Venerable Cointa Jauregui Oses. Odn The power of love and truth Born in Falces, Navarra, February 8, 1875 Entered the Order of the Company of Mary Our Lady, October 18, 1893 Dies in San Sebastian, January 17, 1954 Declared Venerable by Pope Francis, January 22, 2015 The power of love and truth were key to her life, her work of evangelization and to her dedication in promoting a much needed Christian humanist education in our world.
Cointa Jauregui Oses. Odn. Venerable Loving in small ways It is a great source of joy to make available to each and every one of our readers the DECRETUM SUPER VIRTUTIBUS in Latin and English. It testifies to the path of holiness of our beloved Sister Cointa. We also join with Pope Francis desire, shared by Cardinal Angelus Amato: «his Holiness has ordered that this decree be published and be included in the minutes of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints». With the document in our hands we have the opportunity to delve into the life of Mother Cointa. It will especially help us to discover how God is acting in every person and how God s love can transform us if we collaborate with him in his call to Love. This is how our sister understood it throughout her life. She had the grace to express this love in the small and large events that formed part of her history. We can say that the search for truth, the practice of charity and the exercise of freedom that characterized her life were her way of responding to God s unfailing Love. Remembering those who have gone before us and who have ennobled our human community is always a sign of hope. These pages are also an invitation to unravel the message that Mother Cointa s life has our times, to find our own way to respond or continue our response to God s love. This is what each author of the articles tells us in his or her own way: Maria Claustre Solé, odn offers a biblical reflection on the love of God wihich has no boundaries, love becomes flesh in Jesus of Nazareth. Mª Angeles Martínez, odn expresses the strength of Cointa s petition to the Lord, «instill in me the subtleties of charity». Father Alberto Ramirez, now resting in the hands of the Father, explains the meaning of a person s proclamation of sanctity in the church.. Marcela Bonafede, odn has composed a song with Cointa Jauregui Oses message: love in small things, «in deeds rather than words.» Sung by other voices and in other languages, we wish to share her message with the world. Beatriz Acosta Mesa odn and General Team 2
Decretum super virtutibus 3
Decree in English SAN SEBASTIAN Beatification et Canonization Servant of God Cointa Jauregui Oses Professed Religious of the Order of the Company of Mary Our Lady (1875-1954) DECRETUM SUPER VIRTUTIBUS «Love never fails» (I Co 13:8). The words on charity in the Letter to the Corinthians echoed in the heart of the Servant of God Cointa Jauregui Oses when she asked the Lord to infuse in her «the subtleties of charity». Her way of being and of situating herself in life left a deep impression on those who knew her and thus claimed that she was a holy woman. Cointa irradiated patience, abnegation, and unreserved dedication, always with a humility that made her very human and at the same time she possessed the wisdom of those who know that they are filled with someone who transcends them. The Servant of God was born in the town of Navarre Falces on February 8, 1875. She lived in Spain in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, a time marked by the contrast between major scientific and technological advances and setbacks caused by two world wars and the Spanish civil war. This context shaped her existence. In her youth she discovered that God was the love of her heart. God was the only one who could give meaning to a world in the midst of destruction and violence. In love with the Lord she left everything to follow him, and she found in the Order of the Company of Mary Our Lady and its educational mission the channel to fulfill her desires of service and dedication. Cointa received a well-rounded education by the religious founded by Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac whom she joined. She wanted to make every effort in her commitment to evangelize youth through education, to respond to the challenges of society at the time. The Virgin Mary was the model of the woman she wanted to be and the model she presented to other women. On October 18, 1893 she entered the community of Tudela to begin her formation as a religious. 4
Decree in English Throughout her life she fulfilled various tasks: teaching young girls and youth, governance, administration, formation and in all of them she knew how to combine gentleness and firmness, courage and generosity, humility and strength. The many generations she educated would always remember her for her kindness and respect. On November 17, 1899 she was one of the religious who left Tudela for Talavera de la Reina where they founded a new house of the Order. She was Superior of the House from 1915-1921 and 1925 to 1928. In 1931 she was sent to Limoges, France to become acquainted with the experience of a community that had survived political instability and religious persecution. On her return visited the communities of Orduña and San Sebastian. In these places she was remembered for her humility and her great charity. Upon her return she was reappointed superior, fulfilling this service from 1932-1940. With the wisdom that flows from an unconditional surrender, she faced the serious difficulties brought on by the war when it reached Talavera de la Reina. From September 5, 1936 until November 13, 1939, she and community had to leave the convent which was transformed into a hospital to care for and accompany the wounded in combat. At that time they thought it best for some