From The Catholic Herald (UK)
By Father Alexander Lucie-Smith
Mother Antonia Brenner (CNS)
The Catholic Church is full of extraordinary people, many of whom
you have never heard of. One such, of whom I had not heard, was Mother
Antonia Brenner, whose obituary has just appeared at the Telegraph.
First of all, not to be superficial, but just look at that photograph
on the Telegraph website. The traditional nun’s veil and habit; the
radiant smile; the hand raised in cheery, confident and sincere
greeting; the stunning lady-of-a-certain-age good looks: Mother Antonia
comes over as a magnetic personality, the sort of person you meet once,
and whom you never forget. She ticks the same boxes as the late Blessed
John Paul II.
Then there is the life story. It was all very ordinary for much of
her life. Growing up in the Great Depression, the good times that come
from prosperity, the two marriages, the eight children, the mink coats,
the ballgowns – pretty average for life in Beverley Hills, or so I
imagine. And the Catholicism, and the charity work, and then the
extraordinary decision at the age of fifty or so to go and devote
herself entirely to the inmates of a Tijuana prison. But that is the
wonderful thing about Catholicism: it enables the most ordinary people
to do the most extraordinary things.
