Sister Mary Theresa Rose Valerga, SNJM
Mercedes Balbina Valerga

June 15, 1914–February 22, 2010 (Los Gatos, CA)

Sister Mary Theresa Rose Valerga (Mercedes Balbina) – an Oakland, California, native – died at the Convent of the Holy Names, Los Gatos on February 22, 2010, at 95 years of age and as a vowed Sister of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary for 75 years. For 30 years Sister Theresa Rose's ministry as a music teacher took her to 10 elementary schools in Northern and Southern California and to Holy Names High School in Oakland. For the next thirty years she taught music to students at the Convent at Los Gatos, played the organ, worked in the Care Center and offered other support services.

She had great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher and Saint Theresa of Lisieux. Sister Theresa Rose is remembered fondly by her beloved Sisters and Associates of the Holy Names. The Mass of Resurrection will be celebrated on Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 7:15 p.m. at Los Gatos. Burial will take place at 10:15 a.m. on Friday, February 26, 2010 at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Hayward, California. Donations in Sister's memory may be made to the Ministry Fund, Sisters of the Holy Names, P.O. Box 907, Los Gatos, CA 95031. Arrangements by Darling-Fischer Chapel of the Hills in Los Gatos.

The Psalm response, "You Are Mine," was the leitmotif of Sister Theresa Rose's life. She writes that she experienced, "Always a strong, silent, sure call from God- as like a magnet, from as far back as I can remember." Her vocation, her seeking God was always there. God claimed her as his choice early in her life. She heard, responded, and never looked back. In all her waiting, she had a long life of loving. As a musician and a lover, she could well claim these words of Gerard Manley Hopkins as her own:

I have found my music in a common word,
Trying each pleasurable throat that sings
And very praised sequence of sweet strings,
And know infallibly which I preferred.
The authentic cadence was discovered late
Which ends those only strains that I approve,
And other science all gone out of date
And minor sweetness scarce made mention of:
I have found the dominant of my range and state-
Love, O my God, to call Thee Love and Love.