At the University of St. Thomas-Houston Commencement 2024 on May 11, UST will award an honorary doctorate to a remarkable individual who leads an extraordinary life of evangelization and demonstrates faith in action. Many Catholics know the smiling, blue-eyed Mother Adela Galindo, 62, for her founding of a new Catholic religious institute in 1990 called the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Members of the institute have the spiritual charism of being a living, loving image and presence of the heart of Mary in the heart of the Church and the world. Later in 2018, she founded the male branch of religious brothers and priests who are called to become totally identified with Christ formed in the school of Our Lady.

However, UST also knows Mother Adela because of her distinct connection to the University's Saint John Paul II Institutewhere her writings and teachings about Saint JPII serve to keep his life and legacy alive.

From the Beginning: Mother Adela's Mysterious and Unshakeable Faith

Even as a small child in Leon, Nicaragua, Mother Adela Galindo was marked by a profound Marian spirituality-always speaking to or about Our Lady. Despite her deep spiritual experiences and mysterious understanding of them, she perceived her childhood as perfectly normal.

"I had a beautiful, normal childhood," Mother Adela said. "Our Lady was forming my heart and my days, my way of looking at life. She made me strong in character and in my relationship to prayer. What I always desired was to be like Mary."

The devout Catholic youngster, marked by unwavering faith, regularly made her way to the school chapel, delivering her handwritten notes to the statue of Mary to be taken to Jesus.

Mother Adela recalled, "In these notes, I communicated my intentions by writing, 'Mother, whoever sees me, may they see you.' And my promise was 'I will never say no to you, Mother.'"

Little did she know all that would be asked of her, including the biggest ask of all, the later founding of a Miami-based religious institute of religious sisters, brothers and priests.

Serious Illness, Charismatic Renewal, and a Bloody Civil War

When Mother Adela became seriously ill at the age of 12, she remembers being healed by Jesus, being struck by an unquenchable thirst for the word of God, and having been invited to the charismatic renewal that was coming to her country. She wanted to participate.

Still, along with what she wanted came experiences to test her. When she was 13, Mother Adela lived through a bloody, deadly civil war in Nicaragua during a totalitarian system where she was further formed to stand up for goodness, defend the truth, and ask questions that would make people think. Consequently, she and her family were forced to flee to Miami as refugees.

Screaming from the Depths of Her Soul: Discovering a JPII Mission

Never lacking in inspiration, Mother Adela was still looking for "something," when, at the age of 16, she suddenly recognized it, watching newly elected Pope John Paul II on the Vatican balcony for the first time.

"My heart leaped, and I screamed from the depths of my soul, 'I found the heart I've been looking for!'"

Mother Adela understood and deeply connected with the beauty and greatness of the Pope's authoritative works. Later, leaning on unending energy she credits to supernatural grace, she fully embraced a mission to keep Saint JPII's life and legacy alive through her extensive writings and teaching.

Mother's Writings Included in UST's JPII Institute Curriculum

UST's St. John Paul II Institute founder and director, Dr. John Hittinger, discovered Mother Adela's spiritual writings and shares them with his students in the John Paul II Studies program, which offers both the M.A. and Certificate. In a gesture that has resulted in an even stronger connection with the order, Dr. Hittinger generously offered tuition assistance to two of Mother Adela's religious sisters seeking to enroll in the St. JPII Institute's two-year master's program. They graduate in May 2024.

"Mother Adela's writings express her profound affinity with the life and work of St. John Paul II," Dr. Hittinger said. "John Paul II was no doubt a philosopher of considerable merit, but at his core, he was a man of prayer and intense charity. His devotion to Mary and his responsiveness to the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the human person gave him a great capacity to touch the lives of millions of people around the world. Mother Adela and the sisters, brothers and priests of her new religious order share that same devotion to Mary, the same attentiveness to the work of the Holy Spirit as the great Polish Pope, and they, too, are touching the lives of many across this country and around the world."

Honoring Mother Adela at Commencement 2024

At this year's Commencement on May 11, UST will further honor Mother Adela by awarding her with an honorary doctorate, the highest award conferred by the University.

Preparing for the ceremony, UST President Dr. Richard Ludwick said, "Not only is Mother Adela gifted with the love of God and service to His people, but she also demonstrates faith in action with her founding of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary. The Church entrusts Mother with the mission to take the first-class pilgrim relic of the blood of St. John Paul II throughout the western hemisphere, and that mission is one that touches the hearts of our Saint Thomas community. Mother Adela is an evangelizer and one who shares the power of God's love with the world and exemplifies the University of Saint Thomas values - goodness, discipline, knowledge, and community. We are very happy and honored that she will receive this high award."

For her part, Mother Adela is humbled by the award and hopes the graduating students go into the world "Knowing that love is our great task. The world has lost the meaning of love. Love must be visible and credible. It is your responsibility to build a new world. You will be the new generation of professionals who will affect many facets of life. Be witnesses. Be present for our wounded humanity."

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