SISTER MARIA CONSOLATA VELASCO NARVACAN, RVM
28 April 1927 – 10 June 2007
Sister Consolata turned 80 years old last April 28. In 2010 she would have celebrated her golden jubilee of religious profession. But God has His own ways and deemed it best to sound the final call for her last June 10, Pentecost Sunday, to join her four (4) aunts, sisters of her father, in the kingdom of light and peace. Yes, there were four Narvacan blood sisters who were members of the Congregation. S. Ma. Mercedes died in 1925, S. Ma. Dolores passed away in 1951, followed three years later by S. Ma. Guadalupe, in 1954. The fourth sister – S. Ma. Auxilium – died in 1972. And today, we commit to her final resting place the fifth Narvacan RVM from Dipolog, Zamboanga – S. Ma. Consolata.
S. Consolata described the day when her parents were joined in the holy sacrament of matrimony. She writes in her autobiography:
The bells of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church pealed so joyfully when Jose Baes Narvacan and Juliana Barrios Velasco pledged to love each other in holy wedlock. The weather seemed to be happy with them for the morning came on bright and sunny, cooled by the gentle breeze that swayed the branches of trees in the churchyard. It was to be the start of a beautiful and loving union that gave birth to five children – two boys and three girls.
Both Jose and Juliana were from Dipolog, Zamboanga. They attended the early Spanish Catholic Institution that strengthened their belief and practice of their Catholic faith. S. Consolata wrote that she was thankful for her parents who were both pious and practical Catholics. They handed on this loyalty to the faith to their five children. S. Consolata was the third child but had been frail and weak even from her early years in life. She was given more care by her parents and when both were busy in farm work the eldest brother took over their place in taking care of the young Consolata.
The father Jose was the industrious and hardworking breadwinner of the family. She writes: “My father supported his family by working in the farm from the first streak of dawn to the last beam of the setting sun to secure resources for our education.” The mother Juliana would take care of the sundry needs of the children and the house. She was the first teacher of the children in their catechism, patiently inculcating in them the love of God and love of prayer. Consolata learned her catechism so well that during the catechism class in the parish church she would be requested by the teacher to teach her companions. One aspect in the family that also influenced Consolata was her father being an ardent devotee of the Sacred Heart so that every First Friday of the month he would keep burning the oil lamp the whole day and in the evening gather the family before the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary to pray the rosary.
Consolata begun her early education in the public school (grade 1 to grade 3), but her father realized the importance of religious instruction so he sent her and her other siblings to a catholic school. In the sixth grade Consolata was transferred to Lourdes Academy in Cagayan de Oro, then went back to Dipolog to pursue her high school education in St. Mary’s Academy. She took up the Elementary Teacher’s Certificate course after graduation and taught at St. Mary’s Academy afterwards. Her life as a professional teacher was marked by varied activities – parties, social gatherings and picnics. But despite the enjoyment she got from attendance at these social pursuits, the desire to enter the convent kept in burning in her heart. She had read avidly the book The Following of Christ by Thomas a Kempis given by her aunt – S. Ma. Guadalupe Narvacan. The other book that made a difference in her life tells a story of the apparition of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. S. Consolata vividly remembered the plea of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary: “I know that you are a good religious but that is not enough; bring me to souls and I will draw them to My Heart.” She felt that she was one of the souls whom the Lord had meant and this certainty strengthened her desire to follow Christ as a religious.
S. Consolata became a postulant on July 31, 1957, a novice on February 01, 1958, a temporary professed on February 02, 1960. She wrote in her Juniorate years as a mix of joys and sorrows, anxieties and calm reassurance from the Lord, of confidence in His love for her. She had not always been in the pink of health during these years as she had been frail even from her childhood. Five years in the mission as a junior took its toll on her spiritual, physical and emotional well-being. So she was very grateful when she was called to tertianship. She said that in this stage of formation, she regained the fervor of her noviceship. After a year, she made her final profession of vows in February 02, 1966. Many times in her mission life she would recall her enthusiasm when she answered God’s call – a deciding point in her life when she did not put conditions in following Christ. Would she be less generous when faced with difficulties? She would muster all the reserves of faith in her heart and would be convinced that the need of the apostolate was an indication of God’s will for her whenever and wherever she was being called to mission with the inevitable tests that try the fiber and fabric of the heart. The challenge to her was embodied in the following of Christ that did not count the cost of discipleship.
Her mission assignments include being local superior, administrator, teacher, econome, in-charge of catechetics in the school and / or parish. She served in Meycauayan, Bulacan, Cotabato, in the towns of Misamis Oriental – Balingasag, Initao, Talisayan, Tagoloan, and Kinoguitan. She was also assigned to the schools in Jimalalud, Bansalan, Rizal in Zamboanga del Norte, and Boac Marinduque. The turn of the century saw her in Labason Zamboanga, Lourdes College and the Regional House in Cagayan de Oro City. In 2003, she was sent to St .Joseph Home for closer medical care. By then she had been suffering from hypertension and cardiovascular ailment. She was 76 years old at that time.
As a patient in the infirmary, S. Consolata was the silent type of person, uncomplaining even when she was in pain. She showed respect for others especially the nursing staff and the caregivers. It did not take long after moving in to St. Joseph Home that she became completely bedridden, after having been afflicted by multiple strokes, and later by severe dementia.
In the early hours of June 10, 2007, Pentecost Sunday, S. Consolata quietly breathed her last after her final bout with sepsis that led to multi-organ failure. As we lay to rest her mortal remains this morning we are given the consolation that she will pray for us and the Congregation that she and her four aunts, the Narvacan sisters, loved and served so well.
e do not say goodbye but so long, Sister Consolata. Thank you for the gift of person that you shared with us and with the people that had been part of your life – as your journey-companion and co-workers in the ministries that you had been involved in unselfishly. May God grant you eternal light and peace.
