A memorial Mass for Sister Celia Martina Sánchez Coatl, MAG, was celebrated on March 16 at the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul.
Sister Celia, who served in the Diocese of Knoxville for 20 years, died on March 8.
The Missionary Sister of the Sacred Heart of Jesus “Ad Gentes” was born on Oct. 21, 1959, in San Bernardino Tlaxcalanzingo, Cholula, Puebla, Mexico. Her parents were Feliciano Sánchez Rodríguez and Francisca Coatl.
At an early age she entered the Congregation of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus “Ad Gentes,” hoping to meet the age required by the institute to be admitted as a religious sister.
In 1975 she took the religious habit, and on July 28, 1977, she made her first profession of vows.
She studied at the Normal Quevedo Institute, focusing on spirituality and missionary animation in Mexico City at CLAEM; she studied foreign language at the State of Puebla college.
In September 1982 she was named local superior and director of Miguel Hidalgo Elementary School in Ixtenco, Tlaxcala, Mexico, and from September 1985 to August 1988 she worked as coordinator and groups teacher of the middle school of the Normal Quevedo Institute.
She was a member of the mission team in Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico. And on Aug. 29, 1988, she was part of the team to make the foundation of the Durango’s convent house and then directed several ecclesial groups in Mexico and the United States.
After serving in the Diocese of Knoxville for two decades, she was transferred to the Diocese of Owensboro in Kentucky until December. She also served as the regional delegate for these areas.
