about cristiana
Sometimes unexpected things happen in our lives!
Cristiana Maria da Silva Calçada was born on March 26, 1979, in Vila Franca de Xira, in the Ribatejo region of Portugal. She was the second of three children born to Maria Amélia da Silva Calçada and Francisco José de Almeida Calçada. From the age of 4 to 7, she lived in Luanda, Angola, with her parents and older sister. In 1999, she underwent an initial conversion process, thanks to her participation in Charismatic Renewal meetings organized by the Pneumavita group in Lisbon. Despite this grace, upon entering college, she ended up abandoning the path she had begun.
She worked in commercial area and human resources recruitment and founded a company distributing organic products. She returned to Angola in 2009 for professional reasons. Married in 2010 and separated the same year. She then lived in Paris for a little over a year, also for work purposes. Returned to Portugal in 2012, where she remained until her illness was diagnosed.
Cristiana loved sports like freediving, bodyboarding, and martial arts. She was an excellent Tae Kwon Do athlete, winning medals in National Championships, but her last fight, though painful, was her most brilliant. She didn't back down from suffering. She fought for Christ and alongside Christ, for the salvation of her soul and for the salvation of other souls. She fought the good fight and kept the faith!
Her sudden passing left us disarmed, but we quickly realized that it didn't take long for us to feel her help in our daily needs. Her intercession in our lives has been very evident!
May the story of these three years and three months of grace somehow give new hope to those who find themselves discouraged under the weight of the cross! May the Immaculate Heart of Mary always be your refuge and the school where you learn to smile even in the face of pain, doubt, and difficulties. It was in this school that Cristiana prepared herself for the encounter with her True Spouse.
For many of us, she left us an example of how to construct the sentences of our lives with the word "yes" instead of the word "if" ("if I didn't have cancer," "if I had another husband," "another wife," "if I had a different son"...). "Yes" to whatever comes and doesn't depend on me, "yes" to suffering if God allowed it, "yes" to a new project even if it's completely different from the one we intended, as long as it's the project He dreamed for us.
What happened...
The first big scare and the first great grace:
Cristiana was gifted with a "very free spirit," a jovial, cheerful, and energetic character, ready to help whenever asked. From adolescence onward, and after a first stage on the path of conversion, she walked roads, mountains, and valleys that marked a period of separation from the Lord of Life. Reading some of the writings from those earlier times (2011) today, I share here the disappointments and confusion she experienced at a certain point in her life, wondering how to distinguish the path of good from the path of evil and how to distance herself from evil influences.
On the night of July 24, 2021, Cristiana was unexpectedly hospitalized in critical condition, caused by severe bleeding. The doctor had warned her father that she was in critical condition and that he would see what he could do to ensure her survival.
We were truly alarmed! My mother called me and asked me to pray for my sister, who had called to say goodbye, without much hope of survival. When I entered the chapel to pray, I felt she was dying, and I left the chapel in a panic to send messages to everyone I knew asking them to pray for her too, as I felt incapable of such a task alone. Upon re-entering the chapel, faced with this mystery of life and death that had so abruptly confronted us, I asked God for a second chance for Cristiana and for each of us. So many words that would have remained unsaid if her life had ended that night.
Indeed, God's grace prevented her from passing away that night. She had been admitted to the hospital with a hemoglobin level of 2.3, the minimum being 12. She was literally in a pre-death state. Both doctors and hospital assistants thought she would not survive. God, however, answered the prayers of all who interceded for her, and she gradually recovered after receiving multiple blood transfusions.
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A Challenging news:
At the Vila Franca de Xira hospital, where she was hospitalized, they asked permission to keep a photograph of her as testimony to an unprecedented case at that hospital. Faced with this evidence, Cristiana was deeply disturbed, realizing that God had indeed blessed her greatly without her deserving it. Three days later, she was discharged from the hospital. I went to her room to pick her up. Upon arriving, I found her crying, telling me that the biopsy result had been "stage IIIC cervical cancer." She had survived to face the battle against cancer! I told her that if God had not allowed her to die the previous Saturday, it was because He was granting her a second chance; we just didn't know how long that second chance would last. I must say that at no point during her illness did my sister rebel against God; on the contrary, she was always very grateful.
The first days after leaving the hospital were very challenging. She told me she didn't know whether to prepare for life or death. This was also a period of great grace. A priest, a friend of our community, had just arrived in Portugal and heard her confession after many years and administered the anointing of the sick. She was very docile to embrace a new stage in her life, now in communion with God. She began to attend Mass regularly and receive the sacrament of confession. The catechesis of Friar Gilson (from the Carmelite Messengers of the Holly Spirit) was a great help in her spiritual life at that time. This support was fundamental to her thorough examination of conscience. I see the following note in her notebook dated September 22, 2021:
1) “Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33); the first thing we will renounce today is unsuitable friendships;
2) Psalm 118:101: “I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep your word” – Turn my feet away from nightclubs, or non-Catholic parties, all non-Catholic places;
3) Catechism of the Catholic Church 2521, talks about modesty: “purity” – I need modesty: hiding what should not be shown, for example, the body, chastity, dignity. Modesty protects the mystery of people; each person is a mystery. What clothes do I need to renounce?;
4) Series and movies that I need to give up, all those that are immodest: give up all soap operas; stop following certain people on the internet, renounce to music and photos that do not reveal modesty;
5) Catechism 2115-2117: Renounce lucky charms, witches, goblins, pyramids, and non-liturgical incense (all of which displease God);
6) Make a thorough examination of conscience, also based on the Ten Commandments; Do not abuse Divine Mercy.
