FAREWELL TO SISTER TEREZA BRANCALIONE

Last February 23, 2021 Sr. Tereza Brancalione of the Ministers of the Sick of St. Camillus passed
away in Nairobi. She spent most of her life in the missions, including thirty-eight years in Kenya.
The Camillians, especially those who met her in Tabaka and Nairobi intend, with this writing, to
express their gratitude.

“Oh, here comes Reverend Mother!” This is what the elderly Jesuit called her when she arrived in the room
for the medication. This happened in 2016, after she was assigned to the “Pedro Arrupe” infirmary of the
Jesuits of Karen (Nairobi). But, after a few months, the same religious who joked calling the nurse
“Reverend Mother” now greeted her calling her simply “mother”, that is mum, because that was how that
nurse behaved: like a mum!

We are talking about Sr. Tereza Brancalione, a Camillian nun who passed away on February 23, 2021 in
Nairobi (Kenya), following a short illness. From her name one could think that she was Italian – in fact she
spoke Italian very well -, except that in her first name there is that “z” of Tereza which makes us
understand that she was not Italian, but Brazilian of distant Italian origins (precisely from Verona).
Missionary in Italy

Sister Tereza Brancalione was born in Protàsio Alves – Nova Prata / RS, Brazil, to Luiz Brancalione and
Maria Lunardi on September 24, 1948. At the age of 14, on January 2, 1962, she was admitted as an
aspirant to the Congregation of the Camillian Sisters in São Leopoldo, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul.
On July 7, 1965, she took simple vows, after which she attended the Nursing Course and in 1970 she was
sent “on mission” to Italy where she worked in an outpatient clinic in Lucca for three years. On June 24,
1972, she made her perpetual vows at the Generalate in Rome and then returned to Brazil in 1973. In the
ten years that followed, Sr. Tereza, as a worthy daughter of Blessed Domenica Brun Barbantini, practiced
the activity of a nurse caring for the sick in several hospitals, perfecting her diploma in Technical Nursing
(1978) and also fulfilling the position of community superior. It was in this period that Sr. Tereza
contracted the tuberculosis infection for which she had to fight for over eight months.
Missionary in Africa

In 1983 she returned to the University where she achieved a further specialization in Nursing Sciences, so
that she was ready for the greatest adventure of her life, of which, however, she had no knowledge. This
adventure became reality when the Superior General asked her to go on a mission, this time not in Italy
but in more distant lands, in Africa, precisely in Kenya. Sr. Tereza accepted the order from above with
obedience and enthusiasm and on 21th December 1983 she landed at Nairobi airport from which she
immediately went to Tabaka Mission Hospital, run by the Camillian Religious, where four of her sisters
already worked for seven years. She stayed in Tabaka for a short time, just to learn English, because in
1984 she moved to Ongata Rongai, in the metropolitan area of Nairobi, to serve at the “Fatima Health

Center”. She remained there until 1990 when she arrived at the House of Formation and headquarters of
the Delegation located in Masai Lane, Nairobi. Here she exercised the office of Superior of the Delegation
of Kenya for nine years (1990-1999) and at the same time she was engaged in the formation of aspirants
and young African nuns. At this time she was also superior of the community and treasurer of the
Delegation for various periods.

In 2016 she received the invitation of the Jesuit Fathers to take care, as a nurse, of the “Father Arrupe
Center” which houses their elderly and sick religious. Sr. Tereza took care with the love of a mother – as
mentioned above – of the sick religious in whom she saw and served the person of Christ. Sr. Tereza
enjoyed good health, so it was a matter of surprise for everyone when on January 24, 2021 she wasrushed
to the “Nairobi Hospital” from which, unfortunately, she came out with her own feet. In that hospital she
fought for a month, with faith and courage, before reuniting with her Lord and her Foundress on February
23, 2021.

A sad farewell, yet veiled with joy Her funeral was celebrated by one of her “guests” from the Arrupe Center, whom she had looked after
for five years, Mgr. Rodrigo Mejia, Colombian, Bishop Emeritus of Soddo (Ethiopia). The body of Sr. Tereza
rests on the grounds of the Central House of Nairobi in Masai Lane, near the Jesuit Arrupe Center and St.
Camillus Seminary: two places familiar to her. During the funeral rite Mons. Mejia, who has known Sister
Tereza well in recent years, wanted the Gloria to be sung during the Mass, despite being in the liturgical
season of Lent, and Psalm 118 to be recited, which proclaims with exultation: “This is the day the Lord has
made, let us rejoice and exult”. “Perhaps you will be surprised – said Mgr. Mejia during the celebration –
that I invited you to rejoice during a funeral! I did it on purpose because we have good reason to think
that Sr. Tereza is in heaven! His life was lived in total consecration to the Lord, through the exercise of the
care and assistance of the sick, in faithful observance of her fourth vow “.

Thirty-eight are the years Sr. Tereza spent in Kenya. Her activity, in addition to the competent and
disinterested service to the sick and suffering, was characterized by an intense dedication to the cause of
the rise and development of the Kenyan Delegation of her Congregation, particularly in the formative field
and in the initial phase of leadership. Characteristics of her temperament were simplicity, a joyful
disposition and easy to smile, generosity and a deep sense of responsibility in carrying out the various
commitments of the Delegation.

Her face smiled once again upon hearing the voice of her Lord who called her with the words that we all
know and that we would like to be addressed to us too: “Come, blessed by my Father, for I was sick and
you came to visit me “.

Paolo Guarise