English
Sister Beatrix Daisy Swaminathan, MSI, passed away unexpectedly on Thursday morning, June 15, 2023, at 6.a.m. due to a massive cardiac arrest in St. Mary’s Convent, Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh, India. She was 77 years old.
Sr. Beatrix Daisy was born to Mr. Swaminathan and Gnanaselvam on June 8, 1946, in Alancode, Kottar diocese in Tamil Nadu. She was the third of the six children with three brothers and two sisters. Both her parents were teachers and her younger brother became a priest. Daisy attended the local school and completed her pre-degree from Holy Cross College, Nagercoil. She joined the course of Bachelor of Dentistry but terminated midway and entered the MSI family on June 7, 1968, in Bhimavaram.
She was sent to Italy to join the first international novitiate opened in Merate (Italy) in 1969. Furthermore, she also had the privilege to visit Monsignor Balconi before his death, receive his paternal blessing and a few days later attend his funeral service.
She did her religious profession on September 27, 1970, along with the first international novitiate batch in Merate. After which she was enrolled in the University of Città degli Studi to study medicine. However, after two years of study she returned to India in the Year 1973. She did her final profession on June 4, 1977, in Bangalore and her golden jubilee of profession in the year 2021 at Bhimavaram.
Sr. Daisy pursued her nursing studies after returning from Italy and started working as a staff nurse in our various hospitals in India. She spent her 50 years of nursing ministry in the hospitals of Bhimavaram, Suryapet, Karungal, Gudivada, Jangareddygudem, and Bhimadole. She was the animator of the communities of Bhimadole and Amalapuram. Throughout her dedicated life she gave herself cheerfully, finding happiness and contentment in all that she did. She was one of the best nurses with a healing hand who truly cared for the patients’ welfare and interacted with them in a gentle manner giving them a listening ear. She was also involved in the pastoral care of patients and parish people wherever she was posted.
In the last years of her life she continually suffered back pain and had to undergo a surgery which did not give good result. She also had knee replacement surgeries to both her knees and was unable to walk and was mostly confined to bed rest. Nevertheless, she suffered everything with a cheerful smile bowing her head to the will of God.
Community members, family and friends remember Sr. Daisy Beatrix as a quiet, unassuming and gentle person, always wearing a smile. She was diligent in her work and of humble disposition. She loved people and expressed genuine interest in each person she met. She was involved in community events and co-operated in all its programmes. She was austere, neat and tidy and was well disciplined. She kept her room, her hospital ward and belongings in perfect order
The community testifies to her prayer life. She spent long hours in the chapel and attended all the liturgical services in the Parish church and mingled joyfully with the parishioners. She had a great devotion to Mary and recited several rosaries in a day for the sinners and for the evangelization programme of the Church.
Her mortal remains after a funeral mass in her community of Bhimavaram were brought to Vegavaram and a final Funeral Requiem Sung Mass was celebrated in the Queen of Angels round chapel with the presence of many sisters. The provincial leader, Sr. Blanche D’Mello and the team of counsellors and nearly 20 of her family members from her native village reached the venue by flight and attended the event and participated in the last rites paying her their homage. Six local priests celebrated the Holy Eucharist and blessed the body and interned her bodily remains in the cemetery of Vegavaram with all the honours of the Church on the feast Day of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. May the mercy and compassion of the Sacred Heart wash her of all her faults and grant her eternal bliss with all the saints in heaven.
Sr. Benigna Menezes, Vijayawada Province
