Jewels from Jane, July 2

"The day finally arrived when the sisters and their house became the target of violence. When it happened, it was the terrorists rather than the military who were behind the mayhem. Sister Francine Costello explained the events of that fateful July 2, 1991.

At around 2 p.m., I returned to Moho [from a trip to Puno, Peru]. There were no signs of any presence at that time.

I went into the house where Gloria [Zapata] and Celia [DuRea] were resting. I washed my clothes to get ready to travel to Lima because I was about to go to visit my family in Hawaii...For some reason, I had already taken my suitcases into Puno, I don't know why, but if I hand't, I would have lost everything.

I put down my wallet and then I heard shots. I ran out of the house and Gloria and Celia arrived. We talked about what we were hearing. "It must be the police station...It must be Sendero or Tupac Amaru... No, maybe it's a fight...That can't be; it has to be Sendero..." Then we said, "Maybe we should go into the house. They could come here." The sounds of shots continued... "It would be better to go to the Church because the walls are thicker and from there we can get out into the plaza or into our yard." They knew that we would be at home.

I was especially afraid because I knew that some of them had been looking for me in Puno...So I sat outside of the Church.

When I went into the church, Gloria wasn't there. She had gone up the street toward the police station to see what was happening. When she ran across a number of men with machine guns, she turned around and came back, absolutely pallid.

She came into the church and said, "Sendero is here." Ramon [the parish caretaker] was there and we closed the door...The armed men came down the street and went to the newly constructed municipal building right next door to our old convent and the parish office...

They opened everything up and told the people "Take whatever you want."

We went back into the house to put on more clothes, and Gloria went to put the padlock on the gate. I said, "Gloria, it's worthless, they'll shoot it off. Let's get to the church."

We heard shots hitting the door. Then we went out the main door and I said, "Let's go to the house of a particular elderly woman four blocks down the street."

With that, we met a family who said, "Sister, they know where you are...and that you are going to the grandmother's house." They rushed us into their house where we were crying and holding onto one another. I said, "I want the other two sisters to find refuge somewhere else, but I won't be with them because I think they are going to be looking for me."

Celia and Gloria said, "No, we are staying together." With that, we heard another explosion.

The family said "You can't go down to so and so's house, because they just blew up the Bank of the Nation and she lives right there." So then, what? We didn't know.

"Sisters, stay calm, we're going to find a place." Then they took out a ladder and put it against the wall...we went over the wall, and from there we could see everything...

I was worried about Celia because Gloria and I were not so noticeable. The terrorists were now going from house to house. The family looked for blankets for Celia, sent her up to the attic, and said, "No matter what you hear, don't move." Gloria and I stayed below with Celia above.

It was a cold night, so we prepared tea and shared some bread. One of our friends went up to our house and tried to prevent people from stealing everything...Others came and told us that the terrorists had left, but that people continued to ransack the house...that everything was gone...

"When Sister Celia DuRea talked about that day, she remembered the woman who opened her home to the sisters. She said:

Francine Costello and Gloria Zapata were there, and because I was the only white person in the town, Frannie felt that I needed to hide. So we went across the street and I climbed up in the roof of our neighbors' house and was there for about six hours, listening to gunshots...

Late in the evening, Frannie and Gloria and I and the woman that had harbored us sat together and prayed. She was a very valiant woman because, if they had found us in her house, she would have been assassinated. Her husband was not there; she had two younger daughters...I will never forget how she risked her life for us.

"When the sisters returned to their house, they found it in a state of utter chaos from the looting."

from Mary McGlone's book: Comunidad para el Mundo: The History of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and the Vice Province of Peru