By Fr. Kenneth Borowiak
for the Register
A passage from the book of Joshua describes the life of Sister Ana Maria Solis, O.S.F.: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Sister Ana Maria, the foundress of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother Order in Nebraska City, will celebrate the 70th anniversary of her profession of vows at an open house at the motherhouse Sunday, Feb. 15 from 1 to 4 p.m.
Sister Ana Maria reflected on her call to religious life with fondness. Family life, perfect strangers and regular involvement in the Church, especially the sacraments, were key factors of God’s revealing to her a religious vocation.
The fourth of five children, Sr. Ana Maria was born and raised in El Paso, Texas. A member of a deeply religious family, she attended 6 a.m. daily Mass with her mother for years. Some days when they missed the bus, she and her mother walked a mile and a half, each way, to Mass.
Even though she had to learn English when she went to school, Sister Ana Maria did not let that be an obstacle to learning. In the fourth grade, a teacher recognized her talent for music and encouraged her to take piano lessons.
“I told my parents this, and even though we were very poor, my father obtained a used piano for me,” Sister Ana Maria said. She would later go on to learn how to play the flute and the harmonica as well.
At the age of 11, the family’s parish priest asked if the young girl would play the organ for Mass. After learning how to play the organ, she played for Mass regularly.
Sister Ana Maria recounted several providential moments which the Lord used to call her to the religious life. One was when she took her mother to a doctor’s appointment in Juarez, Mexico. After examining Sister Ana Maria, the physician told her mother that she should become a religious sister.
“I was shocked!” she said. “I never met this man before. No doubt, the Lord was using this doctor to enrapture my hard to say yes to the Lord.”
After Sister Ana Maria entered the convent, she made her profession of vows in a Franciscan community in California.
She received undergraduate and master’s degrees in education and taught for years. She taught every grade from kindergarten through 12th grade. Her first assignment was teaching a class of first-graders with 72 students.
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Courtesy photos
After a series of positions with her community, she was inspired to begin her own religious community.
“In 1983, the Holy Spirit, with the guidance of a Jesuit priest, inspired me to begin a new community, the Franciscan Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother,” Sister Ana Maria said.
The charism of the community is “to obey the Lord’s command to spread the gospel message.” Having been received by the Bishop of the Diocese of Norwich, Conn., Sister Ana Maria moved from the classroom into prison ministry, staffing a telephone crisis intervention hotline, foster care, home visitations and parish ministry.
At the invitation Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, the community moved to the Diocese of Lincoln in the year 2000.
“The Diocese of Lincoln has been like a small piece of heaven,” Sister Ana Maria said.
In 2021, the Franciscan Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother built a motherhouse and spiritual center on 10 acres of peaceful wooded property near Nebraska City.
When asked if she would do it all over again – her 70 years of religious life – without hesitation she said, “definitely!”
Sister Ana Maria is hopeful about the future for consecrated religious life in the Church.
“We have to make a choice for the Lord in our life,” she said. “Religious life provides one with the opportunity for true happiness and holiness,” she added. “The Lord knocks, but we must open.”
