Between February and April 2025, Sisters María José Meira (Dedé) and Fatima Borges travel on behalf of the General Team to a part of the Province of Europe.
Below we share the second chronicle of their trip, from March 6 to 18, 2025, during which they visited the six communities of León and La Bañeza, as well as the Community of the Vedruna Laity of León.
Lion
We traveled by train from Valladolid to León. Inma Eibe, from the Provincial Team, accompanied us on all the visits.
In Leon we share with the three communities of the Colegio Nuestra Señora del Carmen, which is located in the center of the city: Casa Santa Joaquina, Comunidad San José and Comunidad Casa Familia; also with the Community of the Sacred Heart, which is in the school of the same name, also located in the center of the city of Leon. In the suburbs, there are two insertion communities, San Francisco de la Vega and Santa Ana. Finally, we were with the La Bañeza Community, which is in the same building as the San Rafael School, in the city of La Bañeza.
We had the opportunity to walk around the city of León and see some of its most famous places, such as the basilica and museum of San Isidoro, the Cathedral and its museum and the Húmedo neighborhood.
Communities of Colegio Nuestra Señora del Carmen de León
In the same building of the Colegio Nuestra Señora del Carmen, which still contains fragments of the Roman wall, three of our communities live together: Casa Santa Joaquina, Comunidad San José and Comunidad Casa Familia.
Santa Joaquina House
This community is dedicated to the reception, care and accompaniment of the elderly and/or sick Sisters.
San José Community
This is a community located in the same building as Colegio Nuestra Señora del Carmen and Casa Familia. The sisters provide volunteer service to Casa Santa Joaquina, at Colegio Nuestra Señora del Carmen and Sr. Margarita Morais with the Eutherpe Foundation.
Casa Familia Community
This is a project of reception, guardianship and accompaniment of 7 children and adolescents, from 4 to 17 years old, whose families have lost their guardianship and remain under the responsibility of the Junta de León. The community offers them a home and assumes responsibility for their lives, providing them with a home and accompanying them integrally in their lives. These young people usually stay with them for several years, and they take in up to 7 at a time.
Something very striking is that the house is literally built inside the Roman wall: the facade shows how it is embedded inside the cubes; and the entrance is through a tunnel. Because of this, the spaces of the house are very delimited by the narrowness of all sides.
San Francisco de la Vega Community
Located on the outskirts of León, our community here has a strong connection with the parish of San Francisco de la Vega. We visited the church and had the opportunity to talk with friends of our sisters, who participate in the Christian community.
One of the sisters works as a teacher at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School and another is the coordinator of the Sacred Heart Community; they collaborate in pastoral services in the parish.
Sacred Heart Community
The sisters collaborate with volunteer work at the Sacred Heart School and with other activities or help that are within their reach, taking into account that they are elderly. Here the rooms have been transformed into closets, to take advantage of the space, since in this house there was a community of up to 40 sisters. We also visited the Sacred Heart School, where the sisters of the community often collaborate.
Eutherpe Foundation
Initiated by our sister Margarita Morais, this Foundation was born with the objective of promoting music. In its 20 years of existence, it has trained more than 8000 young people of more than 50 different nationalities. In the Sacred Heart Community, the Foundation has its own concert hall.
Santa Ana Community
Here the community is dedicated to providing pastoral presence in the parish of the neighborhood and in the diocese, accompanying various groups. They help in the community of older brothers of the Casa Santa Joaquina. They walk together with the Vedruna Laity Community.
Meeting with the Vedruna Lay Community of Leon
We shared a nice time with the Laity of the Vedruna Lay Community, who make a significant process of walking together with the Community of Sisters of Barrio Santa Ana. We met with all of them in a pleasant afternoon.
Meeting of communities
About 50 sisters were gathered at Casa Santa Joaquina. As in the other two community meetings held previously during this visit, we had two moments of sharing on the theme “Synodality and Shared Leadership”, with moments of silence and interiorization and at the end of each block group resonances. It was a rich experience, in which we had the gift of hearing expressions such as:
- In all this we dream, but I also want to put a point of hope, because I believe that we are already taking steps in it. The Congregation is pushing hard and there are already signs of all that is reflected in the document “Born Again”. a sister
- Grateful for everything I have heard. I underline very much the importance of creativity. I am glad to hear that we have to go to the geographical and existential frontiers, because children and families are frontier places. In this society we live in, they are more and more so. – a laywoman
Astorga
One day we were able to visit Astorga, located less than an hour’s drive from León. We were accompanied by Inma Eibe, Elisa Bastardo, Carmen Navarro and also by Sr. Elena Blanco, from the Casa Familia community in Vigo, who knew Dedé from her apostolic experience in preparation for her perpetual vows in Brazil. It was a nice day of living together and getting to know some beautiful architecture, especially the Gaudi Palace.
La Bañeza
In this community live elderly sisters who serve in the parish and in Caritas. They also do volunteer work in the Colegio Vedruna Nuestra Señora del Carmen. From Caritas and also in the school there is a large presence of migrants from the African continent and also from Latin American countries.
Some aspects that caught our attention during these days were:
- There is a significant collaboration with Casa Santa Joaquina on the part of the other communities in the city of León, both in permanent services and also, at specific moments, they take turns to help. It is a very beautiful testimony!
- It is impressive that the whole building, which includes the Colegio Nuestra Señora del Carmen and the 3 communities of Sisters, is surrounded by the Roman wall. And that our Casa-Familia community is literally built inside the wall. It is something unique, which produces the sensation of entering another era of history.
- The challenging mission of our Casa-Familia community that brings the warmth of home to the children who live there. A mission that involves the total daily life of the sisters, with all that it entails to assume the responsibility of accompanying them integrally in their lives.
- Muy creativo el botiquín Vedruna del Colegio Nuestra Señora del Carmen. “Legado Vedruna” – Nuestra vacuna
- We want to achieve:
- Sense of belonging and identity
- Appreciating our roots
- Embracing the future
- Strengthening family ties
- Openness to society celebrating our 200th anniversary.
The other chronicles of the visit are already available:
