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S. MARIA AUXILIUM SAILE SAILE, RVM
(May 17, 1933 – November 6, 2020)
S. Maria Auxilium Saile is the ninth (9th) of eleven (11) children of Ysabelo Harap Saile and Restituta Napiñas Saile of Katipunan, Zamboanga del Norte. She was baptized on July 16, 1933 by Fr. Nicasio Patangan. The young Lily or Auxi and her siblings grew up in a home where prayer and faith in God were given primary importance, both in words and in deeds. Their parents used to pray early in the morning without waking up their children, often at the wake of dawn. However, then two-year-old Lily would wake up early, light the candle in the altar, and then join her parents in prayer.
She completed her intermediate education at Dipolog Central Elementary School and her secondary education at St. Mary’s Academy of Dipolog City. She was a salutatorian then.
Her younger sister recounted that after graduation, she left the privileged life to enter the convent. Her mother brought her to St. Mary’s College, Diliman, Quezon City with the condition that she had to finish at least the shortest college course. Thus, she finished Elementary Teacher’s Certificate (ETC) in 1953 before entering to noviceship. She took up Bachelor of Science in Social Work at the Philippine Women’s University. She completed the degree in Social Work at the University of the Philippines in 1971.
She entered postulancy on July 31, 1952 and noviceship on February 01, 1953. She made her temporary profession on February 02, 1955 and pronounced her perpetual vows on February 02, 1961. She gratefully celebrated her silver jubilee on February 02, 1980 and her golden jubilee on February 02, 2005.
She participated in the mission of Christ through the Church and the Congregation as a teacher, catechist, social and pastoral worker. She was exceptionally passionate and had given much of herself for the socio-economic improvement of the marginalized people. She was greatly involved in the Social Ministry and Overseas Mission of the Congregation.
From the early years of her religious life, her heart was truly burning for overseas mission “to share Christ’s salvific mission beyond the Philippine horizon… to the vast territories where Christ is little known, or not known at all, where the harvest is great, but the laborers are few.” Her desire came to fulfillment when she was sent to Abianbase, Bali, Indonesia in 1977 to 1979 as one of the first RVM missionaries. She was then sent as one of the pioneers in Sunyani and Ghana, West Africa from 1980 to 1987. She recounted that her zeal for the mission was like a dynamo that kept on stirring and always going about, unbounded by time and pushing her to places to seek every opportunity to serve God among all kinds of people regardless of creed, age, and social status. She experienced physical fatigue, intrigues, frustrations, and deprivations of comforts, meals, and rests but these neither dampened her spirit nor extinguished the fire of her zeal for the mission.
One of her heartbreaking experiences was when she was asked to return to the Philippines and do her mission in her own native land. She compared the experience to a fire faintly flickering as it is being slowly extinguished. Yet amid the pain, in obedience and great trust in God, she allowed the fire of love to glimmer once more and be ignited in the Social Ministry, especially in the Prison Ministry.
Aside from being in the Social Ministry Centers in Cebu and Payatas, most of her time was spent with the people deprived of liberty at Iwahig Penal Colony, Palawan and at the Quezon City Jail. Her compassion, concern, and love for those unjustly treated and those who hunger for the word of God and who long for His mercy and loving forgiveness were truly strong and powerful. In 2016, she was featured on national television as “S. Kulet,” who persistently exhorted and encouraged those in the prison, as well as the jail guards, to live a life of prayer and have faith in Jesus Christ. She assisted them in their faith and temporal life regardless of their personal beliefs. Throughout her remaining years in the Motherhouse, her thoughts and concerns were for the welfare of the people deprived of liberty. She was actively involved in the Diocese of Cubao’s Ministry for Restorative Justice.
In the year 2000, after thirteen years away from the overseas mission, her undying passion for it moved her to boldly ask permission to go to Bangladesh to do missionary venture for the Jubilee year. Her request was granted which she took as a grace from God. She became an itinerant missionary to Bangladesh for a period of four months as parish pastoral worker and English teacher to the Novices. As an English teacher, she made use of the Bible as an important tool of instruction. She also did volunteer services at the Homes for the Sick and the Aged of the Missionaries of Charity. After her mission in Bangladesh, she again asked permission to volunteer as an RVM missionary in the Diocese of Dili, East Timor for one year. She helped significantly in the revitalization of parishes through the Small Christian Communities or Basic Ecclesial Community. It was there that she realized the need and importance of direct involvement in the pastoral life of the Church. Her trust in the providential love and paternal care of God was nurtured in those years.
S. Maria Auxilium was known for her persistence, endurance, and perseverance. She was also known for her simplicity, cheerfulness, piety, poverty, and compassion for the poor. She always had the unflinching determination and indomitable courage to pursue her calling to serve, especially the poor, and this incomparable commitment did not go unnoticed. She was appreciated for her unfaltering and ardent support to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology of the National Capital Region.
Apparently not allowing her advanced years to slow down her zeal for proclaiming Christ to all people, she was a catechist by heart to some of the carpenters and lay partners in the Motherhouse Complex. She was particularly generous with her time to the Sisters who arrive in the compound from the missions, ever ready with a welcoming smile. Her warm demeanor was joyful and reassuring.
At 7:33 in the morning of November 06, 2020, the First Friday of the month, S. Maria Auxilium joined the bosom of our loving Father due to acute myocardial infarction. It is rather providential that it was also the feast of St. Leonard the Hermit, the Patron of Prisoners.
Thank you, S. Maria Auxilium, for the eighty-seven fruitful years of earthly life and sixty-five years of which as Religious of the Virgin Mary. Thank you so much, S. Lily / S. Auxie, for being a sacrament of presence of the poor Christ. Your passion for mission and your love for the poor are indeed extraordinary. Your life revealed the providential and preferential love of Jesus for the poor, for the persons deprived of liberty, and for those who do not know Christ. Last night, Fr. Rey Hector Paglinawan of the Diocese of Cubao, highlighted in his homily the characteristics that made you stand out as S. KULET: K for Kingdom (God’s Kingdom), U - Understanding, L – Love. E- Enthusiasm and T for Teacher. Indeed, to so many, you were S. Kulet.
You lived a life that proclaims your prayer, “Lord, make me worthy of such sublime call to the mission. Help me to be more like you; help me to get rid of all those that hinder me from becoming like you; let me always live, work, suffer, rejoice with you, all for the greater glory and honor of God, the salvation of those souls entrusted to me and my own redemption.”
You had truly been faithful to your magic gospel verse, "Go throughout the whole world and preach the gospel to all people”.
May Jesus in His Sacred Heart embrace you eternally.
And together with St. Leonard, the Patron of Prisoner, may we entrust to you the pleas and petitions of those persons deprived of liberty. May our Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and Mother Ignacia welcome you to the eternal dwelling of love, peace, joy and true freedom. Rest in peace, our dear S. Auxie. We love you.
Eternal rest grant unto S. Maria Auxilium, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon her.
May she rest in peace.
Amen.
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