Sister Lucia Ceccotti, SJBC
May 5, 1920 - September 17, 2013

Sister Lucia Ceccotti, SJBC, 93, founder and Executive Director of the Marian Center School and Services in Miami Gardens passed away September 17, 2013.

Visitation will be 3:00 - 7:00 p.m., with a Wake Service at 6:00 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013, at the Marian Center, 15701 NW 37th Avenue in Miami Gardens.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski will celebrate the Funeral Mass at 10:00 a.m. Friday, Sept. 20, 2013, at St. Mary's Cathedral, 7525 NW 2nd Avenue in Miami. Interment will follow at Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery in Miami.

In lieu of flowers, contributions given in memory of Sister Lucia can be directed to the Marian Center School, 15701 NW 37th Ave., Miami Gardens, FL 33054.

Article from the Archdiocese of Miami's Web site -

"Sister Lucia Ceccotti, 93, goes home to 'divine providence'
Came from Italy 50 years ago to start Marian Center, devoted her life to the handicapped."

Wednesday, September 18, 2013 Ana Rodriguez-Soto - Florida Catholic

MIAMI | Indomitable. If one word could capture the life and personality of Sister Lucia Ceccotti, that would be it.

But the Sister of St. Joseph Cottolengo who came to the archdiocese 50 years ago to establish a school for the developmentally disabled -- and never left -- preferred to use two other words: Divine Providence.

After a lifetime that spanned 93 years, countless challenges, unwavering faith and endless love for God's most special children, Sister Lucia went to rest completely in the hands of Divine Providence. She died Sept. 17 after spending a month in the hospital.

"As if she didn't do enough in 50 years, we saw this magnificent witness of sacrifice," said Father Kenneth Whittaker, pastor of Our Lady of Mercy in Deerfield Beach. "That's what this became," he said of her final illness. "It wasn't empty of meaning."

Father Whittaker became a close friend of Sister Lucia and her community when he was pastor of St. Philip Neri Parish, which is located near the Marian Center School and Services where the Sisters of St. Joseph Cottolengo live and work.

The order, whose motherhouse is in Torino, Italy, is dedicated to caring for the poor and handicapped. Sister Lucia arrived in South Florida in mid-October 1963 as the superior of a group of 11 sisters who had been asked by Miami's first archbishop, Coleman Carroll, to establish a school for children with Down's syndrome.

She was the only one in the group who spoke some -- not much -- English. None of them had ever been on an airplane or even ridden an escalator, let alone traveled outside their native Italy.

"It was painful to leave our families, friends and other sisters. This was a real giving of ourselves, completely throwing ourselves into God's hands," Sister Lucia recalled during a celebration for her 90th birthday at the Marian Center.
None of the sisters drove, either, but within two weeks Sister Lucia and another sister were taking their driving tests. At first, they lived in a house in Hollywood because the property where the Marian Center would be built -- a 50-acre tract that also is home to Msgr. Edward Pace High School and St. Thomas University -- was literally a trash dump.

"We found everything from old refrigerators, ranges and mattresses to broken chairs and glass. There were wild animals, skunks and snakes," Sister Lucia recalled.

The sisters took courses at Barry University to revalidate their nursing and teaching degrees, learn English and "accustom themselves to the American way of life," according to an article published in the diocesan newspaper, The Voice, Oct. 25, 1963.

Led by Sister Lucia, the hardy group of sisters managed to clean up the property, oversee the construction of a convent and begin classes by September 1964. Initial enrollment was 40 students ranging in age from 2 to 14 years old. Little by little, more buildings were opened and more programs were offered.

The Marian Center today operates a fully accredited school, an adult training center, a women's residence and provides therapy services for children and young adults with developmental, speech, occupational and physical disabilities.

Sister Lucia was only supposed to accompany that original group of sisters while they settled in South Florida. But somehow she stayed, along with three others, two of whom still work at the Marian Center.

Sister Lucia told that story in an interview with The Voice as she approached her 70th birthday. "I was told if you put sand in your shoes, you'd stay here forever. So we went one morning to the beach" in Hollywood and the sisters filled their shoes with sand.

Aside from Sister Lucia, seven Sisters of St. Joseph Benedict Cottolengo work in the archdiocese, four at the Marian Center and three at St. David Parish's HOPE Outreach Center in Davie.
Sister Lucia ostensibly retired as principal of the Marian Center School in 1996 but remained actively engaged in everything that took place there. Everyone still looked up to her as the matriarch of the Marian Center family, which includes not just the sisters who staff it but every student who ever attended, their parents and siblings.

"I call the sisters my aunts because my mother is the same age as Sister Carla (Valentini). Sister Lucia was kind of a great-aunt, grandmotherly figure in my life," said Father Christopher Marino, rector of St. Mary Cathedral. His younger brother, Joe, has Down's syndrome and spent more than 25 of his 36 years studying at the Marian Center.

"She was a model of stick-to-itiveness, a model of relying on God's providence in so many ways," Father Marino said of Sister Lucia. "She was a witness of Christ and his mercy for those that are suffering."

Asked to describe Sister Lucia in one word, Msgr. Jude O'Doherty, pastor of Epiphany Parish in Miami, used two: "Total dedication." Then he added a third: "Demanding."

The two became acquainted when he headed the committee planning the visit of Pope John Paul II to Miami in 1987. Sister Lucia was put in charge of the elderly and handicapped, including getting them to Tamiami Park for the Mass, where they were to be seated in a section close to the altar to receive a special blessing from the pope.

"When told she would have to find the means to pay for the special transportation needed for her guests, Sister raised an eyebrow and coolly informed the director that 'Divine Providence has already taken care of that need, thank you,'" recalled Archbishop Thomas Wenski at a Mass last year marking the 25th anniversary of the pope's visit.

"She did everything," Msgr. O'Doherty said. "She loved the people and she wanted to make sure they would have the same opportunity as everybody else to see the Holy Father. She was a real good woman."

Born in Pisa, Italy, Sister Lucia entered religious life at age 18. She had degrees and certificates from various Italian institutions in teaching, nursing and Italian literature, as well as a Master of Science in administration and special education. Prior to coming to South Florida, she served as a high school principal, and as mistress of postulants, visitor general, secretary general and counselor for her religious community.

Among many honors, Sister Lucia had received the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice cross from Pope John Paul II, the Primum Regnum Dei award from the Archdiocese of Miami and an honorary degree from St. Thomas University. On April 17 of this year, the Miami-Dade County School Board issued a proclamation to mark the Marian Center's 50th anniversary.

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