of the religious to go to Badajoz, and Cointa initiated the opening of a school in that city. The Servant of God with courage and determination formed part of the group, even at times leading it, who opposed the union of the Houses of the Order; her position at that time was one of fidelity to the origins and tradition. However, with the same courage and her love of truth, she later accepted the light that God gave her to understand, through the knowledge of other realities and in the midst of difficult circumstances, that the union, sought at that time in the Company and the Church, was the will of the God. Ignoring criticism and misunderstandings, she did not hesitate in retracting her position, and in June 1941 she joined those whom she had previously opposed. This fact, which marked the last stage of her life, demanded a painful uprooting from the community of Talavera. She was sent to the community of San Sebastian where some time back they had already implemented the changes. They formed part of the Union since 1921. In San Sebastian she gave great proof of her humility, serving to the extent that her declining health allowed. She always radiated kindness, understanding and patience. In a short time her holiness was perceived by those who had close contact with her and by the sisters who accompanied her to the end. Mother Cointa died in San Sebastian on January 17, 1954. When the news was received, numerous written statements were received that reflected a common feeling about the sanctity of her life. By her testimony all had come to know that love is what makes 5
Decree in English a saint, what makes the world see the true face of God in them. In everyday life, in simple daily gestures, she was an extraordinary religious. Many began to pray to her and feel blessed by her intercession on their behalf. Therefore, on January 7, 1982 the Cause was introduced. Between 1982-1983 the Apostolic Process was conducted in the Bishop s office in San Sebastian. On December 21, 1984 the decree of validity was received from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. In the customary manner, the Positio super virtutibus was prepared to present how the Servant of God had exercised the virtues to a heroic degree. October 8, 2013 the Congress of Consultant Theologians took place with positive results. In the Ordinary Session of January 20, 2015, directed by me, Angelo Card. Amato, the Cardinals and Bishops acknowledged that the Servant of God had lived the theological, cardinal and other related virtues to a heroic degree. Finally, having written a detailed report on all these things by the undersigned Cardinal Prefect for the Holy Father Francis, His Holiness, accepting the votes of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and ratifying them, on this day declared: the heroism of the theological virtues faith, hope and love for both God and one s neighbor and of the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude, and the other related virtues of the Servant of God Cointa Jauregui Oses professed religious of the Order of the Company of Mary Our Lady is evident in this case and for the effects in question. The Holy Father ordered that this decree be published and to be included in the minutes of the Congregation for the Causes for Saints. Rome, January 22, 2015. ANGELUS Card. AMATO, S. D. B. Praefectus + MARCELLUS BARTOLUCCI Archiep. tit. Mevaniensis a Secretis 6
God is Love Experience tells us that «love» and «to love» are the most common and most endearing words of the human language, accessible to all men and women in all places, at all times and in different cultures. Indeed, the human being grows, is fulfilled and finds happiness in love, the purpose of existence is love. Confidence is closely related to love and only love can give us the joy of living. In the confidence that comes from love our life is integrated, is humanized, it is fulfilled. This is the witness given by people who have made love their life goal. As St. Augustine said, Love and do what you want. Saint Therese of Lisieux claimed that the Christian life is not to think much but to love much. More recently, this is the way it was understood and lived out by M. Cointa Jauregui. She translated it into everyday service as expressions of love in little details. The theme of love is present every day in our world in the media, but how often it is manipulated, conditioned and constrained! Why is it so difficult for so many people to satisfy this vital need that allows us to grow, mature and ultimately feel fulfilled and happy? Why is love often linked to so much pain and frustration? When we lack love we turn to substitutes, and material things become more and more important. We are in a society where almost everything has a price, but love cannot be bought or sold, or stolen or demanded. Quite often we experience a love that expects something in return, loving because one is attracted by the object loved and a person loves precisely because of this. True love can only be offered and accepted, given and received, in and with freedom. Psychology tells us that we cannot love others if we do not start by loving ourselves and we cannot love ourselves if we have not felt loved before, dearly loved. Here s the key. To transform into Love means learning to love freely: be an outstretched hand ready to give without expecting anything in return. 7
