By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
DAVIE | Funeral services for Sister Consolata Reale, 89, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph Benedict Cottolengo who most recently served at the HOPE Outreach Center in Davie, will take place Sunday, March 8, and Monday, March 9, at St. David Church in Davie.
The viewing will begin Sunday from 5 to 8 p.m., with vigil prayers at 7 p.m. The funeral Mass will be celebrated Monday at 11 a.m., with Auxiliary Bishop Peter Baldacchino presiding. Interment will follow at Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery in Doral.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Sister Consolata Reale, Sisters of St. Joseph Benedict Cottolengo: Born 1925, entered religious life 1948, died 2015.
Sister Consolata died March 5, after nearly 67 years in religious life. She had been diagnosed with end stage kidney disease in 2010.
Sister Mary Ellen Doyle, the community’s local superior, said “her passing was so peaceful even the nurse was taken aback by it. Sister died as she lived, not wanting to disturb anyone. She has left our little community a huge example of love, perseverance and serene acceptance of God's will. We will miss her sorely.”
Sister Consolata was born in Italy on May 23, 1925. In 1946 she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph Benedict Cottolengo in Torino, Italy, where she had her religious training and took first vows in 1948.
After earning a teaching degree, she taught the primary grades until 1963 when she was among the first group of her community to come to the U.S. � specifically, Miami, where they founded the Marian Center School and Services for the developmentally disabled.
She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Barry University and was a staff member at the Marian Center until 1980, when she was transferred to to the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee.
There, according to her obituary, she began a new mission for the Resettlement of Indochinese Refugees: “For 11 years she taught Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian pre-schoolers, introducing them to the English language and American customs. When tested for kindergarten readiness, her children scored higher than the American-born children; a tribute to Sister’s patience, perseverance and superior teaching skills, but above all to her love and dedication to these little ones.”
In 1995, Sister Consolata returned to the Archdiocese of Miami where she helped to start the HOPE Outreach Center, which provides food, emergency assistance and other services to the needy in Davie. The center was originally an outreach ministry of St. David's Parish.
Quoting again from her obituary: “For 15 years, Sister Consolata visited the sick, the elderly, the lonely and forgotten parishioners in their homes, hospitals and nursing homes, bringing them Holy Communion and the assurance of a caring parish family. She was noted for her beautiful smile, quiet mannerism and listening ear. Very dear to Sister’s heart were the wonderful volunteers who accompanied her on her daily rounds.”
She continued her visitations even
while receiving dialysis three days a week, “until she no longer had the energy
to do so,” the obituary states. “However, she never forgot St. David Parish,
her volunteers and her beloved elderly in her prayers and thoughts.”
“It is St. Francis who speaks to this virtue from which Sister Consolata (the consoled) takes up her name,” said Msgr. Chanel Jeanty, archdiocesan chancellor and vicar general, citing the prayer, “O Master, grant I may never seek so much to be consoled as to console.”
“So now we too pray on her behalf, that what she sought after through life and lived to follow even through death may now gain her the reward of eternal consolation from our Lord,” Msgr. Jeanty said.
Updated March 8, 2015, with additional information and photo.
