Funeral Rites Held for Nun Hilda Alonso in Miami

July 13, 2022

The Ermita de la Caridad del Cobre began this Tuesday the farewell to Cuban nun Hilda Alonso in funeral rites that were broadcast live on Facebook. Alonso passed away on July 5 at the age of 101 and was "one of the most important religious figures of Cuban exile of all time".

"We ask the Lord to receive her for all the works of Sister Hilda, which are considerable, to forgive her faults and that the mercy of the Lord lead our sister to the celestial banquet", said a priest at the ceremony.

"Sister Hilda, distinguished Daughter of Charity. Educator of generations. Mother of the poor and protector of the persecuted. Founder and faithful servant. All Cuba, with its two lungs on the Island and in the diaspora, thank you and bless you for your centennial and fruitful life consecrated to the Lord, to the Virgin, to the Church and to Cuba. May They receive you with the Crown of Life. Sister Hilda, pray for Cuba and for its Church. Amen", said Catholic activist Dagoberto Valdés Álvarez.

Hilda Alonso Llevada was born on February 10, 1921 in San Juan y Martínez, Pinar del Río, daughter of Ramón and Catalina. She studied at Colegio La Inmaculada through high school and, in 1946, obtained a doctorate in education from the University of Havana, according to the local newspaper The Miami Herald.

In 1946 she joined the Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, where she took her first vows in 1951. Until 1959 she was a leader at La Inmaculada, also the headquarters of the Daughters of Charity in Cuba.

At La Inmaculada, one of Cuba's iconic Catholic schools, Sister Hilda firmly advocated for the education of Cuban children and opened doors to girls whose parents could not afford tuition.

"She was a woman of strong character who, being short and thin, would look at you when you did something wrong and you would tremble. However, throughout all my life at her side, I never heard her raise her voice. She spoke in a low voice, but in a powerful way, with sweetness and great faith in God", said Zizi Careaga, president of the Association of Alumni of Colegio de la Inmaculada of Miami. Between 1960 and 1961, Sister Hilda served as director of Colegio de Belén in Santiago de Cuba, "a position that was suddenly halted during the anti-religious campaign of the rising communist government, which confiscated Catholic schools and other Church institutions. Religious intolerance forced into exile some 200 nuns who made up the order", noted the aforementioned source.

Hilda Alonso first went into exile in Puerto Rico, where she was director of Colegio La Milagrosa, in the city of Ponce, and superior of the Casa de Estudios, a residence for students of the Catholic University of Ponce. In 1965 she was appointed supervisor of the Head Start educational centers in the Diocese of Ponce and provincial administrator of the Province of the Daughters of Charity in Puerto Rico.

"In 1981, Sister Hilda returned permanently to Miami and directed the religious education program at the Parish of Saint Vincent de Paul. By then the apostolate of the Daughters of Charity had extended to the San Juan Bosco Church in Little Havana, where she cared for the elderly, children and Mariel refugees", noted The Miami Herald.

Hilda Alonso remained active until her retirement in 2014, at the age of 93, due to health reasons. "She supervised the collection and shipment of containers with food, medicine and other provisions to missions in Haiti and Cuba. In 2016 she celebrated 70 years of religious life".

The funeral mass will be this Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. followed by burial at the cemetery of Nuestra Señora de la Merced, added the local Miami media outlet.