Sub-Saharan Africa, 27 February, 2024 / 11:15 am (ACI Africa).
Mother Maria Caridad Brader was born into a pious family in Kaltburn, Switzerland, in 1860. Maria was unusually intelligent and her mother, a widow, went through great pains to give her a good education.
Despite her mother's opinion, Maria entered a Franciscan convent in 1880. She made her final vows two years later and began teaching at the convent school.
At the end of the 19th century, it became permissible for cloistered nuns to work as missionaries. Maria volunteered to be one of the first of six sisters to work in Ecuador.
Maria served as a teacher and catechist in Ecuador.
In 1893, she was transferred to Colombia to attend to the sick and rejected.
