Sr M. Laíde Inêz Sonda
Sr M. Laíde Inêz Sonda is a well-known and respected artist and architect. She has contributed a lot to the liturgical mission of the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master. She has worked with great dedication in training others and designing religious spaces, especially in partnership with the Catholic Church in Brazil. On March 24, 2023, she celebrated 50 years of religious life.
Here is her story:
I entered in Caxias do Sul in 1966, when our Congregation had been in Brazil for nearly 10 years. The house we lived in had just been built. It was all made of wood and painted beige and green. Those were hopeful times. Many young women were joining us — there were 33 of us, and 13 were under 15 years old.
Our life was made up of prayer and action. We had daily Mass, meditation, Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer on Sundays, and Adoration Day and night every two weeks.
Caxias do Sul is in the mountains and very cold. We didn’t have enough clothes to keep warm. Sr Bartolomea Ali, who was a skilled seamstress, taught us how to cut and sew, and she encouraged us to make our own jackets. Most of us had to sew by hand because we only had two sewing machines.
We didn’t have a steady income. Our liturgical art centre, located in the diocesan curia, wasn’t well known or visited. We had to rely on the local farmers for food and basic needs. We would walk about 5 kilometres to go around the area and collect what we needed for the week. We ate bulgur instead of rice, powdered milk, and food given by Caritas to religious communities and charities.
Even with these hardships, we did our best to respond to any requests that could help us financially. One of the most popular items was armbands for First Communion. It wasn’t enough just to have a ribbon — we had to paint a PX (the Christian symbol) or a Eucharistic symbol. Our superior encouraged our creativity and showed us pictures of the artistic sisters from those days — Claire, Cesarina Giordani, Monique Angelica. She told us: “Look at these sisters! We don’t have anything now, but one day we’ll have art studios, ceramics, and a magazine.” She inspired us to want to learn, create, and dream.
We didn’t have paints, but we had creativity. We used a carrot dipped in paint to draw grapes, and real grape leaves as patterns to paint leaves. Of course, these weren’t masterpieces, but they were meaningful experiences that taught us to do our best with whatever we had.
The photos and the words we heard gave us hope for the future — a time when we could support ourselves and use our talents to serve the Church. A phrase we often repeated was: “To be living and active members of the Church.” Even the little we had meant a lot, because it required everything from us.
We tried to bring care and beauty into everything — how we cleaned and organized the house, how we set the table, how we decorated with flowers, and so on.
My story is simple, but it shaped my life as a disciple and made me dream of doing things better — in who we are and in what we create.
I believe we have a bright future if we use well the tools we have. But I also see the danger of relying too much on things that are already made, and being satisfied without developing our creativity and the theological reflection needed to offer what is solid, worthy, and able to show the supreme beauty of the Triune God: UNITY AND COMMUNION.
— Sr M. Laíde Inêz Sonda