Fr. Diola on mother’s passing: She died a ‘holy death’

THE Oct. 21 canonization  of Pedro Calungsod was  bittersweet for visiting Cebu priest Fr. Carmelo Diola who was in Rome when word reached him that his mother had passed away.

Elena Ouano Diola, 79, died of a heart attack an hour after the canonization ceremony in St. Peter’s Square started, he said, or about 7 p.m. in Cebu.

With this special timing, he said he considers her passing  a “holy death”.

“I suspect my mother had a very special escort,” he told CDN, referring to  the teenage martyr, Saint Pedro Calungsod.

Elena Diola was a former regional director of the Department of Science and Technology and a Gawad Ina Awardee in 1997.  She was also a  key supporter of the Dilaab Foundation, the anti-corruption movement which Fr. Diola leads as chief steward.

Her funeral Mass is set for 2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30, at the Redemptorist Church followed by burial at Cebu Memorial Park in Banilad, Cebu City.

She raised eight children with Enrique Yuzon Diola, who died on March 31, 2011.

Fr. Diola, the eldest of eight siblings, said his mother had been bedridden for  nearly a year and was staying with his brother Ronald “Raddy” Diola, former  chief of the  Cebu City Nutrition Council.

Because he didn’t have a cellphone, Fr. Diola said  he only learned of her passing  later on Oct. 22 during the 8 a.m. thanksgiving Mass in Rome officiated by Ricardo Cardinal Vidal.

A friend, Nonoy Espeleta, finally reached him and said  family members had been trying to contact  him about his mother’s death.

“It was very painful but I was at peace because I was assured by God that my mother died a very holy death,” said the diocesan priest.

“During the morning of Sunday, she woke up on that time which was unusual”. He said he believed “Pedro Calungsod and St. Helena were there.”

A  younger brother, Neil, based in Florida, USA,  was in Rome with his family and confirmed the news of their mom’s passing.

Fr. Diola said  he and his brother were talking after the thanksgiving Mass and happened to end up  in front of the statue of St. Helena. Their mother was named after St. Helena,  mother of Constantine the Great, the first Roman emperor who  converted to Christianity.

Even with a large family, Elena “continued teaching in different schools” said the priest who described her as a “supermom” who eventually became a “saintly mom.” “She went through many trials together with my father,” he said.

Cardinal Vidal and Archbishop Jose Palma would have wanted to officiate the requiem mass, but since they can’t return from Rome yet, Fr. Diola said  he was considering officiating the funeral  mass tomorrow.

The vigil wake is being held at the St. Peter’s Mega Chapel in New Imus Street, Cebu City./Correspondent Tweeny Malinao