Sister Fidelis Atienza, the nun behind Baguio’s famed ube jam, died on Saturday at the Religious of the Good Shepherd (RGS) Community in Quezon City, according to a post by CBCP News.
CBCP News said Sr. Atienza was 102 when she passed away.
She was responsible for starting the Marian Bakery in the 1960s and “made use of the host cuttings for the ‘crispies’, the forerunner of the ‘angel cookies’ of today”.
In 1976, Sr. Atienza introduced the ube jam which is now one of Good Shepherd’s best-selling pasalubong. The bottled jams that the convent sold was able to send many young people to school.
“She was the original mastermind behind the ube jam, enabling the congregation to send thousands of youths to school,” the CBCP News quoted the RGS in saying.
The CBCP News said it was in 1951 when Sr. Atienza entered the Noviciate of the Good Shepherd in Los Angeles, California. She spent her first profession in 1954, and in 1957, her final.
Her ministries, aside from Baguio, also included community apostolates in Cebu, Quezon City, Hong Kong, France, Rome, and Tagaytay.
A few months before her 100th birthday in 2020, she was transferred to the Good Shepherd Community in Quezon City. “She dedicated each moment of her day praying for the needs of the Church and the Congregation,” the CBCP news further quoted the RGS.
Her congregation added that Sr. Atienza never considered herself ill or infirmed towards the last years of her life.
“Her hands were never weary, she would be seen cutting and collecting plastic wastes and turning them into eco-bricks until her shoulders ache from using scissors,” the RGS also said.
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