Mamie and the Holy Father
By Fr. Rafael Alonso Reymundo
Mamie was born on July 12, 1908 and died August 4, 1994. In this interval of time that constituted her earthly life, there were various popes that governed the Church: St. Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, and John Paul II.
Her weak catechetical formation, that is to say her lack of formation, for a long time impeded her from being able to value the figure of the Holy Father. Like many baptized Catholics who do not live their faith, out of culpability or ignorance (the latter of which was the case of Mamie), in referring to the hierarchy of the Church, she considered it as a superstructure of power, of lordship, at best: of administration.
We have to understand that all would change in Mamie through her conversion.
In spite of having a sister who was a religions sister a Daughter of Charity, and although she respected and supported her in her decision of service to the poor, she did not understand the mysterious dimension of holiness and of the life of the Church. What was visible of the Church she interpreted in a superficial and coarse way although it was not culpable in her case.
But everything changed when, with His grace, the Lord granted her the grace of His illumination and manisfestation in the mystery of the Church.
She told me what happened. It was an immense grace, so great a grace in fact that she could not stand to hear conversations of hate and accusations against the Church. Now she
saw the Church as the Spotless Bride of Christ, in the dimension of Her holiness, adorned as a bride adornes herself for her bridegroom. It is not strange, therefore, that in this new light that she had received, her perception of the Holy Father made a radical change, through her conversion at the end of 1954. For example, in a letter written to her sister December 8, 1954, she speaks of the closure of the Marian Year declared by Pius XII saying, “Dear Sister, We are writing to you in a beautiful moment. Mother and I are listening to the rebroadcast of the closure of the Marian Year in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. As you can see, we could not have chosen a better moment. His Holiness is speaking right now. It is so exciting...he just finished! The solemn ceremony has ended.”
Her admiration for Pope Pius XII was evident.
From this moment on, I saw that she always had an extreme love for the Pope, no matter who the Holy Father was.
In the summer of 1975, I went to Rome for the first time with Mamie and I remember her there, immersed in a state of prayer, while the Holy Father, His Holiness Paul VI, rode around in the back of the pope-mobile with bunches of grapes in his hands. I heard her exclaim various times, “Poor martyr of the Vatican!”
Mamie felt in an almost perceptible way the suffering implied in being the leader of the Church in times of intense crisis. Mamie united herself with the suffering of the Roman Pontiff not only in a theoretical way, but in an existencial way as well. She offered her physical and spiritual sufferings and her life of prayer so that the Holy Father would be able to continue on this path of offering for the Church.
There is so much to say about Mamie’s love for the Pope, but that we can do at another time.
©HM Magazine No.125 - July/August 2005
