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S. MARIA PLACIDA MALDAPEÑA QUITOS, RVM
(October 05, 1923 – December 06, 2017)
S. Maria Placida Quitos who hailed from Talisayan, Misamis Oriental was the ninth child of twelve children (seven girls and four boys) of Pio Quitos and Filomena Maldepena. She had four other siblings with her father’s first wife. She was brought up in the farm since her father was a farmer and a business man. As a child she loved to play games commonly played by boys such as horse-riding, climbing trees, doing acrobatics on bamboos, and playing cards, rubber band, and marbles.
She received the sacrament of baptism when she was six days old and was confirmed when she was in third year high school. She grew up with a family devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Isidore, the patron saint of farmers. She did not get much training on piety from her parents for they were in the farm most of the time, but she grew up witnessing and imitating the devoutness of her elder sisters. She would pray in the church facing the image of the Crucifix, and every month of May, she would gather her fellow children in their garage for May devotion and Sta. Cruzan.
The family’s ancestral house was near the church so she and her siblings were deeply involved in the parish and the Church’s programs. She was a member of the parish choir, a participant in the catechetical program of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School, now St. Mary’s Academy of Talisayan, and an active member of the “Catholic Youth Organization” organized by Fr. Edralin of the Society of Jesus during her high school years at Misamis Oriental High School in Cagayan de Oro City. All these religious traditions greatly influenced her spiritual life as a child.
Her vocation to religious life particularly to the Religious of the Virgin Mary unfolded after the war. S. Maria Gertrudis Lim requested her to teach at Mt. Carmel High School after she graduated with an Elementary Teachers’ Certificate. Inspired by the way of life of the Sisters, she expressed her desire to be a religious but her family was against it. Her brother even commented, “You need not enter the convent. I can make additional room for you where you can stay alone and pray as you like. We can feed you in your room without going out.” Since she was not permitted to enter religious life, she escaped from home on May 19, 1946 and left with S. Maria Gertrudis who was going to Manila for her silver jubilee.
She was accepted to postulancy on July 31, 1946, and was invested to noviceship on February 02, 1947. She pronounced her temporary profession on February 02, 1949. She had her perpetual profession on February 02, 1955, celebrated her silver jubilee on February 02, 1974 and golden jubilee on February 02, 1999.
S. Placida took a certificate course in teaching Kindergarten at Maryknoll College. She finished her Bachelor of Education major in English, minor in Science. She also took up Bachelor of Arts minor in Spanish. She got her MA units in Education under the Special Graduate program of the University at Nevada Southern University, Las Vegas. When she came back to the Philippines she enrolled at Xavier University, Cagayan de Oro City for her thesis writing which she finished in March 1974.
She shared in the mission of the Congregation mostly in the education ministry as a classroom teacher handling English, Reading, Christian Living, Theology, and Spanish. Most of the time, she was a kindergarten teacher. She also served as school principal and local Superior.
She found joy in her missions. When she was assigned at St. Viators’ Elementary School in Las Vegas, she handled many pupils in a classroom. Amazingly, at the end of the year, her pupils learned how to read that the Parish Priest and some teachers asked her how she did it. She answered, “It was through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; it was teaching with love. Being patient and understanding of the psychology of the children are assets of good teaching”.
Her mission in Zamboanga was also filled with love and joy. She considered it her happiest community life experience. They always gathered as a community to play varied musical instruments for their recreation.
Amidst all the joy, Sister Placida also encountered many trials in her life in the mission, but she bore in mind the words of M. Maria Ignacia Magdalena, “We cannot avoid suffering. Suffering is a call to more vocation to our congregation.” She was then assigned in St. Mary’s Academy, Roxas City where three of their students entered the RVM. They were S. Maria Felisa Declaro, S. Maria Anisia Bolaño and S. Maria Emma Dasal. Three other students entered other congregations. S. Maria Placida herself has a niece who belongs to the Carmelite Missionary Congregation.
S. Maria Placida manifested openness in all her assignments. She was obedient to the will of her Superiors, adherent to what is right and true, and assertive of her views in spite of being misunderstood. She was known as strict and disciplinarian but loving and caring especially for the growth and development of her students. She claimed that her experience of pettiness, human respect, and humiliations made her more mature. She acknowledged that she was a rough instrument smoothened by life’s challenges and God’s abiding grace. Her trust in the presence and guidance of God in her journey of faith was imbedded in her heart.
In 2006, S. Maria Placida was confined to St. Joseph Home for closer health monitoring and medication. The nurses and caregivers described her as pleasantly calm, sweet and joyful despite being bedridden. She was called singing lola for she loved to sing nursery rhymes which eased the tiredness/exhaustion of those taking care of her. While in bed, she was always heard for her endless gratitude repeatedly expressed in her hymn of thanksgiving with the lines: “Thank you for the food we eat, thank you for the love so sweet, thank you for the birds that sing, thank you God for everything.”
On December 06, 2017 at 1:00 in the afternoon, she breathed her last because of hypoxia due to cardiac arrhythmia.
Our dear S. Maria Placida, your life is a picture of constant letting go, a constant test of your obedience in your missionary journey. In your prayer, you once said, “Thank you, Lord, for being with me wherever you want me to be, for doing your holy will is my everlasting joy.” Now, your final “Yes” to the Father has come; your obedience to the end has come to its fruition. From the bottom of our hearts, allow us to offer to you these words of thanksgiving
“Thank you for the ninety-four (94) years of earthly life,
thank you for the sixty-eight (68) years of loving obedience
to the call of God as Religious of the Virgin Mary,
thank you for your beautiful smile and calming and joyful presence,
thank you, God, for the gift of S. Maria Placida”.
May the Holy Triune God, Mary, the Ancilla Domini, St. Joseph, St. Isidore, and Mother Ignacia del Espiritu Santo welcome you to life everlasting. Farewell, our dear S. Maria Placida.
Eternal rest grant unto S. Maria Placida, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon her.
May she rest in peace.
Amen.
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