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S. MARIA CELESTE MACASIEB POSADAS, RVM
(August 31, 1922 – October 4, 2017)
“You will show me the path to life, abounding joy in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever.” This verse from the Book of Psalms (16:11) must have been the gentle force tenderly steering S. Maria Celeste in her life of service to God.
S. Maria Celeste Posadas, the eldest daughter of Patricio Posadas and Sabina Macasieb, hails from Malasique, Pangasinan. She has four siblings, but her older brother and a sister next to her died in their infancy. She was a lone child for eight years before another brother and a sister were born.
Being the eldest in the family, she had to do the household chores, especially after her father succumbed to influenza. At only 13 years old then, she was tasked with management of the planting and harvesting of rice and coconut, as well as taking care of her ailing mother.
She finished her primary grades at the National Teachers’ College, Manila in 1933. She transferred to San Carlos Elementary School, Pangasinan where she completed her basic education. In 1948, she completed her Elementary Teachers’ Certificate in Agno Valley College, Pangasinan. She also took up her Religious Education at the Immaculate Conception College in Davao City.
The young Celeste was baptized in Quiapo Catholic Church on September 01, 1923 and was confirmed in 1929 at Sto. Domingo Parish, San Carlos, Pangasinan. Her mother was her first teacher in catechism. She was the one who prepared her for confirmation, confession, and first communion.
When she had her first communion, she felt she was being lifted up to heaven. It was a memorable spiritual experience for her and it deepened her relationship with God and the Blessed Virgin Mary. As a young girl, she faithfully joined the Flores de Mayo in honor of our Lady. Every morning, right after the Mass, she would pick up flowers to be offered to Our Lady in the afternoon. She was passionate about it that she would often fail to eat breakfast on time. As a result, she would be scolded. She recounted that when she and her siblings committed mistakes, her father would require them to kneel, with outstretched arms, on a “bilao of monggo seeds.” Thus, for S. Maria Celeste, praying the Miserere, with outstretched arms in the convent, was not something new.
It was during her intermediate education under the Dominican Sisters that the seed of vocation to religious life of the young Celeste started to grow. And it was nurtured in her high school and college years through the Columban Sisters. She would join them in their catechetical mission in the barrios, where they had to walk as far as three kilometers. She took those long walks as opportunities to ask the Sisters about the life of a religious. She was also a member of the Sodality of Mary and she faithfully prayed the holy rosary.
The seed of her vocation was planted, but it took her a long time to answer God’s call. Their Parish Priest would not recommend her. S. Maria Celeste later learned that the priest wanted her to help in the Parish, and thus held back her recommendation. Amidst all obstacles, she courageously left for Manila at the age of twenty-nine. She made a good confession and sought advice from one of the Jesuit Priests in Padre Faura as to what Congregation she would enter. She was given a Catholic Directory where she saw the RVM. She asked her confessor what RVM means and when she learned that its patroness is the Blessed Virgin Mary, she decided to enter the Congregation. She met Mother Maria Andrea Montejo who helped her prepare her entrance to the Congregation.
She was accepted to Postulancy on February 01, 1952 and pronounced her first profession on February 02, 1955. She made her perpetual profession on February 02, 1961. She celebrated her silver jubilee on February 02, 1980 and golden jubilee on February 02, 2005.
She spent her mission assignment as a teacher in some schools in the Regions of Luzon, Visayas, Northern Mindanao and Generalate Area, but she served the longest in St. Mary’s College, Quezon City. She was also assigned for seven years in Immaculate Conception Ladies’ Hall, España, Manila as floor moderator of the residents and as Chapel In-charge. In 2003, she was transferred to St. Joseph Home due to her weakening physical condition.
In one of her letters she stated, “There is only one thing I am asking Our Lady since I pronounced my first profession: that she will never permit me to do or desire anything that will make her ashamed to present me to her Divine Son at the hour of my death. And at least I may not give headache and heartache to the Congregation.”
True to her prayer, S. Maria Celeste’s sisters in the group and those who took care of her at St. Joseph Home described her as cheerful, calm and prayerful. She was a picture of meekness and humility and was known as someone who suffers in silence with patience and endurance. She was described as a quiet person, thoughtful and caring of others and sensitive to what is going on around her. She could also easily inject humor in her light moments with the medical staff.
She peacefully breathed her last on the memorial of St. Francis of Assisi, October 04, 2017 because of sepsis due to ascending cholangitis.
S. Maria Celeste, in your life in St. Joseph Home, you recounted the times when you dreamt of death and experienced a feeling of lightness as a gentle hand held your right arm and brought you up high. You dreamt of that white coffin which you considered a grace-experience because it transformed you into a better person and led you to a deep communion with God.
Death has now become a reality. For certain, Jesus and Mary are now holding your arms. Thank you, S. Maria Celeste, for having lived life for ninety-five (95) years, sixty-two (62) years of which as Religious of the Virgin Mary. May the Blessed Virgin Mary whom you have devoted yourself welcome you in God’s heavenly abode.
Eternal rest grant unto S. Maria Celeste, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon her.
May she rest in peace.
Amen.
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