Inés Arango Velásquez was a missionary in Ecuador. Since the age of 17, she was a sister in the congregation of the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters, where she left a strong legacy.
BILMA FREIRE
Congregation of Capuchin Tertiary Sisters
Both during her formation and later while living in community, the sisters remember her this way: a dynamic sister, a leader, creative, positive, collaborative, always willing to help, full of faith, much prayer, and always with that missionary spirit.
Despite her strong missionary spirit, Sister Inés began her vocation as a teacher:
BILMA FREIRE
Congregation of Capuchin Tertiary Sisters
For 20 years, she carried out her mission as an educator. This contrasted with her desire, because she wanted to be a missionary, but the obedience given to her by her superiors was to be a teacher. However, Inés never lived her role as a teacher with complaints, resistance, or lamentation… instead, she made the most of her time as a teacher to live out her missionary spirit.
After 20 years as a teacher, she was sent on a mission to Ecuador, and five months later, she moved to a village on the banks of the Napo River, to an Indigenous population.
BILMA FREIRE
Congregation of Capuchin Tertiary Sisters
We’re talking about going into the jungle, we’re talking about having to travel by canoe, having to go to an inhospitable place, having to overcome difficulties with mosquitoes, with paths, rivers, plants, food… and they went with great love; they did it with incredible generosity.
Her Capuchin sisters told us the story of her death. Sister Inés went with Capuchin Bishop Alejandro Labaka to an Indigenous region threatened by oil companies.It was a remote and isolated region. The native population mistook them for oil workers and killed them with spears. These spears were three and a half meters long. The Capuchin bishop received 15 wounds, and Sister Inés received three.
BILMA FREIRE
Congregation of Capuchin Tertiary Sisters
They were declared—well, we consider them martyrs, but it cannot be officially recognized as martyrdom because the Indigenous people did not act out of hatred for the faith. So, their cause has taken a different path in the canonization process, called the “offering of life” — a category approved by Pope Francis in 2017 as a way of reaching sainthood. So they are on that path, and for that reason, a miracle is required.
Now, 38 years after their deaths, the congregations of both missionaries are working to see them both recognized as saints. Their story highlights the lives of two people fully dedicated to serving the most vulnerable.
[BAM]
Trans. CRT
