Isolina Ferré

Sor Isolina Ferré Aguayo (5 September 1914 – 3 August 2000) was a Puerto Rican Roman Catholic religious sister.

Known as the "Mother Teresa of Puerto Rico", she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her humanitarian work.

Ferré Aguayo was born in Ponce to a wealthy family.

She was one of six siblings, Jose, Carlos, Hernan, Rosario and Luis, Puerto Rico's former governor.

When she was 21, Ferré traveled to the United States where she commenced her novitiate.

After five years, she completed the solemn vows.

As part of her religious work, Ferré traveled back and forth between Puerto Rico and the United States, serving as an abbess in Cabo Rojo and New York City.

During this time frame, she attended various universities in the United States, studying sociology and arts.

She left her family's house to join a convent shortly after her 21st birthday, after receiving permission from her father.

Before entering the convent, she decided to swear a chastity vow.

After working as a member of New York City's Committee Against Poverty, to which she was appointed by Mayor John Lindsay, Ferré decided in 1969, to set her permanent residence in Ponce, specifically in the low-income sector of La Playa.

There she founded a small hospital and a school/resource center named Centro de Orientación y Servicios de La Playa de Ponce.

The school/resource center would later become Centros Sor Isolina Ferré and opened numerous outlets throughout Puerto Rico at large.

Ferré Aguayo is a member of Mu Alpha Phi sorority.

Ferré was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, to Antonio Ferré and Mary Aguayo.

Born into a wealthy family of recent European background, she was one of six children.

Her siblings included Luis, José, Carlos, Rosario, and Hermán Ferré.

Throughout the years, the Ferré family owned several companies in Puerto Rico, ranging from factories to newspapers.

However, she was inclined towards a religious life from a young age.

Her father was Catholic, but left the church when, at the request of a dying friend, he joined the Freemasons.

The other members of the family attended a church named Iglesia de la Monserrate located in Hormigueros.

Her mother used to spend her time in benevolent activities, often donating toys to orphaned children.

Her mother contracted Filaria, which limited her social and personal activities, therefore Saro, Ferré's older sister, became responsible for the upbringing of the younger children.

When she was three years old, Ferré entered a religious school named Colegio de las Madres del Sagrado Corazón, where she became interested in the habits practiced by the nuns.

Ferré traveled throughout Ponce with some of the family's employees, becoming familiar with the neighborhoods and their inhabitants.

When she was young, Ferré believed that poverty was a voluntary economic state of being however, during her adolescence she realized that it wasn't so and that she was wrong in her way of thinking.

During this timeframe she practiced tennis and cycling, and taught Catechism.

When she was sixteen years old, Ferré enrolled at the University of Puerto Rico's campus in Río Piedras.

She subsequently moved to the Orden De Las Siervas Misioneras De La Santisima Trinidad (Congregation Of The Missionary Servants Of The Most Blessed Trinity, MSBT), where she resided while studying.

While in the university, Ferré developed an interest in opera and literature.

She continued practicing tennis, eventually practicing with Rebekah Colberg.

Shortly after completing her first semester, Ferré returned to her home, where she was informed that her mother was in critical condition.

Her mother died the next morning, moments after her son Luis arrived from the United States.

Ferré resumed her studies with intensity and during this time she also worked and played tennis.

Her health was affected because of her strenuous activities and after she went to her doctor and had a radiology done, she was told that she had damage in her lungs and was recommended that she take one year of rest.

The condition worsened and she moved to Adjuntas briefly, until the symptoms completely disappeared one month later.

Jose Ferré (her brother) became a member of Luis Muñoz Marín's government.

He told her about the details of Operation Bootstrap and Operation Serenity.

Interested in this second project, she organized a group of delivery boys and shoe shiners and founded a candy distribution system.

Ferré and some friends also preached to workers in sugar plantations, often visiting their houses in the evening.