She was baptized on August 17, 1941 at the parish of Holy Agony/ Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in New York. Rose attended St. Cecilia grade school and graduated from St. Jean Baptiste High School in Manhattan.
Rose said that she knew from an early age and with all the confidence and certitude of a seven year old that she was going to be a nun and a social worker.
Rose also shared that she and some other eighth grade girls liked to play word games during recess. One day, they asked each other to share the initials of their boyfriend. Rose wrote J.C. They didn’t have to give the names. Just the initials!
We know it was a long journey from that seven year old’s certitude about her future until that dream was fulfilled when she made her religious profession. Rose said, there was a restlessness and a surfacing of questions that she and so many experienced in the sixties, and this contributed to her delay.
In the meantime, Rose did become a Social Worker, and in 1982, Rose applied to be a national Urban Fellow, a program for accomplished and courageous professionals to be leaders and change agents in the public and nonprofit sectors, with a strong commitment to social justice and equity.Perfect for Rose! In her personal statement, when asked, who am I, Rose said, “I am the bodegero’s daughter. As the daughter of a bodegero (grocery store owner) in the ‘Barrio’ of East Harlem, I experienced early and intensely the problems that beset the Puerto Rican community in the 1950’s as it struggled to survive and improve the quality of life of its members. At the age of ten, I started an apprenticeship that would see me through my late teens. My father’s bodega was not just a small, family-run business, but a communal institution which provided a bridge between the island and the mainland. As such, it drew all elements of the community like a magnet. My father not only sold food and provided credit for his customers, he functioned equally as part social worker, translator, advocate, lawyer and employment agency.” Rose did have a wonderful mentor in her father.
She said those experiences were to shape her very being and formed the cornerstones in the development of her social awareness and political consciousness.
Rose acquired a Bachelors Degree from City College of New York, a Masters Degree in Counseling from Inter American University in San Juan and a Master of Public Administration from Baruch College of the City University of New York. Rose did become an Urban Fellow in San Diego, California. Before entering the community, she was the executive assistant to the director of the Department of Social Services in San Diego County in California, where she worked on policy formation and emerging projects. At the time she was the highest ranking Latina in San Diego County government. Her boss tried to persuade her not to leave San Diego. He said, “She was responsible for many contributions that improved the quality of life for our disadvantaged citizens”.
One day in 1988, two MSBT Sisters, Maria Rincon and Mary Kay McDonald, went from Los Angeles to a quieter town in Orange County for a couple of retreat days. The sister in charge, who was also a vocation director for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Los Angeles, told us there was a woman on retreat who was discerning her vocation with her. Rose’s family had moved back to San Juan and belonged to one of the ST parishes. Rose also had returned to Puerto Rico for studies. She was very impressed with their sense of joy and said their emphasis on the Trinity was refreshing.
When Rose realized we were part of the same religious family, the discernment took a very different turn! Rose also said her mother prayed the ST vocation prayer every day.
A year after meeting the community, Rose headed to 14th Street to begin her time in Vocation Placement. Her ministry was in Catholic Social Services. She began Candidacy on September 8, 1990, Novitiate in 1999, First Profession on March 19, 1993, and Final Profession on March 25, 1998.
Her missionary life took Rose to many places, including returning to 14th Street after her First Profession. Then, to Temascalapa, Mexico, where she engaged in counseling and parish ministry; followed by Quincy, Florida, where she was well known for her work with immigration, often offering hope and compassion to a people living in the shadows. Rose followed that ministry with one in San Juan working at Centros Sor Isolina Ferré . She then returned to the South as part of the Hispanic Ministry in Dothan, Alabama. Her next mission was in Montgomery, Alabama at Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Mobile. This was followed by Hispanic Ministry in Phoenixville, PA and then intra community service at the Motherhouse.
On October 30, 2023, Rose was missioned to Mother Boniface Missionary Cenacle at Wesley Enhanced Living where she was a blessing to the Sisters and other residents, often visiting them and praying with them. In all her ministries, Rose demonstrated a strong missionary spirit. She was known to be compassionate and generous, so often going the extra mile, a woman of prayer and hope, a woman who was most grateful and proud to be a Missionary Servant of the Most Blessed Trinity.
Rose had a great trust in Divine Providence, and was convinced it was the Divine Providence that took her to the retreat house where she would meet two Sisters who belonged to the same family as her beloved STs in Puerto Rico.
In a statement preceding Final Profession, Rose said, “I know I have been called to love and serve our Triune God as a Missionary Servant. I know not what the future holds for us as a community, or for myself as an individual, and it concerns me not for it will all be in the Lord’s loving Providence. Perhaps this is an invitation from Rose, a parting gift, reminding us to trust in God’s Providence.