Remembering Sister Mary Antoinette, DW, She Proclaimed It, and She Lived It.

Today we pay tribute to Daughter of Wisdom, Sr. Mary Antoinette, who was a Sister determined to follow her heart, committed to living her reality, and to be what she believed she was called to be to for others. It was she who said, “I want to be a martyr, but that’s probably not possible. At least I want to go to the missions to teach, to work in a hospital, or just to cook.” And, she did and became, and it is how we will forever remember her.

Nov. 19, 2019, marks the 55th anniversary of the martyrdom at age 51 of Sr. Mary Antoinette, DW (Anne Lucy Donniacuo). She committed her life to God by her religious profession on February 2, 1939, at age 27, and served for 25 years. At age 39, after seven years of teaching science, Latin, algebra, and religion at Our Lady of Wisdom Academy, Ozone Park, NY, followed by time furthering her skills and education, the rest of her ministry was spent as a missionary. It began first in Malawi, and tragically concluded in Belgian Congo (presently D.R. of Congo). There she was sent to the Regional House for the Daughters of Wisdom at the Insagni missions where the Sisters ran a combined school, orphanage, and hospital for 800. It was during the rebellion of 1964 that she, along with other foreign Sisters, Priests, Brothers, and Montfort missionaries, was taken captive by the rebel Simbas at Isangi and thrown in prison. After weeks in prison, she was among those chosen to be publicly beaten. Sister was assaulted and beaten to death at the foot of a monument to communist leader Patrice Lumumba, and her body thrown into the Congo River.

Bishop Louis Jansen of Insangi, who was with Sister when she died wrote in a letter to her family, “Sister saw her death coming, prepared herself for it, and accepted it for the love of Christ.”

At the 50th anniversary of her martyrdom, Sr. Barbara O’Dea wrote, “As we give thanks to God for Sr. Mary Antoinette’s victory over evil and death, and her eternal life with the Lord, let us remember those many Christians living in situations of war, persecution, and violence today. Let us remember, too, the worry and grief of their family members and friends, and the many missionaries who continue to labor, who cry out to God and cling to hope.”