14,000 letters between a Daughter of Charity and prisoners

As a “second career” after her term of office as Provincial of the Daughters of Charity Province of Barcelona Sr. Genoveva entered full time into a ministry she began in 1945 – exchanging letters with people detained in various prisons. The archive now contains some 14,000 letters.

July 1, 2008, marks the silver jubilee of an unusual archive.

The international site of the Daughters of Charity says, “The fact that Sister Genoveva began an archive of the letters she had received from different prisons or drug rehabilitation centres as well as her letters of reply surprises us and, at the same time, gives us enough material to evaluate in a tangible way her human and Christian qualities. The archive begun in 1983 contains more than 8.000 letters received and more than 6.000 replies.”

“For me the keeping letters is an act of respect for the people who wrote them.  These letters reveal their maturation process, their sincerity  and their desire to change and overcome their faults.” (Sister Genoveva Masip)

These “historical documents” contain sincere confessions, moving tales of human misery, requests for help and expressions of admiration and gratitude. Her personal answers, written by hand, to each young person, trying to ease their restlessness and meet their needs reveal her love for the poor.

The website contains some moving examples of the correspondance.