WILLEMSTAD - Sister Francesca Verheijen is celebrating her centenary this week. The Flying Nun, as she was called, began her consecrated life in 1949 in Curaçao, where she lived and worked until 1984.

The sister trained kindergarten teachers on three islands of the former Netherlands Antilles.

After her return to the Netherlands, she led the Mother House in Schijndel and the De Soete Moeder monastery in Den Bosch.