Who am I ? Sister Angela Sinopoli
Where I am engaged? Matera, Italy
„Whenever people tell me about their problems and fears, I try to encourage them to move forward.“
In Matera, the religious sisters’ mission doesn´t end with age
In collaboration with the Hilton Foundation, Vatican News is publishing a series of articles on the work of religious sisters around the world. In Europe, many religious congregations are facing the challenge of an ageing membership, but the vocation of religious sisters remains unchanged: to serve those in need. In Matera, in southern Italy, 93-year-old Sister Angela Sinopoli continues to do so in the streets of her city, where she lives out her pastoral ministry of closeness.
Sister Ilaria de Lillo shares about the life of Sœur Angela
‘No one is so poor that they have nothing to offer, and no one is so rich that they do not need help,’ said the late Pope Francis. And looking at Sister Angela’s full life, it seems that this is exactly the case. Regardless of age, experience, or location, there is always something to give and to receive out of love. A retired nurse, she is 93 years old and has lived 70 years of religious life with joy. Sister Angela Sinopoli, a Helper of the Souls in Purgatory, has been living in Matera, in southern Italy, since 2001, carrying out her pastoral ministry of closeness. This mission leads her to walk the streets to welcome the encounters that sometimes come her way, to visit those who are alone, sick or looking for someone they can trust and with whom they can share the burdens of life. Her energy is inexhaustible because it comes from her awareness of the gift she has received. Despite her 93 years, the religious sister faces the challenges of daily life with determination and humour, driven precisely by the love she first received, which means she never lets anything get her down. Sister Angela’s style can be characterised by three key words: strength, energy and courage. She draws on the wisdom of Ignatian spirituality, the pillar of the Helpers, to live out accompaniment as a presence among and alongside people.
So it is not age that stops her desire to share the Lord’s joy and mercy with others. Even if physical fitness may pose limitations, the heart transcends all boundaries. Sister Angela listens to the problems people confide in her and becomes their companion in life, using their stories as a therapeutic moment for them. By calling things by their name, they come to light and can be faced in the light of hope rather than in the darkness of despair. ‘Whenever people tell me about their problems and fears, I try to encourage them to move forward. Sometimes we say a prayer together, other times we exchange a smile,‘ explains Sister Angela. And when she goes home, she takes all of this with her in her personal and community prayer. She continues: ’It’s a way of witnessing to God’s love for them.’
In the crisis of presence, it is time to listen
Sister Angela does not wear a watch when she leaves her house early in the morning to begin her walks around the city. She is well versed in the art of ‘wasting time’ with people and welcoming the unexpectedness of an encounter. In the morning, she plans the visits she will make to families during the day;, while other times, she makes a list of people she knows are in difficulty and carries out her pastoral work by telephone. Calling someone, even just to say hello, can be a gesture of affection for that person, a way of letting them know that they are important, that someone is thinking of them, which gives them confidence and hope.
But sometimes, the encounter is not planned; it happens in the street and allows Sister Angela to say, like Peter, ‘I have neither silver nor gold, but what I have I give you’ (Acts 3:6). The religious sister sees listening as a way of sharing in people’s suffering and being present in pain itself, so that no one is left alone with their problems. Sister Angela sees closeness as a service to address a contemporary problem that anthropologist Ernesto De Martino defined as a ‘crisis of presence,’ that is, the loss of the horizon of meaning, the inability to control one’s own existence and role in life. In this era of multiple crises, Sister Angela feels the urgency of restoring value to people simply by being there. ‘It is mainly mothers who talk to me about problems with their children. Parents feel alone, they face the many challenges of parenting, the precariousness of work in the south, and the fear of not having a future is another source of concern,’ the religious sister points out.
