
Sister M. DeDeo Sueko Usuzaka
Born on March 1940 in the Shimane prefecture, I am the eighth of nine children and grew up with four older brothers, three older sisters and one younger sister.
One of my teachers asked me if I would like to study nursing while working. I had never imagined myself becoming a nurse until then, but I decided to go that way. After graduating from nursing school, I worked at Matsue Japanese Red Cross Hospital (JRC) where I wore a cap with the Red Cross. It was like a dream come true to start my nursing career.
A few years later, while working, I started learning flower arrangement, cooking, Western-style dressmaking, tea ceremony, etc. as my training for homemaking, preparing to be a housewife. Also, my mother spun thread from silkworms and wove kimonos, so when I asked to be introduced to someone who could teach me Japanese dressmaking, a senior nurse at the JRC immediately helped me. She was a Catholic. The church was located in the middle of our staff dormitory (JRCA) where we lived, and the hospital was 500 meters away. The people who gathered at the church were most cheerful, open, and friendly people I had ever met. I was recommended to learn the Catechism, and a year later, six of us were baptized together on Easter. I was baptized without telling my family.
The joy of encountering God by learning Japanese dressmaking changed me greatly.
Participating in church more and more, I met people who had joined religious life and young people of the Congregation. I developed a longing for the religious. When I was advised to further my nursing studies in order to better be able to serve, I decided to apply for a national nursing school and started studying there. Before graduation, I went for an interview at Himeji, St. Mary’s Hospital through a priest’s introduction and was allowed to work there.
I could not go quietly because I was leaving my hometown far away to go to Himeji. My parents were Buddhists, so I told them I was going to improve myself for a year. I told my parents a painful lie. My sisters were vaguely aware of it but kept quiet so as not to grieve our elderly parents.
I was very happy to receive a loving letter of Sr. Josepha Yamashita, the nursing director at that time, and I strongly felt God’s call. I worked as a nurse under Sr. Benedicta Nakaie and learned a lot.
I joined our Congregation in March 1970, and the day after becoming novice I took the bullet train to the Tokyo convent. Convent superior Sister Marysia from Poland, Sister Cecilia Hisamastu, Sister Teresita Miyake, Sister Christella Watanabe and Sister Beatrice Maeda welcomed me. The convent’s grounds were endless, wide and covered in deep grass all around, with only the cave of Lourdes visible. I was grateful for God’s providence, knowing that sewing and mending kimonos was going to become a way to mend and heal the wounds in the heart of many people.
One day, our superior asked me if I would like to study to be a midwife. I said yes and prepared for the exam while making vows. I professed my first vows on March 17, 1974. I was deeply grateful for the divine plan and guidance for my acceptance. After few days, I entered Seibo Midwife Academy in Tokyo. The school was a boarding school, and I shared a bunk bed with Sister Christina Nagata. We had a good time, sometimes returning to the Tokyo convent to attend seminars. After graduating and qualifying, I worked in the maternity ward of St. Mary’s Hospital, where I began my life as a midwife with Sister Bernardine Shirota. As a Catholic, my service here was fraught with anguish and conflict over the dignity of fetal life and ethical issues.
After serving there for 10 years, I turned to pastoral care. I felt this service to be the best apostolate for me. Visiting the sick bed empty-handed and listening. Listening with my whole being…. From there, an idea came to me. The nightly broadcast began with the words, “Everyone in the hospital, let us pray together before going to bed.” The reason we have been able to do this for so long is because our patients have been waiting for this time.
At the time, two sisters were already in Korea preparing for missions. I was told that a third person would be needed as the construction of a nursing home was about to begin, so I was asked to go on a mission to Korea. It was October 1996, and I was 56 years old. If God is with me, and two of our sisters are already giving their best, I can do it too, I thought. So I said yes and went to Seoul to begin studying the Hangul language. Our nursing home, Francis House, had only been open for eight years. According to facility evaluations, it was the best facility in Korea. Since its opening, it was attractive due to its high quality, and gradually more and more people visited who desired to learn nursing care. At the request of the facility director, I started to teach nursing care education for the application. Also, I was able to get a driver’s license at the age of 60, so I drove two hours one way to the Franciscan institution for leprosy to teach nursing care education there every month for half a year. Everything was supported by the warm love of the Korean people. I served in Korea until March 2008, and I learned a lot during these 12 years.
After returning from Korea, I took a sabbatical for one year and worked at the Catholic Nibuno Villa. In April 2012, I transferred to the Tokyo convent to work at Francisco Villa. I was impressed by the quiet appearance of the villa on the vast grounds that were widely covered with grass. The most memorable thing in my 12 years there was spending time with the residents. Above all, I was able to participate in the end-of-life care of those who were called to heaven from there.
It was a great blessing for me to be able to say goodbye one by one quietly, taking time, and being able to say goodbye in a presence that beyond words. The Lord was with me, it was all done. Thanks be to God.