pioneering Sisters in the foreign mission particularly in the United States of America. While assigned in the US she expressed her openness whether to stay or to be transferred and that her higher Superior’s decision will always be her choice. She also had the opportunity to serve in the archdiocese of Davao with Bishop Mabutas in the reformation of the Daughters of St. Therese Sisters now called the Teresian Daughters of Mary (TDM). Other ministries she had the opportunity to serve were as prefect or dean of boarders, teacher, formator, pastoral work, as superior directress, retreat work, prison ministry, CL coordinator, regional secretary, receptionist and as staff in the archives. She was a hard-working Sister and artist.

She was in the Motherhouse when the building was razed by fire to the ground in 2001. The experience taught her detachment from things. She said that she lost everything, but God’s love and providence were manifested through her sisters, friends and relatives. The taste of a car accident and the SARS scare while visiting her brothers and sisters in the US (2001-2003) also made her realize how the Lord took care of her. She wrote: “Lord, help me to be ready… Help me not to be demanding but wait for your call, peacefully, anxiously. Mary, my mother, please meet me. Mother Ignacia pray that I may be detached from all persons, things, etc. But thank you God for the many, many graces you have showered on me.”

The Lord must have answered her prayer. On July 15, 2017 on the eve of the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, at 5:54 in the afternoon, she succumbed to death due to cardiac dysrhythmia and ischemia heart disease. In her sleep, she quietly left the earth with a smile on her face, welcoming the Lord and meeting the Blessed Virgin Mary who fetched her to dwell in God’s eternal abode.

Farewell, S. Adela! Thank you for blessing us with the wealth of your person for the past 70 years. May you now find the peace and joy of everlasting life.

Eternal rest grant unto S. Maria Adela, O Lord, 

and let perpetual light shine upon her.

May she rest in peace. 

Amen.