Laong nila an taga Tago kuno para-away pero hanugay. Mamingawuni naman ganahani mandahap-dahap nan notisya. Naman ini na pabyon inhimo para kita na mga Tagon-on magkasinusihay, magka-binayluay nan mga gilaong, nan notisya, nan kaayuhan.
I stand and watch as she does her craft on a wheelchair that’s quite big for her birdlike frame. She adds a length of chain to the jump ring attached to a crucifix that she's holding and closes it. She then "builds" the center by attaching three small jump rings to each side of the center, adding a length of chain to each, and then closing each jump ring securely. Beginning with the chain attached to the crucifix, she adds one “Our Father†bead, opens the other end of the eye pin and adds a length of chain. She adds three “Hail Mary†beads to this and leaves the last eye pin open, then adds a length of chain to attach the next “Our Father†bead. After making sure all eye pins are securely closed, she looks up and smiles at me.
Dionisia Portillo Lozada may have turned 100 years old in 27 November 2007 but she still makes rosaries that she gives as present to relatives, friends, and strangers. This and more makes her everybody’s Lola Doni.
Lola Doni’s piety is inborn. Early in her life she wanted to be a nun, a dream she pursued by paying the price of leaving Tago, her birthplace in Surigao del Sur, and be separated from her family at a young age to be a graciada---a working student with exceptional intelligence---at St. Catherine School in Carcar, Cebu. There she finished high school with honors in 1926, even earning a grade of 100% in some of her subjects.
Lola Doni was all set to enter the nunnery in 1934, but then her parents, Laureano Portillo and Facunda Prado, intervened. And so she went home and taught at Santa Teresa School in Tandag, Surigao del Sur. A year later she transferred to Purisima School in Tago and met Tomas C. Lozada who became her husband in 7 December 1935.
In 1944, she gave birth to Bobby, her fourth and only surviving child whom she raised single-handedly to become a successful lawyer, an executive, and a businessman rolled into one.
She picks up the unfinished rosary that she has earlier put on the table beside her. She separates the “Our Father†bead by a length of chain and adds a decade consisting of 10 “Hail Mary†beads.
Lola Doni has her share of sorrows. Her first three children died during their infancy and she herself became a widow when Bobby was only six. But her greatest agony was when Tommy and Maan, her only two grandchildren from Bobby and Emelyn, met their death aboard the ill-fated flight of Air Philippines seven Aprils ago. He was 25; she was 22.
Of this tragedy, Lola Doni felt sad but not resentful. She didn’t ask God why this happened to her when she had been a good and faithful servant all her life, serving and extending material and financial support to the church, championing the cause of the poor and living a Spartan life despite her social status, becoming a catechist and an active leader of organizations like Hijas de Maria, Apostolada, and Legion of Mary, and taking care of the Sto Nino chapel in Lapaz among other works of mercy.
But such was not Lola Doni’s ways. Instead she asked God for more strength to continue her life’s mission of serving Him through His church and His flock.
She completes four more sets of decades, each separated by an “Our Father†bead, except the last one, which she attaches directly to the other side of the center.
In 21 July 2007, Lola Doni received from His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI the Papal Award “Pro Ecclesia Et Pontificate,†the most prestigious distinction and honor given to a devout Catholic for exemplary service to the church and fellowmen. Lola Doni accepted this award from the Bishop of Tandag, Msgr. Nerio Odchimar, at San Nicolas de Tolentino Cathedral in Tandag in an elaborate ceremony attended by relatives, friends, and church and government officials.
Four months later on 30 November 2007, three days after her birthday, the family of Lola Doni threw her a grand fete worthy of a centenarian at the gym of Polytechnic State College in Tago, Surigao del Sur. Kith and kin from all over the country and abroad came and paid tribute to this woman of substance who continues to walk her talk even if she’s now wheelchair-bound due to a bad fall that surgery wasn’t able to correct.
Every time someone asks what her secret to a longer life is, Lola Doni always says: inner peace! But then she would blink her eyes that still have no use for glasses and smile, as if teasing that it couldn’t get simpler and harder than that.
Just as she has perfected the craft of rosary making, Lola Doni has indeed perfected her life as a living offering to God.
That’s for 100 years and counting!
I stand and watch in awe as she makes the final assembly of the long string of beads and the centerpiece. She holds the string up by one end and lets it dangle freely. Then after seeing that there is no “twist†in the string, she attaches the free end of the centerpiece. And the rosary becomes whole.
Last edited by kampanaryo_spy on Wed Dec 12, 2007 8:25 pm, edited 15 times in total.
"Most claims of originality are testimony to ignorance and most claims of magic are testimony to hubris." -James March-
It's perfectly said and entirely truthful.She taught me a little bit of rosary making when we (tita soledad,kitty,paul sales & you) spent a night with her in Lapaz.Can you still remember when was that?
It's perfectly said and entirely truthful.She taught me a little bit of rosary making when we (tita soledad,kitty,paul sales & you) spent a night with her in Lapaz.Can you still remember when was that?
sugz,
i think this was in the summer of '90 when tita, after a very long time, went home to tago with her then 4-year old daughter, dawn. she and kitty synchronized their vacation.
yes, iya doni taught us rosary making (i'm that liberal! hahaha) because we ended up spending the night in her home instead of having an overnight stay at Alibakbak beach as planned.
atat wrote:kspy,
BRAVO!!! very well said....
ganahani ako...
at-at,
am glad you like it. actually i had nothing in my hand when i wrote it except of course the special issue of Periodico that featured ya doni in an article entitled, "A centenary celebration of life."
"Most claims of originality are testimony to ignorance and most claims of magic are testimony to hubris." -James March-
"Nothing in your hand".... yet you give real justice to Iya Doni's lifestory.
I remember when I went home somebody gave me a bunch of rosaries which apparently came from the woman of substance. I then distributed them to some relatives and friends. Brought some here in Aust and gave to friends.
Talagsaon an iya pagkababae and the inner peace & strength she possess is so commendable.
the article as it appeared in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (December 16, 2007)
this article earned me the BEST CHRISTMAS GIFT EVER. and i just wish i could divulge it. but let me thank a-ty. -o-by -o-ad- for restoring my faith in Santa Claus!
"Most claims of originality are testimony to ignorance and most claims of magic are testimony to hubris." -James March-
