Sister Dulce was born to a middle class family in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, in 1914. She was given the name Maria Rita. When she was 13 years old, her Aunts took her to visit one of the poorest areas of the city. She was so struck by what she saw that she began dedicating herself to the poor and needy of her neighborhood. At the age of 18, she entered the religious order of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God. She was given the name Dulce in memory of her mother who had died when she was 6. Soon she founded the Sao Francisco’s Workers Union and opened a clinic, a library, a school and even cinema for the poor. Her work was not confined to Salvador, Bahia, but was expanded to the communities of Alagados and Itapagipe. The people began calling her the "Angel of Alagados".
Determined to help the sick people who came to her, in 1939 Sister Dulce started to shelter them in abandoned houses in Salvador's 'Ilha dos Ratos' (rats' island) district. When they were evicted from these houses, she sought other places to shelter her people. Eventually, she gained permission from her Mother Superior to use the Chicken Yard of the convent, provided that she take care of the chickens (which she did by feeding them to her patients). This in time became the Hospital Santo Antonio, the center of a medical, social and educational complex which continues to open doors for the poor in Bahia and throughout Brazil.
During the last 30 years of her life, Sr. Dulce suffered from lung ailments, to which she ultimately lost her life on March 13, 1992, at the age of 77. According to Wkipedia, her feast day is August 13 (I could not determine why it is not the date of her death as is the usual practice).
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