by Joseph Nangle, OFM
Pax Christi USA 2023 Teacher of Peace
February 19 marked three years since Ursuline sister Dianna Ortiz died. We have seen numbers of appropriately beautiful commentaries on the living martyrdom of this modern religious woman, including from Pax Christi USA where she served for the last few years of her life.
Her tragic and ultimately glorious story is well known, but it seems appropriate also to recount some personal anecdotes of what Pope Francis describes in his current Lenten message: “The Exodus from slavery to freedom is no abstract journey.”
We in the Assisi Community where Dianna lived for her 25 years had the privilege of witnessing first-hand and indeed participating in her journey from the slavery and resulting trauma of her torture to freedom as a world-renown advocate for the elimination of that diabolical practice.
Dianna came to us shortly after her devastating experience in Guatemala as literally a broken person. She was fearful of the knock on our door or the ring of the telephone. She found it very difficult to feel safe at night in the darkness. Gradually, ever so gradually, over her more than two decades as an increasingly active and beloved member of our community, we saw her overcome the crippling effects of that horrendous moment in her life. For those of us living with her during those years, Dianna’s heroic process left an indelible mark. Now, three years after her passing, we continue not only to mourn her absence but marvel at the journey to freedom which we witnessed.
The best way to relate further these thoughts is to quote from a beautiful tribute to Dianna offered by Marie Dennis this past week when members of her Ursuline community celebrated an hour of reflection and prayer in her memory. Marie was Dianna’s dear friend, companion and especially in those sorrowful last weeks as she neared death, her confidant.
“On the wall in Assisi Community’s dining room is a large picture of a few small boys from San Miguel Acatan, the village where Dianna lived in Guatemala. For many years after Dianna had moved into the community, to have hung a picture that represented her life in Guatemala would have been unthinkable. But one day the photo appeared and Dianna hung it on the wall. We all knew what it represented. It was – still is – central in our small community space.”
As Dianna’s struggle toward freedom proceeded, the community benefitted more and more from her gifts. Marie says “We delighted day by day in the beauty and ordinary joy she brought to our community. She literally lit up the safe spaces we tried to create for her – by her own self, by flowers, by lovingly prepared meals, by the candles she loved.”
And Marie goes on: “I remember her every time I walk through Lafayette Park in front of the White House. How could I not? Her powerful vigil – as tremendously challenging as it was for her and for everyone around her – was a public witness to her vision. I stayed with her through many nights when the city went to sleep but her candle of hope burned on – under the fragile tarp, even in the pouring rain and in spite of the efforts of the Park Police to have her blow it out.”
Dianna’s story is of resurrection, of a death that resulted in life. As Marie said: “She taught us/showed us all the meaning of life and of love as she literally stood before the powers of hell and repeatedly at great cost, shook the foundations of injustice and oppression.”
Marie concluded her remarks by quoting a kind of prayer from the Irish poet, John O’Donohue:
“May you come to see your life as a quiet sacrament of service which awakens around you a rhythm where doubt gives way to the grace of wonder, where what is awkward and strained can find elegance, and where crippled hope can find wings, and torment enter at last into the grace of serenity.”
Dianna Ortiz, PRESENTE!
Cover photo: Joe Nangle, Dianna Ortiz, and Marie Dennis at the 2000 Pax Christi USA national assembly, when Dianna received the Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace award.
Joe Nangle OFM is a Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace and the 2023 Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace. As a member of the Assisi Community in Washington, D.C., he is dedicated to simple living and social change. Joe also serves as the Pastoral Associate for the Latino community at Our Lady Queen of Peace, Arlington, Virginia.