Determined to Fight:
In the first week after leaving the hospital she was determined to make her Total Consecration to Our Lady using the method of St. Louis de Montfort. After watching the training videos and completing the necessary preparation, she consecrated herself on September 24th, the feast of Our Lady of Mercy, in one of the chapels of Our Lady of Schoenstatt, at the hands of a priest from the aforementioned Apostolic Movement.
In the early stages of her illness, she was plagued by bad thoughts, fear of going to hell, anguish, and doubts about how to surrender herself more fully into the arms of Jesus. She wanted to surrender herself to Jesus, but she was afraid. She regretted having wasted 42 years of her life on what was useless.
A more demanding challenge:
The cancer treatment she received was very effective, completely eliminating the large 6 cm wound on her cervix. The doctors were amazed at her recovery and response to the treatment. However, unexpectedly, when she underwent a follow-up examination in September 2022, they discovered that the tumor had metastasized and entered the lymphatic system. At the time, she was given six months to a year to live (the doctor said this tearfully, holding my sister's hands). The consultation had taken place on October 11th. On October 13th, the Positio (document relating to the heroic virtues) of Sister Lucia of Fátima was delivered in Rome. Together with the sisters from “Mary’s Ark Fraternity”, friends, and lay people, it was decided to ask for her intercession for my sister. More specifically, we ask for one of two things: 1) conversion and holiness during illness to go to Heaven, or
2) miraculous healing to continue the process of conversion and holiness in this life. My sister said she didn't want to go to purgatory; she wanted to go directly to Heaven.
Her spiritual director (Father Wilfried of the Work of the Holy Angels) was of fundamental assistance during this stage. The first spiritual direction took place in November 2022, when she had begun intensive chemotherapy sessions. She wrote down an observation from the director in her notebook:
"Sometimes miracles don't happen as physical healing. Overcoming adversity, with a smile and joy is also a miracle."
Since then, she began a path of greater serenity, more concrete and solid. She wanted to evangelize and spread the word of God, something she began doing on August 25, 2022, when she opened Padre Pio's Instagram account to share his spirituality and teachings.
The first sign of a greater grace:
On February 13th (the anniversary of Sister Lucia of Fátima's passing), at 4:45 p.m. in Portugal, the doctor called my sister to tell her that the lymphatic system tumor had disappeared and that there was a small trace in the bone. The PET scan had been done on February 9th, and the doctor said the results wouldn't be available until the following Friday at the earliest (that would be February 17th). What is certain is that the results came out on Sister Lucia of Fátima's date, and we attribute this grace to her. The doctor didn't need to call my sister because she had an appointment scheduled that week, but she chose to do so that same day, not knowing it was the day of the little shepherdess of Fátima.
Through the little shepherdess of Fátima, God had granted her some extra time, which would ultimately prove to be very precious. At that time, she said she was improving her curriculum to go to Heaven, as previously she had been concerned only with her curriculum for worldly matters. Thus, she participated in catechetical formation meetings, such as the training on the documents of the Second Vatican Council, the Consecration to Saint Joseph on May 13, 2024, study groups on the Theology of the Body, and collaborated on the Wahou forum, among others. She also sought to deepen her knowledge of Saint Hildegard's medicine and the benefits of natural products.
In October, her clinical condition worsened. She underwent a CT scan, and the results were briefly announced the following Friday: confirmed tumor growth in her abdomen. Something truly unexpected and unusual except in a more advanced stage of the disease. She was hospitalized on the 19th and passed away on October 24th before 10 pm, 3 years and three months after the second opportunity that God had given her.
What truly matters:
One of the phrases she repeated most often in her final moments was "the value of the little things". She gratefully appreciated the warm bath my mother gave her, as she was already very week and unable to do it alone. She appreciated the massages we gave her on her back, now only skin and bones. She appreciated the foot massages and the lemon sorbet the hospital assistant gave her the last Sunday before she passed away. She was grateful for the diaper they put on her at the hospital because that way she didn't have to get up to go to the bathroom, something that caused her intense pain: "the little things"! When the pain intensified, she sang to Jesus. Her favorite song was the Fatima prayer: "My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You. I ask You forgiveness for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love You." She told me one afternoon: "When you think you can't bear another level of pain, an even stronger pain arrives, and then you remember how much Jesus suffered for us!". She offered her sufferings for the salvation of souls, for the Synod, for the Opus Angelorum, for Mary’s Ark Fraternity and for the sanctification of her family.
Given the facts reported and witnessed, and considering the rapidity with which her clinical condition worsened without anyone expecting it, not even the medical team, I believe that by Divine mercy, God granted her a second grace through Sister Lucia to better prepare her for Heaven, which she so longed for. 3 years and 3 months corresponds to the number 33, the age at which Christ died and also the bed number assigned to her during her last hospitalization at the IPO (Portuguese Institute of Oncology).
A grateful heart:
We thank all who helped her growth towards God and deepen her understanding of the Church's doctrine, and who were part of the plan for the purification of her soul, as God had designed it and to which she strove so hard to respond. I can testify that it was not easy for her, at the age of 42, to leave behind a life experience and ambition very different from the one Jesus proposes. I believe she gave her best and that Our Lady, through the Consecration, wisely prepared her for the definitive encounter with Her beloved Son. "Cristiana" (Christian in Portuguese) was the name with which she was born into the life of grace, and "Cristiana" was the life with which she departed in grace! What is very clear in my sister's life is "joy". Cancer did not take the joy from her heart. Rather, it allowed this "joy," which so often took the form of a "cross," to become deeper and richer.
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