Our Sister Rosaleen Harold has a tireless energy and desire to help and protect the most vulnerable people. She has traveled busy roads and has done all sort of things to follow what her heart is asking her to do: respond to the clamor of God in the people.

50 Years of Missionary Life

Sister Rosaleen Harold was born in Lanesboro, Ireland, and her missionary spirit is untiring. Her predilection for the most vulnerable people led her to live 36 years in Peru, and now, after celebrating her Golden Jubilee, she responds joyfully to the calling to go to Zambia, Africa.

The following lines were taken from an article in the Irish Newspaper ‘Longford Leader’ which was published on Sister Rosaleen’s 50^th anniversary as a Sister of Charity of the Incarnate Word.

More than 50 years ago, Kathleen Harold, known as Rosaleen, said farewell to the continental area of Ireland when she and eight more candidates started the long trip form Cobh to the Motherhouse in San Antonio, Texas. At that time, she had no idea of if or when she would ever return to Irish lands. But she was full of a desire to devote her life to God in the service of others. She had no idea of how she would live that ideal.

God’s calling comes to people at any moment in their life; for Rosaleen, it came when she was very young. She remembers that the calling was “clear, total, spiritual, personal and loving”. She says: “I knew then, and I know now, that I was being invited to a life of prayer and service to the people of God. I am sure that the example of my mother and my grandmother, who was a saint, undoubtedly influenced my decision.”

Her journey throughout her religious life has gone from Rathcline and Brianstown to Paris, Texas; Saint Louis; Pittsburgh; México and Peru. “I have had the privilege to work as a clinical nurse and later in the field of nursing education in Texas”, she explains. “But the most important activity for me has been my life as a missioner in Peru, where I had the privilege to work with peasant communities”, she shares.

Rosaleen Harold has traveled through skyways and highways; through paved byroads and wild mountains; she has traveled in uncomfortable buses and cars; she has traveled on horseback, she has ridden donkeys and driven cars; she transported cattle in busses and has led cattle on foot. Often her work has included visits to prisoners in police stations and in overpopulated prisons; visits to patients in hospitals and in shacks built with cardboard and straw. She has coordinated social services for the poor and homeless through popular dining rooms and small orchards; she has supported peasant women in their struggle for their basic rights and she has worked to develop in the communities a faith that leads to serve others.

Thank you very much, dear Sister ‘Rossy’, as the Sisters in Peru call her; thank you for your constant testimony and for your generous answer to the clamor of God in our peoples.

On the header: Sister Rosaleen Harold, CCVI.