Between October 2025 and January 2026, Sisters Maria Irizar and Fatima Borges will make the visit of the General Team to various countries of the Province of Vedrun America.
This is the second chronicle of their visit, between November 17 and December 1, 2025, in which they shared with more Vedruna presences of Chile: Padre las Casas, San Felipe, and Melipilla.
During the days we were in Puente Alto, we had the opportunity to visit the center of Santiago de Chile, where the Palacio de la Moneda, residence of the Presidency of Chile, the Plaza de Armas and the Cathedral are located. We were also able to go to the Cerro San Cristobal, with Mª Isabel and our faithful friend Marcelo, from where you can see the city, and where you have to go up by funicular, which in 2025 has completed 100 years of existence. At the top is the image of the Immaculate Virgin, who blesses and takes care of the city and its inhabitants. Under her image there is a small chapel, very beautiful and secluded. On the hill there is also a “Basque square”, next to the church, where you can find… an authentic sapling of the tree of Gernika, planted in 1931 by the Basques living in the town!
Padre las Casas, Temuco
We traveled by plane to visit Padre las Casas, the southernmost Vedruna presence in the world, accompanied by Sister Mª Isabel. There is no longer a community of sisters here, but there is a Vedruna school and a lay community. We arrived at the Temuco airport around 13:00; from there we went directly to the Colegio Nuestra Señora del Carmen, where we greeted the Director Daisy and the rest of the board of directors.
After lunch, we went to see the house where the sisters lived when they stopped living inside the school, and we also climbed a hill from where we could see Temuco and Padre las Casas.
In the afternoon, we returned to the school and met with the teaching staff. After the greetings, the important topic to be discussed had to do with the implementation, starting next year, of the Mapudungun language, the Mapuche language, which is a transversal subject about the Mapuche culture, in whose region we are located and of which Temuco is considered the capital.
After this meeting, we went to the center of Temuco to settle in the lodging where we spent the night, and visit the center of the city. We visited the Plaza de Armas and ended the afternoon at the Cathedral, where we were fortunate to participate – since unfortunately we have not been able to travel to Venezuela this time – in a solemn celebration of the Venezuelan community: Our Lady of the Rosary of Chirinquira.
The next day, we returned to the school, where they held a beautiful welcome program, full of gratitude and affection. We were able to enjoy the Mapuche culture and how much the Vedruna charism is present and alive in the school. Afterwards we met with the board of directors, formed by four women, who shared with us the challenges, difficulties, progress and strengths of their work and of the school.
At the end of the meeting we were taken to visit the Ñielol hill, from which the whole city can be seen and which has the particularity of being a protected reserve of the diversity of the native flora of the area.
In the afternoon, we met with the Vedruna lay community of Padre Las Casas, and after sharing, they took us to see some beautiful places in the city.
San Felipe
From Temuco we returned to Puente Alto, where we met with Sr. Flor Maria to travel to the Aconcagua Valley, where our community of San Felipe is located. On the way, we made a stop at the sanctuary of Santa Teresa de los Andes, where we met Sister Ana Maria Toro.
Upon arrival in San Felipe, we went directly to the educational center, founded in 1913. We visited it with Marco, director of the Center and member of the country’s educational management team. That day we were able to participate, at sunset, in the farewell mass for the 4th grade students. It was a deep, heartfelt and endearing celebration.
The next day, we met at the school with the teachers, shared breakfast, and participated in the Eucharist of the students of 1st and 3rd year, after which we stayed talking with the Vedruna Youth Mission group, which Gleny accompanies, and which is a very active group spiritually and socially. We enjoyed a nice time of conversation.
With Gleny we finished our visit visiting the Santo Cristo de Rinconada, a very beautiful place where you can walk a Way of the Cross through the hill, culminating at the top, where the Christ is located, whose sculptor made it in one piece of wood. From there you can see the entire plain, which is a place of enormous agricultural activity, from vineyards to all kinds of fruit trees.
Melipilla
We traveled by bus to Melipilla, where we arrived at sunset. There, the community, made up of five sisters, welcomed us with joy and a delicious dinner.
On the 22nd the joy continued, because it was the birthday of Sister Cecilia, the oldest. On that day we also visited the parish of St. Teresa Mª Antonieta. There is a very active group there, the Friends of Jesus, who have been running a soup kitchen for the elderly for years. We participated in the Eucharist, and in the afternoon, with Mariela, we visited Pomaire, a local pottery area, which was very impressive.
On Sunday, the 23rd, after Mass in the parish, we visited the chapel in the neighborhood of Huilco, a neighborhood where the sisters were for many years and where the Vedruna presence continues with the community of Lay Vedruna “Huellas de Joaquina”.
In the afternoon, in the community, we celebrated the community meeting and then had a very lively and familiar meeting with the two lay communities of Melipilla, that of Huilco and that of Alfareras del Amor. This group was born of women linked to the school, which is now managed by the Marianist Sisters’ Foundation, in which Sr. Mariela works, with whom we visited the school the following day.
On our last day in Melipilla, Tuesday 25, we visited the bishopric in the morning, where Sister Flor works in the area of Youth Ministry. We had the opportunity to greet the Bishop, Bishop Cristián Contreras Villarroel. In the afternoon, we made a very nice outing to El Tabo, on the coast. The trip was made possible thanks to Paulina, a Vedruna Laywoman from the community “Huellas de Joaquina”, who made two cars available.
In El Tabo, a town next to the Pacific Ocean, we have a house by the sea, which is used for living together, rest…. There we had the opportunity to walk along the seashore, on a gray and windy, but magnificent day. After eleven o’clock, we went to visit another coastal town, Algarrobo, where the parish priest is a great creator and designer of “evangelizing” games.
Chilean Assembly
Held in Puente Alto, all the sisters of Chile were able to attend. From the Assembly, we highlight the rich dialogue generated from the shared theme: “Synodality and shared leadership”. And we are grateful for the moving and profound blessing of sending, which Sr. Palmira made us singing in Mapudungun, at the end of the Assembly.
It has caught our attention…
- We have valued very much to be able to visit also the presences where there is no longer a community of sisters: Padre Las Casas and San Felipe. There they live and value the Vedruna charism very much, they feel like a family and the affection for St. Joaquina and her legacy is enormous, present in every corner of each school, in the pedagogy of love that makes everyone fit in them, and in the family atmosphere that is breathed. Although they miss the sisters, they feel accompanied by them and by the management team that animates the schools that the Congregation has in Chile: Puente Alto, Constitución, Padre las Casas and San Felipe.
- The lay communities stand out for their strength and fidelity, their commitment to the realities in which they are immersed and inserted, their desire to continue to make the charism of St. Joaquina alive in them and in their places.
- The variety and originality of the Chilean food we have tasted and its sonorous names: curanto a la olla, mote con huesillos, empanada, sopaipilla…
- The fidelity and hope of our sisters, who faithfully continue to sow, each one from her mission, age and circumstance, the Gospel and the love for Saint Joaquina and her charism of embracing every person, especially the poorest and neediest, with a simplicity and joy that is perceived in the daily work and dedication, the faithful prayer and the open-door house.
Our stay in Chile leaves our hearts full of names, faces, experiences and deep sharing of life in all its dimensions, grateful and excited, but above all with great affection sent and blessed by the sisters of the community.
Chile has embraced us with an embrace as long as the country and its people, who have left their mark on us. Thank you!
This is the second chronicle of the visit. The others are already available:
