Sr. Ana Marzolo (Linda Ann Marzolo)

List of Deceased Sisters

Date of Death 28/04/2025

   Born: 26 July, 1941

   Profession: 08 March, 1964

   Died: 28 April, 2025

                                                  REMEMBERING ANA

If I were to describe Sr. Ana Marzolo with one word that word would be DARING!  She was a daring woman. Many years ago, Ana gave some of us an impressive piece of information about herself: that as a teenager she has a few snakes as pets!

Ana was a fun-loving person and many a time in Lima in “the old days” she would animate us smsm to go to the beach or have a picnic in Chosica or go camping together—just hang out. Those excursions helped build community.

Ana’s inner confidence came from her loving and supportive parents: Mary and Lindy and her sister, Elaine. They visited Peru several times and there we all got to know them.

Ana was a gifted artist. Before entering our community, she studied at an art school in Detroit, MI. She also continued her art education for a time at the National Art School in Lima. Sadly, the school closed before Ana could get her degree as an art teacher. She worked in various art media: oil painting, ceramics, and sketching. At one point, during her years of prison ministry she taught silk screening to a group of men at Lurigancho prison in Lima. She thought they could start a small business and sell their art work, which they did for a time. For several years, one of Ana’s large oil paintings hung on a wall of our house in Maranga. The painting was of a woman with one eye sitting on a park bench. Not all the community members liked the painting! When asked: “Why does the woman have only one eye?” Ana would answer that the viewers of the painting had to figure that out for themselves!  

Ana found her true mission in prison pastoral ministry in Lima, Peru. She dedicated herself to that mission for more than 40 years. In December of 1983, a group of prisoners in Lurigancho, who wished to escape, took hostages from among the volunteers that worked as prison pastoral agents. The event ended in a massacre with many deaths and injuries. As a result, Ana was probably encouraged to leave the ministry or “go away for a time…” But for her, giving up or giving in was never an option—she stayed. 

Ana found a book entitled: “Casas de Sanacion” — “Houses of Healing”. It was written by a prison pastoral agent like herself and revealed an innovative approach to the ministry—that prisons could become houses of healing. Ana set about to implement this “healing ministry” with many different programs both inside the walls of Lurigancho and outside. She attracted talented volunteers to the programs—some of the volunteers themselves were incarcerated.

Probably one of the most painful things Ana ever had to do was to leave her beloved mission and return for good to the U.S. in 2018. Her health was in serious decline. Physically she left Peru but her heart remained there. For a time, she was able, through the app. “What’s Up”, connect with her friends— many of them “graduates” from Lurigancho. She always wanted them to know that they were remembered with love. 

Sr. Ana Marzolo, indeed, lived a DARING Life. Her life, both its joys and sufferings, was very much connected to the challenge of the Gospel. So, as we wish our “comadre” Ana much joy in her NEW life, we remember the words of Jesus: “COME, BELOVED OF GOD, BECAUSE WHEN I WAS IN PRISON YOU VISITED ME!”

Gratefully in Mary, 

Sister Helen Muller, smsm,                  Sister Susan Scherkenbach, smsm                                                    Regional Leader.