Sr. Dorothy Kazel: Soli Deo Gloria
“Sr. Dorothy Kazel: Soli Deo Gloria” 2005, Oil painting on antique gate, wood cross, mauve art glass & dicroich glass, words from her last letter, 38” x 45” 4” Collection of the Ursuline Sisters, Cleveland , Ohio.
Note: the figure in the background is Saint Angela Merici, founder of the Ursuline Order.
On December 2, 1980, Sr. Dorothy Kazel, an Ursuline Sister and missionary to El Salvadore, along with Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford, Maura Clarke and laywoman Jean Donovan were sexually assaulted and murdered.
Kazel joined a team of missionaries working in El Salvador. She worked in the Church of the Immaculate Conception in La Libertad training catechism instructors, and facilitating sacramental preparation programs. She oversaw the distribution of Catholic Relief Services aid and food supplies and worked with refugees from the Salvadoran Civil War getting food, shelter, and medical supplies, and transporting the sick and injured to medical facilities.
On the 40th anniversary of their martyrdom, I was asked if my painting could be used for this remembrance of Sr. Dorothy. My response:
“Dear Sr. Margaret, Thank you for your email this morning. I would be honored to have my painting included in your ceremony!
I did the painting in 2005 and realized it was not for me to keep. I gave it to the Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland so that Dorothy could “return” home.
In the 40 years that have passed since the awful deaths of Dorothy, Jean Donovan, Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, it seems that to honor them at this moment in time takes on a more powerful and significant meaning in the context of global pandemic and political/civil discord.
They left a powerful legacy of love, faith, commitment, and service that today shines like a true north star.”
