On May 17, a great event took place in Vic: the early celebration of St. Joaquina’s Day. This 2025, on the eve of the Bicentenary, the date has a special character.
Eucharist of Thanksgiving
The celebration began with a Eucharist of Thanksgiving, in the church of the Motherhouse, which was presided over by the Bishop of Vic, Romà Casanova. In the entrance monition, Sister María Juana Tomás said that it was about “making grateful memory of Joaquina de Vedruna” in the final stretch of the “road to the bicentenary of the foundation”, in communion with “the whole Vedruna Family, that from different realities, from different latitudes, with different ways, celebrates the life of Joaquina, recognizing in her a generous heart of a mission that inspires”.
In this article of the Vedruna Europa Province you can read the complete account of this moving Eucharist:
You can also watch the complete Eucharist in this video:
Act of homage “Joaquina de Vedruna, light that inspires”
After the Eucharist, an act of homage entitled “Joaquina de Vedruna, light that inspires” was held at the L’Atlantida Theater in Vic. The event focused on the figure of Joaquina and how her charism (from its triple dimension of healing, educating and liberating) continues to inspire sisters of every generation, who find in the foundress the inspiration they need to respond to the challenges of their time.
The Provincial of Europe, María Gracia Gil, pronounced some words that synthesized the message of the presentation and highlighted how Joaquina has been a light because she has known how to be faithful to this self-transcendence, with her gaze fixed on reality, and maintaining and adapting over time the spiritual heritage received. From quotations and references to the life of the Foundress, testimonies were given by sisters from the former provinces of Europe, now unified, who told what seduced them about the charism of Joaquina, what inspires them and how they imagine the future of this charism.
On the web page of the Vedruna Province of Europe, the article “Who is Joaquina for me? How the charism of the foundress is still alive today”, which gathers the testimonies of the sisters Narcisa Fiol, Juana M. Santesteban, Rita Aragón, Teresa Carrió, Finan Hernández Turro, Teresa Carrió and Adelaida Moreno, as well as Mamen Ruiz Barrena, from her experience as a Vedruna laywoman.
The event included musical performances, which can be seen in the video of the event: from Ain Karem (minutes 17:35, 38:34, 1:02:15 and 1:35:02), and La Coral Cabirol (minutes 1:07:30, 1:10:29, 1:15:24).