A look at the bible K. Barth said that to understand the Bible as the Word of God we must have a newspaper in one hand and the sacred text in the other. Life presents challenges and questions that force us to go to the Bible; also, the reading of the Word brings us back to life, but with a new vision. In this reflection on love we will try to follow the advice of Barth, because regarding such a fundamental issue as love we cannot ignore the Bible that deals with it in all its dimensions. Being a very broad topic, we will simply address a few points. From the outset it is important to remember that the men and women of the Bible felt themselves brought into life by the hand of God, created in his image, and they lived referring to God as their source. God was, so to speak, like their home and if God was love, love for them was the defining element of the human being. God is love God is love and the human being, created in his image receives a spark, a spark of that fire, life comes to fruition if this flame does not go out, life is revived every day to develop the capacity to love. In Deuteronomy we are told that the focal point of the law is to love God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. 1 In Leviticus this provision is complemented by: love your neighbor as yourself. 2 This highlights that the precepts of God are not intended as a yoke, but He tells us precisely what leads to fullness, what can fulfill us, what makes happiness possible for us. Yes, God s love is the source of happiness: «Your love is better than life, 3» says the psalmist when he experiences it in a moment of prayer. Creation itself is an act of love and the human being, created by love, discovers he is loved, and how he feels the fullness of his being when loved. Actually, both creation and human history find their ultimate meaning in God s love. This is how the author of the Book of Wisdom understood it when he says: 1 Dt 6:5. Mt 22:37. 2 Lv 19:18. 3 Ps 63:4. 8
Indeed, before you the whole universe is like a grain from a balance, or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth. But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook sins for the sake of repentance. For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for you would not fashion what you hate. How could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you? But you spare all things, because they are yours, o Ruler and Lover of souls, for your imperishable spirit is in all things! (Wisdom 11:21-12:1) Yes, the history of humanity, with its lights and shadows of love, with its pages of love splashed with patches of violence, is illuminated by the light of God s love. Saint Igantius of Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises presents the Incarnation as the response of the Holy Trinity contemplating a humanity in need of redemption. Hence the history of salvation finds its full explanation in God-Love. In Jesus, love is enfleshed In the New Testament we find that in Jesus of Nazareth God s love is enfleshed; it becomes visible, palpable. Thus he can say, Whoever sees me sees the Father. 4 In his baptism Jesus lived the power and the challenge entailed in being the beloved son of God. Hence his mission starts with power; Jesus will manifest this love not only in his teachings but in each and every one of his gestures down to surrendering his life for love. And love is the law of the disciple: I give you a new commandment: love one another. Even as I have loved you, that you also may love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (Jn. 13:34ss). This commandment is new because never before the coming of Christ had something similar been demanded. Jesus demands love to the point of giving one s life, the supreme gift. According to the Gospel of John, the Father loves us with the same love with which he loves the Son. If Genesis tell us that God created man in his image, in the New Testament we are told that he loves us in such a way that we can become the image of his own child, a son who loves us with the same love with which he loves the Father; He loves us as children of the Father and love makes us his brothers. In this way we are introduced into the deepest of the mysteries: Trinitarian love. 4 Jn 14:9. 9
Thanks to the Spirit of Jesus, the disciples understood it and above all lived it. Hence, the author of the First Letter of John writes: Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God, everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. 5 Love is, therefore, the defining element of the person, a love that makes loving possible and response in love. He who truly loves God lives in profound communion with him and there is no force that can snatch the treasure of Christ s love from us. In the letter to the Romans, Paul sys: What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rm 8:35, 38-39). Love has no boundaries True love has no limits. Human love is limited as we creatures are. Only when our love is born of the experience of God can we intuit the gratuitousness of this love that knows no boundaries. Genuine love directs us to the supernatural because it is supernatural. There is a saying that states, "love is repaid with love." He who has experienced the gratuitous love of God is compelled to translate it into love of neighbor. In the first letter of John we read: "If anyone says he loves God and hates his brother, he is a liar. He who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have received from Him: that he who loves God must also love his brother." (1 Jn 4:20-21) It is worth listening to the words of the Apostle: If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1Co 13) 5 1Jn 4:7-8 10
