Celebrating Our History
We look back to our origins to recognize God’s action, which always recreates,
renews, opens, expands, and invites us to go forth.
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To go through the heart
To give thanks is to look back on history with depth, to let it touch your heart, and to recognize God’s presence in it.
Over the past hundred years, we have discovered a grace we have received and shared: the boldness of Margaret Mary, the openness of the Berriz community, the dedication of the first missionaries, and the lives of so many communities with whom we have walked side by side.
We are grateful for a story woven from names, faces, journeys, times of waiting, hardships, blessings, and fruits. A story that belongs to us as a gift we have received.
The Boldness of Margaret Mary
We are grateful for Margarita María’s openness and faithfulness to the newness of the Spirit. Within her, the desire to make Jesus known to the ends of the earth continued to grow.
Her passion for missionary work gradually spread to the students at the Berriz Boarding School, leading to the founding of the Mercedarian Missionary Youth, Spain’s first youth missionary association.
Later, that same momentum reached the Mercedarian community. Women who knew how to listen to God in the signs of the times were able to break through centuries of cloistered life and open up a new way of living out their charism.
The mission was born out of deep listening and a shared sense of boldness.
The First Frontiers
On September 19, 1926, six sisters left Berriz for Wuhu, China. That first group of missionaries marked the definitive beginning of a missionary history that would continue to expand.
Shortly thereafter, new expeditions took the mission to Saipan, Tokyo, and Pohnpei. In just two years, the first four MMB missions were underway.
We are grateful for the dedication of those sisters who set out for distant lands, driven by the desire to work and suffer for the Kingdom. They faced wars, exile, persecution, imprisonment, economic hardship, and so many difficulties that we now recognize as part of a history of fruitful self-sacrifice.
Begoña Dochao, Auxilio de M° Urizar, Expectación Echaniz, Josefina Bilbao, Encamación Vicandi, and Aurora Chopitea aboard the Chambord.
September 1926
So well received
Rereading our history leads us to appreciate both the great and the small blessings. It helps us recognize God’s grace, the life we share with other people and communities, and the richness of cultural diversity that has continually broadened the way we live out our mission.
We are grateful for what we have received from God, from the sisters who went before us, from the MMB laity, from the communities, from the people, and from so many others who have walked alongside us.
Gratitude brings us back to humility and hope. It reminds us that history did not begin with us and that the charism remains a living gift, received to be shared.
Why are you grateful?
We invite you to explore this living history, to share testimonies, photographs, memories, and experiences that help us recognize God’s presence in our history.
Share it on social media with the hashtag #mmb100 and tag your local communities.