Born: 18TH March 1963
First Profession: 28th April 1994
Died: 20TH May 2026
Sister Selina (Sally) was born on the 18th of March 1963 in Taelefaga Fagaloa, Samoa.
Her parents were Matala and Matapa Tuilagi.
She was educated at St Mary’s Primary School Savalalo, and at Paul VI College at Leulumoega.
In 1992 Sr Selina entered our novitiate at Heretaunga, Wellington, New Zealand, and two years later, on 28th April 1994, she made first profession as an SMSM. She was admitted to perpetual profession at Savalalo on 8th December 2000.
In preparation for service of mission, she attended Teachers Training College in Samoa and Corpus Christi Teachers Training College in Fiji. In her missionary service she taught in the smsm schools in Falefa, Savalalo, Lepua and Leone in American Samoa, and also in Tonga. She was the school Principal at Falefa and Leone.
For four years she worked as a pastoral youth worker in the Marist parish of Whangarei, New Zealand. Her time there included leading a group to the World Youth Days in Sydney in 2008. After arriving back in Samoa, she was appointed as Archdiocese Coordinator for the Children of Mary.
Sr Selina was blessed by God with many gifts and talents. She was gifted, having a wonderful way of bringing lightheartedness, joy and laughter into ordinary moments.
Selina was a great connector, blessed with a wide network of relationships that reached across many walks of life. She maintained regular connection with sisters working outside of Samoa by means of the effective use of social media and modern technology. Her unique way of reaching out and making us feel included, remembered and informed on issues in the country will be something that we remember with gratitude.
The countless messages, reactions, and heartfelt comments shared on the Facebook death notice, were a beautiful testimony to how many lives she touched.
She was a great organizer. Whenever, Selina was asked to take charge of something, she never thought small. She dreamed big, gave her whole heart and expected nothing less than the best. She could perfectly organize an entire event in her mind and then rally her friends and family around to execute a perfect plan or function.
Selina was a good cook. One of her ‘sacred spaces’ was the kitchen. She loved cooking and was known to be one of the best cooks among the SMSM sisters. She prepared every meal with love, joy and great pride in what she cooked. Her love and hospitality would show in the way she would offer food or cook something special that she knew the person liked. She found joy in ensuring that sisters and visitors felt welcome, cared for and well fed.
Sr Selina was a woman who was familiar with suffering. She had the passion and yearning to engage in the mission field, but her health, physical challenges and limitations called her to embody the spirit of our constitution #article 153. “It is in the local community where we are sent by obedience that we live our vocation, trying to be messengers and witnesses of the Good News for one another and together for others.”
After spending some days in hospital, Selina passed away peacefully at 8.30am on the 20th May at Savalalo, Samoa. She was buried, together with our many other deceased SMSM, at the Moamoa cemetery, which is next to the church,
These words of St Paul summarize for us Selina’s consecrated life as a Missionary, Marist and Religious. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7).
Sally, you fought the good fight with courage, you ran the race with perseverance and you kept the faith with joy. Now may you rest peacefully in the loving embrace of God, whom you served so faithfully in the spirit of Mary.
Sr Jacinta Fidow smsm
