Weeks after Catholic Nun Laid to Rest, Southern African Bishops Eulogize Her as Selfless

In the statement signed by IMBISA President, Bishop Lucio Andrice Muandula of Mozambique’s Xai-Xai Diocese, the representatives of Catholic Bishops in Southern Africa recall how the Nun who died aged 92 assisted Bishops find their way around various Dicasteries at the Vatican.

IMBISA representatives say they have “first-hand experience of her assistance and generosity as she did this together with her community, ‘The Work of The Church.’”

On the eve of the Immaculate Conception, in 1946, Mother Trinidad received what she described as "an authentic invasion" from God.  

According to Vatican News, she explained that when the invasion happened, it was as if the Lord stood before her and asked, "Do you want love? I am infinite love. Do you want joy? I am infinite joy."

She consecrated herself to the Lord privately, in response to the Lord.

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In their September 10 statement, the Catholic Bishops at the helm of the nine-member regional conference eulogize Mother Trinidad as humble saying, “Even as she worked so hard for the betterment of others, she never really took credit for this as she saw it as a divine calling meant for the betterment of God’s Holy Church.”

IMBISA Standing Committee members add that the spiritual conferences, which Mother Trinidad facilitated in her lifetime “attest to a person immersed in a life of prayer and enjoying a special relationship with God.”

“She was always ready to share these spiritual riches with the multitudes who crossed her path. It is our belief that these spiritual talks and her works together with the community she founded, ‘The Work of The Church’, will remain a testimony of her lively faith and spirit,” they say.

In the September 10 statement, IMBISA Standing Committee members say Mother Trinidad was cognizant of her pilgrimage on earth. 

“Mother Trinidad (was) always aware that she was a pilgrim on this earth,” they say.

The Catholic Bishops further recall in reference to Mother Trinidad, “In March 1973 she said: ‘I seek the light of the eternal Sun, the warmth of his coals, the brightness of his fires, the flaming flames of his candent volcanoes; and I seek, at the same time, the freshness of his breeze, the coolness of his fountains, the satiety of his springs, the nourishment of his fruits and the contact of his love.’”

“We pray that Mother Trinidad, who looked forward to all this warmth and beauty of God, may now enjoy the beatific vision promised to all who believe,” representatives of the Catholic Bishops in Mozambique, South Africa, Angola, São Tomé and Príncipe, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, and Zimbabwe, implore.

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.