Sister Maria de la Paz Orortiz

Sister Maria de la Paz Orortiz ((Paz Maxima Orortiz) was born May 11, 1901, in Tlalpan, D.F., Mexico, the daughter of Agustin Marcas Orortiz and Maria de la Paz Ramirez Dasa. She was the oldest of a family of five. Her father owned a book store, specializing in antique books. Her mother was her first music teacher and gave her her first piano lessons at a very early age, even before she started school.

Paz went to school at Incarnate Word Academy in Mexico City and has very vivid recollections of her First Holy Communion which she made on May 7, 1911. During her years at boarding school, she developed a great love for the Missions, conceived by reading the book, The Martyrs of Uganda. This she received as a prize from the Sisters. After she left Incarnate Word Academy, Paz attend the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City where she studied piano under Maestro Manuel Ponce. She also worked at the Congress in Mexico City and was present at the inauguration of a former president of Mexico, Plutarco Calles. As early as 1919, she received prizes for her skill in typing.

Paz felt called to enter religious life, but because of religious persecution in Mexico, convents there had been closed. She went to Texas where she entered the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament in Brownsville on August 28, 1925. She began her novitiate on March 19, 1926, and the religious name given her was Sister Margaret Mary. She returned to the use of her baptismal name, Maria de la Paz, after the Second Vatican Council, a name that, because of her gentle and peaceful nature, seemed totally suited to her. She made her first profession of vows on March 25, 1927, and her final profession on March 25, 1930.

Sister studied piano at Our Lady of the Lake College and Incarnate Word College in San Antonio, Texas, and earned the Bachelor of Music degree in piano. Throughout her life, she played the organ in the convent chapel and sometimes in the parish church and was recognized as a gifted and sensitive musician. On the occasion of her 60th anniversary of profession in 1987, Sister Lou Ella Hickman wrote of her:

Sister is one of the quiet Sisters until she sits down at a piano. Then the room almost brims over with music.

Other interests included collecting stamps and helping the missions.

In her ministry throughout her religious life, Sister Maria de la Paz prepared children for First Holy Communion, gave piano lessons, and taught kindergarten and elementary grades in Brownsville and in Beeville, Texas. She also taught business courses at Villa Maria High School in Brownsville and worked in the area of finance, serving on the Commission on Finance and Business Administration between 1970 and 1980. From 1971-1972, she was a member of the Spiritual Life Commission. A highlight of her life was being commissioned as a Eucharistic Minister in the Diocese of Brownsville in 1978.

In the year 2001, Sister Maria de la Paz is the only surviving Sister of those who entered and made profession in Incarnate Word Convent, Brownsville. At the age of 100, she continues to be present daily at religious exercises in chapel, helps with bookkeeping, and enjoys listening to good music. She is an excellent resource person in relation to the history of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word in Brownsville and also when help is needed in translating from Spanish to English or English to Spanish.