In connection with the 500th anniversary of the evangelization of the Continent of Latin America, the SSpS General Assembly of the Provincials, which took place in São Paulo in 1993, decided to begin two new missions on the Continent, one of them being Cuba.

The initiative came as a response to an application to Sr. Annemarie Reisch SSpS, the then Superior General, by a group of laity in Guatemala who belonged to and were collaborating with the Divine Word Missionaries in the parish of Mayari.

Such a petition was also endorsed by the Bishop of the Diocese of Holguin, Monsignor Hector Peña who closely accompanied the foundation process with paternal care and wisdom. The preparation and transfer of Sisters destined for the Cuban Mission was the direct responsibility of the Province of Chile, with the collaboration of the Provinces of Argentina and with the support of the Continental Coordinator, who in this case, was Sr. Blanca Araceli Roveda, SSpS.

The Sisters who Constituted the Founding Team were:
• Sr. Matilde Roschge, SSpS: of the Province of Argentina South
• Sr. Aluigia Hoeing, SSpS: of the Province of Chile
• Sr. Dina Tobares, SSpS: of the Province of Argentina North
• Sr. Ana Maria Bloom, SSpS: of the Province of Argentina North
• Sr. Verónica Obexer, SSpS: of the Province of Argentina Misiones

Of these five Sisters, the first three entered Cuba in the month of March 1996 after having waited two long years for visa. At the explicit request of Bishop Hector Peña, the Sisters remained for some time in the Bishop’s house while waiting for the construction and completion of their own house in a place called Nicaro, within the limits of the parish of Mayarí. Besides, the Bishop wanted the Sisters to get a good introduction to the cultural, historical, social and religious realities of Cuba by making use of the courses and programmes offered by the diocese.

The official date of the opening of the new foundation took place on 25th March 1996, on the Feast of the Annunciation, with the transfer of the three appointed Sisters to Nicaro. The new community accepted as protector and patroness our Co-foundress Blessed Maria Helena and called the place Villa Madre Maria

The Founding of a Second Community

One of the events the first group of Sisters witnessed even as residents of the Bishop’s House was the erection of the Diocese of Bayamo/Manzanillo in the province of Granma on the 10th of March 1996. They participated in the solemn ceremony of the newly- consecrated Titular Bishop Monsignor Dionisio García, who assumed the responsibility as pastor of the new diocese.

Taking note of the scarcity of religious, he very soon turned to our Congregation with an application to begin a community in a remote parish of his Diocese in the locality of Niquero. Thus the second community began with three Sisters

Sr. Verónica Obexer who was in Nicaro
• Sr. Maria Cristina Krupek, SSpS of the Province of Brazil South
• Sr. Miriam Perez, SSpS of the Province of Chile