Sisters of St. Joseph

She feels she has been deeply loved by God and by everyone she has known throughout her life. Now retired and living as a resident at the Sisters’ nursing home in Matsusaka, she lives fully in the present moment and frequently enjoys singing “You are my sunshine” with those who come to visit her. Thank you, Sister Antonia for dancing and singing on your journey through life.

Family

Mary Antonia has had much suffering in her life. She experienced prejudice in the Japanese society prior to World War II, due to the nationalism that was so prevalent, and as a Catholic from those that practiced the Shintoism, the established religion of

Japan

.

She long remembered the beautiful Christmas Mass after the war was ended and democracy was established in

Japan

. She joined the American soldiers in singing “Adeste Fidelis” in a darkened Church, lit by candles, because of the shortage of electricity.

A young girl

Sister Antonia has always had a great devotion to the Holy Family and has been a woman of deep prayer and faith, always trying to see the good in others. Sister once wrote, “I can see the history of God’s grace accompanying me along my religious journey and I can praise and thank God with these words from Deuteronomy: “God shielded them and cared for them, guarding them as the apple of his eye. As an eagle incites its nestling by hovering over its brood, so God received them and bore them up on eagle’s wings.”

Whit Habit

On October 16, 1926, Sister Antonia Dejima was born in Kobe City, Japan, the only child of her mother, Toyo Dejima and father, Hideo Takahara. She was baptized as an infant with her mother. Her mother was not strong enough to care for her while also working outside the home, so placed her in the care of local sisters. From age three to sixteen she lived in a foster home conducted by the French Sisters of the Infant Jesus in Kobe City.

She credits the sisters, especially Mother Antonia Valentina for her personal and spiritual growth throughout childhood and adolescence. It was in her honor that Sister Antonia asked to receive her name upon entering the novitiate of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Wichita on September 8, 1955. Sister recalls the words of Father William Mackesy, MM, on this occasion, “You came to this community not only to be a Sister but to be a saint.” Sister Antonia said, “His words astonished and impressed me, because I had come just to be a Sister!”

50 Years

Sister Antonia Dejima

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