By Cristina Cabrera Jarro -
Photographer: CRISTINA CABRERA JARRO| FC
Sister Hilda Alonso of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul died July 5, 2022 in Miami at the age of 101. Funeral services were held at Our Lady of Charity Shrine in Miami on July 12, 2022. Her portrait photos were accompanied by a floral arrangement of a Cuban flag, a tribute to her home country.
MIAMI | A holy woman, a pillar of faith, a hero, and a legend: That’s how people remembered Sister Hilda Alonso, who died at the age of 101 after 76 years in religious life.
Sister Hilda founded the Miami community of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul after spending years as an educator, first in her native Cuba and after exile in Puerto Rico. She died peacefully July 5, 2022 in the community’s convent in Flagami.
A viewing was held July 12 at Our Lady of Charity Shrine in Miami and a funeral Mass July 13 at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Doral.
“We were always together at school. We got along really well,” said Celeste Hurst, 102, who met Sister Hilda when she was 12 years old. They attended the Colegio La Inmaculada in Havana together. Even then, Hurst saw the possibility of Hilda becoming a nun because of her punctuality and obedience.
According to Sister Eva Perez-Puelles, who cared for Sister Hilda and currently leads the Daughters of Charity in Miami, Sister Hilda often recalled that, from a young age, she wanted to spend her life serving God.
She did so throughout seven decades, with a ministry focused on education and helping the poor, and often combined both. In Cuba, she served as principal at two schools and educated hundreds of students. When priests and religious were expelled by the Castro regime, she and her sisters continued their mission in Puerto Rico, Miami and Haiti.
Although years passed, she always looked out for her students.
“She was their spiritual mother. Those children became parents, then grandparents, and great grandparents. And they made sure their younger generations met Sister Hilda,” said Sister Eva.
“I think 101 years equals three lifetimes,” said Jose Luis Cano, a member of the Fundación Padre Santana, Cubanos Con Fe En Acción (Father Santana Foundation, Cubans with Faith in Action).
The volunteer-led non-profit founded by the late Miami priest collects medicine and medical equipment for Cuba. Father Santana and Sister Hilda had a mission-driven relationship: He had medicine, she had shipping containers.
“She, Bishop [Agustin] Roman, and Father Santana were the three pillars of help for Cuba,” said Cano. Father Jose Espino, rector of Our Lady of Charity Shrine, agreed. “She was the key person in sending aid to Cuba for a long time.”
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Sister Hilda Alonso of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, right, comforts a child in Haiti with another Daughter of Charity. This was one of the photos of her life on display at Our Lady of Charity Shrine in Miami during her funeral services on July 12, 2022. Sister Hilda died July 5, 2022 at the age of 101.
Father Espino first met Sister Hilda while on a mission trip to Haiti, when he came across “a nun speaking Creole with a Cuban accent.”
Years later, they worked together on relief efforts throughout the Caribbean. He often hosted shipping containers at his parishes to collect donations for the Daughters of Charity. Sometimes he asked her about certain items, and she responded, “If it is not useful in Cuba, we will send it to Haiti,” Father Espino recalled.
At her funeral Mass, celebrated by Bishop Manuel Aurelio Cruz, the Cuban-born auxiliary bishop of Newark referenced “Tia Goya,” the nickname given by Cubans to Sister Hilda “for the products that you sent, remembering even those details that made their meals more appetizing.”
“And how will we feed the poor without Tia Goya? Indeed, Sor Hilda, your life and your work leave us with the good taste of the Lord that only saints can give. Truly, your work was heroic,” said Bishop Cruz.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. Call 305-266-6485 for more information. For a more complete obituary of Sister Hilda, go to bit.ly/ADOM_SisterHildaAlonso.
Due to space limitations, this is the obituary of Sister Hilda Alonso that was published in the July 2022 edition of the Florida Catholic and La Voz Católica. The longer version was published online July 13, 2022, and can be accessed at the link above.
