Under Angel Wings: The Autobiography of Sister Maria Antonia

MY GOOD JESUS, I want to fulfill Thy most holy Will. May I, the least of all Thy creatures, glorify Thy name! Remembering everything that Thou hast done for me, O my God, may I love Thee still more! I must narrate everything that I recall about my life. I shall write it as it comes from my heart.


I consider my life as two chains intertwined: one being Divine Grace, and the other the misery of a creature. I was born on the fourth of April in the year 1900, and I remember the years of my childhood from the age of four. I remember so well the town where I was born, Santa Vitória do Palmar, with its extensive groves of palm trees. I remember also my home and the children with whom I played. My memory goes back even to the afternoon of February 2, 1904, when, as I was sitting on the steps that led out to the yard and playing with a little toy bear, I heard my father calling to me: “Dédé, come and see the baby which we found in the basket that the big stork carried in his beak to Mother.” This was my brother Jandir.


I recall also that even at that time I already had some idea of the good God. I remember the crucifix on the pedestal that was always on top of the high bureau. To see this I had to be lifted up by Acácia, the good nursemaid who took care of me until I was ten or eleven years old. Likewise I remember the big picture representing the Most Holy Trinity, just as I recall the holy water font in honor of the Immaculate Conception. This is all.


I knew the good God by the name “Father of Heaven,” and I remember that it was my own father who spoke to me of my heavenly Father.