Madre: The Nun Who Was Mother to the Orphans of Honduras

"Children have the right to be happy. So God sent me to help them." -Sister Maria Rosa Leggol

One day in 1966, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, a short, plump nun bent on funding her mission sprinted across the airport tarmac to stop a plane from taking off. On board was the country's richest man. The help she received from him that day triggered a dramatic chain of events resulting in the rescue and education of tens of thousands of destitute Honduran children. Through her network of children's villages, schools, farms, clinics, and vocational training centers, the indomitable Sister Maria Rosa Leggol broke generational cycles of poverty and empowered poor Hondurans to live and work with dignity.

The unlikely triumphs of this awe-inspiring woman, this "Angel of the Poor," are set against the backdrop of Honduras's broken families and the gang violence that sends desperate young migrants fleeing for their lives toward the U.S. border. Madre is a celebration of this fearless woman's great goodness, charisma, and chutzpah in challenging endemic corruption and machismo for the sake of her country's most vulnerable children. Sister Maria Rosa's social activism in serving the poor earned her the rare recognition that her cause is currently being promoted for Christian sainthood.

Kathy Martin O'Neil is a writer, mission trip leader, and former managing editor of Outside Magazine. More than a decade of travel to Honduras has sparked her keen interest in Latin American culture and spirituality and the dangerous situation for migrant children at the U.S. border. She resides with her family in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Crossroads of America.