Sister Maria Victoria Aldea, O.P., 82, a member of the Sisters of St. Dominic, Amityville, for 60 years, died Oct. 18.
Born in Caguas, Puerto Rico as Maria Eulalia, she dropped out of school and cared for her seven younger siblings when their mother died. She became acquainted with the Dominican Sisters in Puerto Rico and entered the congregation from the Cathedral of San Juan, Caguas, in 1952.
On Aug. 4, 1953, she received the habit of St. Dominic and her religious name. One year later, on Aug. 7, 1954, she pronounced her religious vows.
She ministered both in the U.S. and in Puerto Rico. She did domestic work in the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, Huntington, 1954-55, and in Cathedral College, Brooklyn, 1955-59. Upon returning to Puerto Rico, she was stationed in Convento Santo Tomas, San Juan, 1959-62; Convento N.S. del Rosario, Vega Baja, 1962-67; Convento Santa Rosa, Bayamon, 1972-82; and Convento Santo Vincenzo Ferrer, Catano, 1981-86.
In 1986, she returned to serve as domestic assistant at the motherhouse in Amityville until 1999 when she retired.
Sister Maria Victoria was also an artist. Her depictions of San Juan are displayed in the congregation’s Heritage Center.
She is survived by four sisters, Georgina and Rafaela of Puerto Rico, Lydia of Alabama and Carmen of Yonkers, and two brothers, Carlos of Puerto Rico and Ernesto of Texas.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated in St. Albert Chapel, Amityville, Oct. 22. Interment in the Sisters’ Cemetery followed.