Pope Francis signed the decree of the beatification of the Colombian nun Sr. Maria Berenice Duque Hencker, founder of the religious congregation of the Little Sisters of the Annunciation. A miracle worked through the intercession of Sister Maria Berenice, which allowed her beatification, on a date that must be decided by the Archdiocese of Medellin. Sister Efigenia Trujillo Lopez, Superior General of the community thanked God, Pope Francis and the Church after the announcement of the upcoming beatification.
“She was a woman of living and firm Christian faith, of intense Marian piety and great mettle, enterprising, enthusiastic and of many initiatives to announce the name and love of God to those most in need, “said Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, Archbishop Emeritus of Caracas. She was born in 1898 in Caldas, Colombia. She felt a vocation to religious life from a young age, when she was 19 years old. Then she entered the Congregation of the Dominicans of the Presentations.
Her intense love for God, which did not stop growing throughout her religious life, inspired in her ardent apostolic zeal in the service of evangelization. In 1943 she founded the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Annunciation and later Congregation of the Missionary Sisters.