Although, we do not think we can say more about love, Paul exalts it to such a degree that he places it above faith and hope by stating that love will never cease to exist. In the glory of the kingdom we shall not require faith or hope because we live fully in God who is Love. We grow in faith when it is enfleshed in our lives; our love reaches maturity when we are moved from within as one day Jesus was. He contemplated the pain of our world with an action-filled mercy looking for ways to transform suffering into the pain of childbirth, in seeds of life and not abortion. If we go through life with open eyes and we do not get lost in mental speculations we can experience how this love of God is not something sporadic but manifests itself the small gifts of providence daily and that often go unnoticed. In short we could say that everything begins by opening roads to Love because only to the extent that we accept the love of God are we able to love. We love because He first loved us, 6 we read in the First Letter of John. And John of the Cross reminds us that in the evening of life we will be judged according to how we have loved. Maria Claustre Solé odn Religious of the Company of Mary Our Lady Doctor of theology, specializing in Holy Scripture, Professor at the Faculty of Theology in Catalonia and the Institute of Religious Sciences in Barcelona. 6 1Jn 4:19. 11
Venerable Cointa Jauregui: Always and IN EVERY way Good The saints are the sacramental expression of the ideal of holiness that whole community of the followers of the Lord are called to make January 23 of this year, the Company of Mary joyfully received the news declared by the Holy See in the decree recognizing the "heroism" of the virtues of Mother Cointa Jauregui Oses, a Spanish religious of the Company of Mary who lived between 1875 and 1954. This decree was given by Pope Francis on the 22nd of the same month after receiving the favorable report from the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Angelo Amato. The declaration as Venerable Mother Cointa, Servant of God clears the way for her beatification and canonization. This normally occurs as a result of the recognition of a proven miracle in each of these stages. The meaning of the Church s solemn proclamation of a person s sanctity can be better understood if one takes into account what has been the practice throughout history. In the early centuries of Christianity this practice was an act by which the veneration rendered to people recognized as saints was approved in the particular churches. Originally they were martyrs. Approval of the homage rendered was the responsibility of bishops. Later in the middle age, we know that this practice was no longer limited to the approval of the cult of martyrs. It was extended to those whom the Christian community recognized as intercessors with God by virtue of their merits as models of Christian life, for having practiced virtues to a heroic degree. With the passage of time this recognition became a duty of the Pope s ministry. However, it was not until the seventeenth century, under the pontificate of Pope Urban VIII, that this prerogative was fully recognized by him. The criteria for the proclamation of sainthood that occurred in the course of the Church s history were several: first of all, martyrdom, then heroic virtues (and in some cases the orthodoxy of writings), and finally performing miracles, especially miracles of healing the sick. The Pope can certainly dispense the criterion of miracles, as was recently demonstrated by Pope Francis regarding the canonization of Pope John XXIII. 12
It is evident that the Church attaches great importance to the practice of official recognition by the Magisterium to the sanctity of its members, not only in the Catholic Church but also in the Eastern rite. In doing so, the Church does not deny that holiness is a reality solely because it is officially recognized by canonization, but that it often exists in the real life of its members who, in a hidden and silent way, live a life of holiness that goes unnoticed in the eyes of men, but certainly not in the eyes of God. In practice we speak about the sanctity of ordinary and common people whom we meet in everyday life. Obviously this does not mean that the proclamation of sainthood that is officially given by the Magisterium of the Church does not constitute an ecclesial act of great value and one that we appreciate very much: the recognition of the fulfillment of the aim of the life of the whole Church is indeed very important. The saints are, in this sense, the sacramental expression of the ideal of holiness that the whole community of the followers of the Lord are called to make. It's what the Second Vatican Council in the fifth chapter of the Constitution Lumen Gentium ("The universal call to holiness") wanted us to remember by means of contextualizing the Church s sacramental dimension regarding consecrated life (chapter Six of the Constitution on "Religious life"). This is what the Church wants to express in its proclamation of saints. The rationale behind this ecclesiological view of the phenomenon of holiness is the specific criterion that helps us understand Christian existence more deeply: following the Lord, the practice of the evangelical counsels, the commitment of one s life to the building of the Kingdom of God in human life. The biographers of Mother Cointa have written important things. On the occasion of the recognition of her heroic virtues, it would serve us well to read them: Father Antonio Garmendia de Otaola SJ. (Estrella y estela: Vida de la Rvda. Madre Coínta Jáuregui Osés de la Orden de la Compañía de María Nuestra Señora, Grijelmo, 1956); Mother Silvia Vallejo and Mother Maria Mercedes Aizpuru (Así nos trabaja Dios. Relectura de la vida de Coínta Jáuregui Osés, odn. Lestonnac Edition, ODN IV Centenario, No. 4), among others. There is, above all, a beautiful expression that can summarize everything we know about Mother Cointa: the witness of people who wanted to testify what her life was like, an expression that admirably defines what she was and how she attained the ideal of holiness: "always and every way good". For a community of religious like the Company of Mary, the official recognition by the Church of the sanctity of one of its sisters has to be a Deep source of joy. It is a way to verify in a concrete manner that what has been lived out is ultimately its ideal and that of the entire community. Every religious community should be a seedbed of holiness, 13
