Carmelite Sister Agnella Iu helps Sister Mary Caroline Chow fasten her cape as Mother Agnes Marie Wong looks on during the celebration of first vows for Sister Mary Elizabeth de Jesus, July 16, 2013. Sister Caroline and Mother Agnes Marie both died on Oct. 13. (HCH photo | Darlene Dela Cruz)
The passing of Mother Agnes Marie Wong and Sister Mary Caroline Chow mark a turning point for the monastery
“Lord, I love the refuge of your house, the site of the dwelling-place of your glory.” (Psalm 26:8)
In death as in life, Carmelites Mother Agnes Marie Wong and Sister Mary Caroline Chow only sought the glory of the Lord’s dwelling place, brought unto perfection through their hidden life of love and prayer for the past 40 years at Carmel of the Trinity monastery nestled on the verdant Koolau slopes above Kailua. On Oct. 13, just 10 hours apart, the two nuns breathed their mortal last and ascended to their final resting place in heaven.
Mother Agnes Marie Wong died at 7:14 a.m. at her monastery on the grounds of St. Stephen Diocesan Center and Sister Mary Caroline Chow died at 5:40 p.m. in a Kaneohe care home. Mother Agnes Marie was 89. Sister Caroline was 91.
Their deaths mark a significant change in the life of the monastery, leaving only one active member of the original seven sisters who came from Hong Kong four decades ago, and two others in failing health who reside in Windward Oahu care facilities. The monastery has three newer members at different stages of religious life.
For both Mother Agnes Marie and Sister Caroline, the path leading to the ascent of Mount Carmel, union of the soul with God, began around 70 years ago at the Carmelite Monastery in Stanley, Hong Kong. Sister Caroline, the eldest in her family, was born in Hong Kong on May 17, 1923, to Siu Ngok Chow and Wai Fook Wai. At the age of 17, she left her parents, two brothers and two sisters to enter the monastery.
Mother Agnes Marie, also the eldest in her family, was born in Canton, China, on May 25, 1925, to Fred Wong and Kathleen Choy. She left her parents, two brothers and three sisters to give her life totally to God, at about the age of 23. She chose the religious name Sister Agnes Marie of the Divine Shepherd because of her great devotion to the Lord whom she saw not only as “Good,” but Divine.
Forty-one years ago, both nuns responded to the invitation of Honolulu Bishop John J. Scanlan to establish a Carmelite foundation in Hawaii along with the first prioress Mother Mary Agnes Tse, Sister Teresita Tam, Sister Mary Angel Wong, Sister Marie Tang and Sister Agnella Iu. Sister Agnes Marie had accompanied Mother Mary Agnes in the initial scouting of a place to make the contemplative abode for the Lord.
The Monastery of the Holy Trinity was founded on Oct. 25, 1973, in the convent on the former St. Stephen Seminary campus that had housed the Marist Missionary Sisters.
Following the death of Mother Mary Agnes in 1999, Sister Agnes Marie was elected prioress. Her cheerful grace and diligence in her work and generous welcome of visitors to Carmel earned her the nickname “Sister Martha” from friends. Others knew her for her chocolate fudge, nougat and delicate paintings on chinaware.
Sister Caroline, in a parallel way, never also spoke much about herself. She was always genuinely interested in the lives of others whom she brought to her daily prayer. Sister Caroline was also very skilled with her hands in “sewing, crocheting, and even in beadwork making beautiful angels for the Christmas tree,” said Sister Agnella, the only one of the original nuns who still lives at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity.
Hawaii’s community of Carmelite nuns were drawn closer to the cross leading to spiritual perfection with the death of Sister Mary Angel in 2004. The subsequent failing health of Sister Teresita and Sister Marie led the community into making the difficult decision of letting Carmel out beyond the cloistered walls. These two sisters still offer themselves as living flames of love praying for the needs of the church in Hawaii and the world from their care residences in Kaneohe.
Last year, Mother Mary Agnes’ dream of seeing Carmel bloom with flowers of other ethnicities characteristic of Hawaii began to be realized. Oahu-born Sister Mary Elizabeth de Jesus made her first vows as a Carmelite after living with the sisters for three years.
This past July, Patrice Wilson, a long-time resident of Hawaii and university professor, entered postulancy, the Carmelites’ initial formation program.
This fall, after a two-year request and discernment process initiated by Mother Agnes Marie, another sister from the Carmelite Monastery in Hong Kong joined the Hawaii group. She is Sister Margaret Yam, a former radiologic technician who made her final vows six years ago.
Bishop Larry Silva will celebrate one funeral Mass for both Mother Agnes Marie and Sister Mary Caroline at 9 a.m., Oct. 27, in the Carmelite Monastery chapel. A “vigil for the deceased” will take place the evening before at 5 p.m. in the chapel.
Mother Agnes Marie is survived by sisters Winifred Yee of Hawaii, Constance Mau of the Mainland and Josephine Yao of the Philippines, and brothers Howard and Edward Wong, both of the Mainland.
Sister Caroline is survived by sisters So Ing of Taiwan, and Cecilia of Toronto.
They have run the race, and Hawaii has been the recipient of their love, pure and chaste, for the Kingdom of God.
