We're telling you

Always with a smile on her lips

Sister General of the Order, Juanita Tenorio, is remembered with her characteristic joy and enthusiasm in everything she did. Ana María Vega dedicates these words to her.

On the morning of January 4, Sister General of the Order Juana Tenorio Ramírez, who served the community of Santa Rita (Miraflores, Lima) for more than 30 years, passed away at the Edgardo Rebagliati Martins Hospital in Lima (Peru). Juanita Tenorio Ramirez was recognized as Sister General on December 5, 2019, during the feast of the Augustinian Recollection. I remember seeing her always smiling. She had a wide and sincere smile. The day she was named Sister General, I went to greet her…. She was crying. Quietly I said to her “Juanita, you must feel happy, don’t cry”. She answered: “I am crying with happiness, I did not expect this”. She was that simple.

The religious and the people who knew her say that Juanita was an extraordinary woman. She had been with the Augustinian Recollects for more than 30 years, always with an attitude of service and always exercising this service to the brothers with joy.

I remember something that lasted for a long time, an action that pleasantly surprised the whole community. Every Sunday, her companion Mirsa prepared a special meal and Juanita was in charge of the dessert. Every Sunday, or almost every Sunday, she would prepare a different dessert. She did it with great affection, with great diligence, dedicating time to it and always with a smile on her lips, always with joy in her heart, always rejoicing because she made the religious happy. It seems to me that this is the most eloquent gesture of her person. She was also very pious, she had great devotion to St. Rita and St. Ezekiel Moreno. She dedicated time to prayer, participated in the daily Eucharist and received communion.

From time to time, the illness he was suffering was consuming him. A few times he received the Anointing of the Sick, just as, with fortitude and inner strength, he bore the cancer. With courage and endurance of spirit, she carried the disease on her shoulders and until her last days she did not give up; she continued to live a normal life and continued to make others happy.

Juanita Tenorio was born in a poor and humble home, on May 16, 1970, in the province of Cutervo, in a community called Yatún. She was the last of eight siblings: Paulina, Paulino, Elías, José, Elvira, Maruja, Teodoro and Juana. She attended primary and elementary school in Yatún, and high school in Lima. He spent most of his life with the Augustinian Recollects.

Ana María Vega – Perú