Esperanza Ayerbe (+1967) left the peace of the Madrid monastery to go on a mission, along with two other Augustinian Recollect nuns, to the mission of Kweitehfu, Henan, China. Her life of prayer and her apostolic zeal have led her own sisters in religion to promote the process of her canonization. In 1915 Pope Francis declared her venerable.
Antonia Ayerbe, today known as Mother Esperanza Ayerbe de la Cruz, was born in Monteagudo, Navarra, on a hot June 8, 1890. The simple people affectionately call her father, Ignacio, El Provinciano, who arrived in Monteagudo de Ataun (Guipúzcoa).
In Monteagudo, Navarra
Ignacio wants to be a carpenter and moves to Tudela de Navarra to learn this trade, which he ends up practicing in Monteagudo, where he marries Araceli Castillo. On June 8, a girl was born to them, who at baptism received the name Salustiana Antonia.
As a child, Antonia appears affectionate, full of kindness, dedicated, but also suffering, like when her two young twin brothers die.
The lack of work forced his father to change residence and El Provinciano returned in 1901 to his land, to Tolosa (Guipúzcoa), where he would continue practicing his trade as a carpenter.
Antonia has to leave Monteagudo and says goodbye with nostalgia to her friends, to her favorite streets and corners, to her Lady of the Way to whom she loves and prays every day; She even reaches the Moncayo, she receives the caress of her deep gaze.
In Tolosa, Guipúzcoa
Three children are born to the young couple in Tolosa: María, Jesús and Pepito. Antonia takes care of her little brothers, lovingly exercising the privilege of being an older sister; She collaborates in the good running of the house. She is a normal girl: discreet, hard-working, responsible; people like her; she showers love everywhere.
Tolosa has class! It is much larger than Monteagudo, with a lot of industry; There is also a sewing workshop, where Antonia, wanting to help her parents, asks for a job, which she is granted. The teenager Antonia must have liked this job very much, because, even though she is a nun, she skillfully uses a sewing machine to make fine ornaments in the house where she arrives.
In Andoain, Guipúzcoa
Ignacio has a desire to improve himself and decides to set up a cabinet shop to his liking, but it will not be in Tolosa, where there are already quite a few, but after investigating he settles in Andoain (Guipúzcoa). In this town he rents a large house and begins to make walnut furniture.
Antonia is around twenty years old. She again experiences the heartbreak of farewell, but. She learns to let go of things almost without intending to. She resumes her life of piety and work at home knowing that, being her good daughter, she is a true Christian.
One morning there is commotion in Andoain: the telephone company arrives to install a switchboard. Those responsible look at the house that the Ayerbe-Castillo family has rented; It is spacious, airy, with enough space for what you plan to do. They speak with the owner and he, once the family has been consulted and with his consent, rents three rooms for this purpose. The position for telephone operator will soon be put up for competition. Antonia believes that she should take advantage of this opportunity.
She prepares the program conscientiously; Above all, she finds it difficult to learn Basque well. Born on the banks of Navarra, she does not master her native language; But she is not afraid, she sets her mind to it and wins the competitions. We already have her as a telephone operator. And how happy she feels contributing the salary to her parents to help support their large family!
At that time, her youngest was born, that little girl they call Carmenchu. Antonia’s affection is poured out on her little sister, as if she wanted to give her at once all the same caresses that she would not be able to give her later.
God meets her
Antonia begins to glimpse what God wants from her. In prayer she sees that God wants her for Himself.
During the last few years she has corresponded frequently with her uncle Francisco, her mother’s brother; He is a missionary in the Philippines, he belongs to the Order of Augustinian Recollects. After completing the novitiate and professing in Monteagudo, she studied theological studies in Marcilla, Navarra. Now with other companions, he is an evangelizer in the Philippine Islands. Antonia tells him her doubts, asks him for advice and finally makes up her mind.
Without a doubt it is he, as an Augustinian Recollect, who suggests the convent where he can enter, the royal monastery of the Incarnation of the Augustinian Recollects of Madrid. She knows that she can walk quietly. Her sister María is already old enough to take up her position as a telephone operator and her parents will not lack financial help.
Just like that, without noise, with the consent of her Christian parents, but with a bleeding heart, she leaves her sweet home. The last night she decides to sleep at the house of her friends Benigna and Micaela Aguirre. This way she won’t have to say goodbye to her loved ones. She feels that her heart betrays him and she orders her sister Maria to tell them the news.
In the monastery of the Encarnación in Madrid
How long the trip was for Antonia to reach the capital of Spain! Finally, the Royal Monastery of the Encarnación in Madrid where she arrived at the beginning of the summer of 1917 with her heart broken by the separation, but with the happiness that comes from fulfilling the will of God. It’s her birthday, June 8: she turns 27 exactly.
Her sisters receive her with affection. She shakes off the strong impressions of her and easily adapts to the new life. She takes possession of the cell assigned to her and she enjoys the peace of that tiny room. She begins an adventure and gives of herself generously; She knows that she has the great Amador in her favor and the young woman begins her contemplative life.
It takes her just six months to put on her habit; That day, December 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, she changed Antonia’s name to Sister Esperanza de la Cruz. That’s how we will continue to call it.
Sister Esperanza likes to remember what the Constitutions say: “The Augustinian Recollection arose under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, with the main purpose that its members, in unity of will and in a perfect life, deal only with prayer, silence and penance. , to help the Church, people of God, in its needs.” That is my vocation: prayer, sacrifice, silence, for the salvation of the world, says Sister Esperanza. This is how it will be forever; until He wants to transplant me to the heavenly mansions. That’s what you think about.
The novitiate year passes like a breeze. She sees exemplary nuns and she wants to grow in service and she gives herself to God. Without intending to, she knows how to win the affection of her sisters; It is not unusual that, after one year, she is given her profession. That day she is happy, she gives herself to God without reservation, through the Holy Mother Church who receives her vows. Esperanza enters fully into the Augustinian Recollect spirit; She tries to fulfill her job and her community tasks as best as possible.
Fourteen years of monastic life pass quickly. Sister Esperanza refines virtues with the fine breath of the doctrine of the great Augustine and the constant search for Christ, whom she calls my only Love.
She combines the serene contemplation of the divine mysteries with the jobs assigned to her: she is a wardrobe, nurse, and in charge of cleaning the choir stands. In nursing, she exudes tenderness, caring solicitous for the sick sisters, trying to make her suffering easier for them. And how the years fly by in her beloved convent! She is sure of her calling; She only thinks about being faithful to Him who has had the delicacy to notice her littleness and has called her to Himself.
Fourteen years of prayerful, sacrificial, silent life… Can she suspect that very soon she will completely change the direction of her life? She doesn’t even imagine it. But God is surprising, and he is going to uninstall Sister Esperanza. He is going to invite her to leave everything that she has found in the Incarnation and that she loves so much: her convent, her nuns, her retreat, her… He is going to invite her to leave her security so that she can be a missionary in a portion of the Church, there, in the distant nation of China.
China as horizon
Until 1930 her life in her cloister was happy: she was a model of fidelity to her contemplative vocation. But “the ways of the Lord are not our ways.” An unexpected visit changes the course of her life. At the end of 1930, Monsignor Francisco Javier Ochoa Ullate, Augustinian Recollect, apostolic prefect of the mission of Kweitehfu (=Shangqiu), China, came to Spain and visited the community of La Encarnación in Madrid where he asked for volunteers to work in his beloved mission. of China, which had been entrusted to him.
Sister Esperanza hears the voice of God inviting her to leave the peace of the monastery and embark on this new adventure and, although it is difficult for her to leave her community, thinking that she is the will of God who gives the strength she needs. Esperanza is approved by the Holy See to go to the China mission together with sisters Angeles Garcia and Carmela Ruiz of the Corpus Christi monastery of Granada of the Contemplatives Augustinian Recollects of Granada.
