Hawaii-born Little Sister of the Poor Marie Antoinette du St. Esprit Takahara. (HCH photo | Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP)
“This will be my last trip home,” the kindly voice said. “It was a long trip coming over.”
Something in my heart sank. I had just met her, and I didn’t want to let go so quickly of this captivating gentle spirit before me.
“My name is Sister Marie Antoinette du St. Esprit,” she said. “I am a Little Sister of the Poor based in Baltimore, Maryland.”
“And your last name?” I inquired.
“Takahara,” she said.
She alluded to her age being the reason she would not be coming home to Hawaii again. Last year she celebrated her golden jubilee of religious profession. It’s a long way from her convent at St. Martin’s Home for the elderly in Baltimore. Her last home visit was about seven years ago.
Sister Marie Antoinette told me she is originally from Kona. She still has family in Hilo and Honolulu, and a niece on Kauai. I met her at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Pearl City while she waited for her brother to pick her up to visit more family in Kaimuki.
As I looked at the Japanese-style holy card she gave me showing a kimono-dressed Mary holding the baby Jesus, I read the quote from St. Jeanne Jugan, the founder of the Little Sisters of the Poor: “The Hail Mary will take us to Heaven.”
She told me a little about St. Jeanne Jugan who was canonized in 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI in the same ceremony as St. Damien de Veuster.
She explained how St. Jeanne, during her lifetime, had not been rightfully recognized as the founder of her order.
“She suffered terribly for 27 years as a victim of injustice when her life’s work with the elderly, infirmed, abandoned and poor was stolen from her. However, all the Little Sisters of the Poor rejoiced when after 27 years from the time she was beatified, she was canonized.”
I feel Sister Marie Antoinette’s life parallels that of her founder’s spirit of patience and humility.
From Konawaena High School to Hilo Commercial School, Sister Marie Antoinette remained resolute in her desire to enter the convent, even after being told that, as a non-Catholic, she would first have to be baptized and then wait five years. So in the meantime, she went to Japan where she worked for the U.S. Army. Then she left for San Francisco, where the Dominican Sisters guided her to the Little Sisters of the Poor.
Today, in a story on the St. Martin’s website, she describes herself as a “gardener,” helping maintain the home’s landscaped gardens. It’s a talent and interest she received from her mother, she said. Communing with “all of God’s creations,” keeps her united with God.
To Sister Marie Antoinette, I say “Aloha.” I know she has found her happiness following St. Jeanne Jugan who said: “Treat the poor compassionately and Jesus will always treat you kindly, to your dying day.”