demonstrating that it is possible to realize the ideal of consecrated life as a sacrament of holiness. And, although the official recognition of holiness given by the Church for the canonization of saints is very important, we know that the most important thing in real life is what we witness in the day to day: the admirable reality of the life of many people who humbly and silently fulfill the ideal of perfection. Ultimately, that is what the "Venerable" Mother Cointa lived. This is the reason for our joy on the occasion of the recognition of the "heroism" of her virtues, a joy that we also share in a special way by the fact that this recognition takes place in the year of consecrated life convened by Pope Francis. Alberto Ramírez Zuluaga. Priest of the Archdiocese of Medellín. Chaplain of the Company of Mary Doctor in Theology. Professor at the Bolivariana Pontifical University and Celam + March, 31, 2015 14
Mother Cointa Jauregui, Odn A Personal Testimony My God, infuse in my soul the subtleties of charity C.J. I want to give personal witness regarding Mother Cointa, since recently I have become more aware of her impact. The prayer,, I know Mother Cointa lived the phrase, "My God, infuse in my soul the subtleties of charity in many acts of charity and the quality of her love expressed in tenderness, the new commandment of Jesus (Jn. 13, 34-35) Wherever she went, Talavera de la Reina, Badajoz and San Sebastian, I remember how in written material and comments the explicit testimony of the sisters regarding her kindness, especially in San Sebastian. Mother Cointa died in that city in 1954 and I entered the novitiate of San Bartolome, San Sebastian in 1956. I learned about the following traits of her life: the practice of solid virtues, gift for governance, an educator with apostolic zeal with students, alumni, that is to say, with the laity and open to the signs of the times. I realize that in my life the prayer of Mother Cointa has been as a "mantra" I have repeated many times, especially in times of forgiveness, reconciliation, wanting to love as Jesus loved. I believe that Mother Cointa has accompanied me in my desire to be one with everyone, with all the sisters, also in those critical moments in life when fraternal relationships become more difficult. This is what in our tradition we call "union of hearts". One day I received the card with the phrase, "My God, infuse in my soul the subtleties of charity" and since that day, I photocopy and give it away. A very important part of my life in recent years is that in giving retreats and directing the Spiritual Exercises to lay- people, priests, and religious, I find that whenever I have to talk about fraternal love, community life, and making reference to the washing of the feet (Jn 13: 12-15), the commandment of love (Jn 13: 34-35; 1 John 4: 7-9), St. Paul s hymn of charity (1 Cor 13: 1-13), Mother Cointa s phrase usually comes to mind. It is interesting that when I say the quote, someone asks me to repeat it... I notice that people write it down carefully. Even more striking is that some 15
share with me that it challenges them in their daily life, in critical moments of family reconciliation and their consecrated life. I find in a "charismatic" way that it touches the desire to live more authentically the new commandment of Jesus. They ask for the grace, infuse in my soul, and desire for a love of this kind, the subtleties of charity. This experience of Mother Cointa made into a prayer is central and a charismatic grace. I feel that it was at the center of her Christian life, a life-style of solid virtues like Jeanne de Lestonnac, a life ready to change with mature discernment that led her to leave her beloved convent of Talavera and move to the Company in fidelity to the educational project of our Holy Mother, and openness to the signs of the times. Her direct relationship and correspondence with many lay people, alumnae, also speaks to me of an apostolic openness beyond the religious community. I also find that in my writings I include the phrase, knowing that it touches and challenges; it is accepted and it is helpful. María Angeles Martínez, odn Religious of the Company of Mary. Spaniard, missionary in Chile for 45 years Specialist in Mariology and Pastoral Theology 16
Love in Works Love expressed through our works is more important than words. (2) The most important act in life is simple gestures, That express our kindness to one another, the routine of our daily lives, is our form of prayer. We are infused the kindness lived through our own Charity Love expressed through our works Is more important tan words. (2) The Lord Works through us, Like the potter at his bench. He gives us our ministry. We are the bearers Of His own creativity. Prayer Lord God, who has wished To adorn Venerable Mother Cointa With so many virtues and graces, Grant us, by your intercession, The grace of a loving abandonment To your Will And a burning love For Jesus Christ and his Mother. Give us also The graces we need For your greater honor and glory And for the glorification of your servant. Amen. (Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be) We are infused The love Cointa knows, is to serve humankind, to listen to those who are fragile, To do the more and be the faithful Call to all his people. We are infused Lyris and Music: Marcela Bonafede odn Voices: Sharon Lamprecht and Valentina Arango Arrangements: Luis Fernando Guarin To communicate favors received and to send donations direct yourself to: Hna. Montserrat Martí, odn. C. Aragó, 284 trip-08009 Barcelona e-mail: mmartioliveras@gmail.com