2024-01-10 02:00:00
When making her religious vows, Sister Ana added “of the Angels” to her name. In the convent, her final home, she always maintained a serene spirit and sober enthusiasm. It was no secret how happy she felt to be able to follow the spiritual itinerary of Saint Dominic de Guzmán and Saint Catherine of Siena.
Sister Ana became mistress of novices, and, some time later, prioress. Many stories are told about that period. For example, it is said that Sister Ana always felt unfit for the position, the highest in the monastery, but that she continually repeated that she did her best to serve God in the place that He had entrusted to her.
Some of those stories evoke difficult times: her sisters’ attempts at rebellion and more than one plot to get rid of her, including an attempt to poison her. The cause: discontent with the austerity measures that Sister Ana had imposed and her express order that the nuns only wear her own habits, without any additional adornment – which meant a return to the original spirit of the Order.
Thus, Sister Ana ended up leading a radical reform in the monastery, focused exclusively on the desire for holiness: “She knew how to welcome all those who depended on her, directing them along the paths of forgiveness and a life of grace. She made her hidden presence known, beyond the walls of her convent, with the fame of her holiness. To the bishops and priests she helped with her prayer and her counsel; to the wayfarers and pilgrims who came to her, she accompanied them with her prayer” (Saint John Paul II, Homily of the Beatification Mass of Sister Ana de los Ángeles).
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