Every July 7, World Cocoa Day is celebrated, a fruit that is the raw material for chocolate, to which various studies attribute anti-stress properties. Today we bring you the story of an Argentine saint who used to give chocolates as an expression of closeness and joy.
We are talking about Mother Catalina de María Rodríguez, the nun who founded the Congregation of Slave Sisters of the Heart of Jesus, whose beatification ceremony was held on November 25, 2017 in the city of Córdoba (Argentina).
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Mother Catalina was a great devotee of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and considered that chocolate was a food to celebrate and give as a gift, so she offered it as a gesture of closeness that generates joy and can change the mood of the recipient.
Her birth name was Josefina Saturnina Rodríguez de Zavalía, and before beginning her religious life she married a widower who had two children, assuming her motherhood.
She was also the mother of a girl, who died at birth. When she was widowed, she responded to the Lord’s call to a religious vocation, choosing the name Catalina de María Rodríguez.
That path led her to found the first female congregation of apostolic life in Argentina: the Slave Sisters of the Heart of Jesus.
Her community continued to grow in schools, homes and missions, spreading Mother Catherine’s spirit of joy throughout Argentina, Chile, Spain and Benin.
The story goes that one of the things that the nun enjoyed most was giving chocolates, which she offered along with a detente of the Sacred Heart of Jesus embroidered.
At her beatification ceremony, this detail did not go unnoticed: Mother Catherine’s favorite candy was distributed to those in attendance.
It also became a symbol in the schools of the Slave Sisters, who guide their mission under the legacy of the blessed, where every year, for the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, they celebrate it with a great “chocolatada”, a day that alumni remember in a special way.
In their celebrations and convocations, the Slave Sisters often highlight that chocolate “opens doors, awakens smiles, shortens distances and warms the heart.”
The blessed is the patron saint of the General Paz neighborhood, in Córdoba, where she lived. For this reason, the neighborhood center promotes its example of “sensitivity and action for others, especially those most in need,” according to the local media. The voice.
With that intention, every November 27, the date of his birth, the patron saint’s day is celebrated in the neighborhood, and neighbors are encouraged to exchange chocolates and share a moment of fraternal talk.
Following the legacy of Mother Catalina, the Slave Sisters of the Heart of Jesus promote a solidarity campaign called “Give a virtual chocolate.”
The campaign is an initiative of the Shared Mission Foundation of the Institute of the Slave Sisters of the Heart of Jesus, which aims to disseminate the Works of Mother Catalina in its schools in Argentina, Chile, Spain and Benin.
The funds are allocated to the different works of the Congregation: schools, homes and houses of spiritual exercises.
Those who wish to collaborate can find the code at this link.
This article was originally published on July 7, 2023. It was updated by ACI Prensa for republication.
Juliet Villar
I am a journalist, with a degree in communication from the National University of La Matanza in Argentina. I have work experience in non-governmental organizations. Since 2016 I have been dedicated to Catholic journalism, first at the Argentine Catholic Information Agency (AICA) and, since 2022, as ACI Prensa correspondent for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia.