April 11, 1934 – December 28, 2022

Ida Nieto was born to Guadalupe and Toribio Nieto on April 11, 1934 in Brooklyn, New York. She was one of seven children. She was a member of the Missionary Cenacle Apostolate (lay branch) for seven years and worked as a bookkeeper after graduating from Prospect Heights High School. She was attracted to religious life as a Missionary Servant by her relationship with Sr. Rose Clement, who recruited her for missionary work in her parish. She wanted to enter, but was needed at home to care for her sister Josephine, who was very ill.

Within weeks of her sister’s death, Ida wrote to Mother Mary Sebastian to ask about applying. She admitted that her parents were opposed to the idea, but she was more than ready at age 27 to get the process started. She had been having serious conversations with her pastor and wrote, “I really felt like I was getting someplace.” She entered on August 5, 1961. At her entrance to the Novitiate in 1962 she took the name Sr. Guadalupe Maria of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

There was a standard evaluation form used for sisters during their time of formation and temporary vows. Sister Guadalupe’s evaluations are remarkably consistent over her years in formation. She had opinions and did not hesitate to express them. She was a very hard worker. She was passionate. These qualities got her into trouble sometimes, but they were also the essential ingredients of her identity as a missionary. She professed her final vows on March 25, 1970.

Sr. Guadalupe had a wide variety of mission experiences. Her first mission was in Long Island City, followed by three different missions in Puerto Rico: Ponce, Cabo Rojo, and back to Ponce. After her final profession of vows, she was missioned to parish work in Newark, NJ and again in Puerto Rico, this time in Rio Piedras. In 1981 she was sent to Fordham University and obtained a Masters degree in Religious Education.

Her work broadened in scope after that. From the beginning, Sr. Guadalupe had been noted for her organizational skills and her intense concern for the poor and abandoned. She threw herself into religious education, advocacy and community organizing on behalf of the underserved Spanish-speaking communities in Camden, Framingham, Newark, Bloomfield, Flemington, Hohokus, back to Camden, then Somers Point, Summit, and Paterson, all in New Jersey. Her record shows a total of 16 ministries from 1965 to 2012.

Her two longest missions were in Rio Piedras and Newark. From 1971 to 1982, Sr. Gaudalupe worked in Rio Piedras for an association of six parishes to develop comunidades de base, Marriage encounter, Cursillo and youth leadership training programs. From 1991 to 1997, she was the Director of the Hispanic Development Corp with the New Community Corporation in Newark. There she did leadership development, organizing, and advocacy in collaboration with landlords and the police department.

She had several health issues over the years, some of them quite painful. She was often counseled to slow down, and everyone, herself included, seemed to agree that many of her health issues were aggravated or caused by too much stress and hard work. But it is evident that Guady could not bear to sit still. She was on fire to serve the overlooked, the underserved, the oppressed.

Sr. Guadalupe knew who she was. In 1965 she wrote, “My faults are many and some will probably take a lifetime’s work of prayer and sacrifice to overcome, but for the love of God, my spirit is willing.” She wanted to be good, and she always showed up for community events even when she chafed at them. When she was told she’d have to help with the cooking at her next mission, she replied, “I’ll try, but don’t expect too much!” On a ministry planning form she filled out in 2007, she shared, “I am who I am, and that’s what I take to ministry.”

Sr. Guadalupe loved her family intensely, all the time. It shows up throughout her correspondences over the years. This love was such a part of who she was, it was surely a part of the energy she poured into serving families and children in so many of her ministries.

She also loved being an MSBT. She was all in. Sister Guadalupe lived the Cenacle virtues of charity and zeal, which is the white heat of charity. She learned from her mentor Sr. Thomas Augustine to channel her zeal for the poor. While working with Sr. Thomas Augustine, she developed a great affinity for the quote of Father Judge, “Save the child and you save all.” She was a fearless advocate for the poor. Her passion did at times bring difficulties, but Father Judge would have recognized that passion. She was a Missionary Servant of the Most Blessed Trinity to the core. May she rest in peace.