(1934-2026)

Sister Carmen Álvarez’s long journey to becoming an Adrian Dominican Sister began during the more than two weeks she was imprisoned in her native Cuba for the work she was doing in her local parish.

As a young woman, Carmen volunteered to help out in the parish, and became the person responsible for teaching catechism and providing other help to the parishioners. After the priest was forced out by the Castro regime, she took on many of his duties as well.

“My education was limited, but my desire to live what was taught at home made me the person I am today,” she wrote in her autobiography. “I did not need a degree to do the work of God to hopeless people in a Communist country.”

Carmen Rose Álvarez grew up having Christian values modeled for her by her parents, Fermín Álvarez Guzman and Cora Alberto Álvarez, to whom she was born in the outskirts of Havana on September 28, 1934. Her sister Mirta came into the family two years later.

Little is known of her early years other than that she attended a private school, Arturo Montori, and earned a certificate in business education. During a retreat at some point, it became clear to her that she should answer Jesus’ “knock on her door” by ministering in her parish since at that time the priest could only come once a week.

When Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, a crackdown on the Church began, and as her work with her parish grew after the priest was forced to leave, she apparently came to the attention of the regime. She refused to cease her activities, however, and at the time of the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 she was arrested and put in prison, where she spent seventeen days in miserable circumstances, including having to sleep on the floor and being given only one meal a day. During this time, she continued her ministerial work, encouraging the other prisoners not to lose hope and reciting the rosary each day with many of them.

She was released at two o’clock one morning and stepped outside the prison gates to find her father, who had been looking for her since her arrest, waiting in a rented car.

Concerned for her safety after what had just happened, her parents convinced her to leave the country, and she came to the U.S. to live with cousins in Miami, Florida. After she got there, she found her way to the Centro Hispano, a refugee center that was staffed by the Dominican Sisters of Catherine de’ Ricci, and offered her services to them. The experience inspired her to join their congregation. In September 1964, she traveled to the de’ Ricci Sisters’ novitiate in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, to begin her life as a religious.

Read more about Sister Carmen (PDF)

Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, MI, 49221. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Anderson-Marry Funeral Services, Adrian.

Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)

 

Vigil and Funeral Recordings

Note: To view recordings with closed captioning, they must be viewed on our public video library rather than through the links below.

Recording of Sister Carmen's Vigil Service - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)

Recording of Sister Carmen's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)

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