Rosary beads are often more than an aid to prayer. Sometimes they help people through the most difficult times of their lives, and for Venice Torrefranca, her mission to make 700 individual ones is part of her journey to healing.
“I know somewhere, someone is going through something similar, or even worse, and I would like to be an instrument of help,” she said.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in hospitality, Venice came from the Philippines to San Antonio, Texas, on an internship program. During her time there she met her now ex-fiancé, and they learned they were expecting a child.
But after a couple of check-ups she was diagnosed with oligohydramnios, a very rare complication where there is no amniotic fluid in the womb — a critical element in the baby’s development. Without any family network in Texas and requiring further medical support, they moved to the ex-fiancé’s native California.
“The doctor told us that there was only a 50/50 chance of survival, and that there was no way to improve the condition. My son was born July 30, 2024,” said Venice. “He only lived for five hours.”
Their relationship ended soon after, and Venice found herself with almost nothing.
Help came from Ana, her ex-fiancé’s Filipina stepmother, who helped her find a live-in caregiver job. Debts were a worry however, but Venice didn’t feel spiritually, emotionally, or physically ready for a second job.
“I was working in the facility six days a week, and busyness distracted me from feeling the grief. Throughout my relationship and pregnancy, I wasn’t able to go to church because my ex would get so angry and he wouldn’t let me for whatever reason.”
For the first time in almost a year, she took time on her day off to go to St. Vitus Church in Northridge. When the priest was consecrating the host for Communion, she “felt a huge wave of emotion I was trying to suppress, and I started bawling,” she recalled.
“I was blaming myself for what happened, all the what ifs and could’ve been, of the decisions that would have changed the outcome. I eventually went to confession, and to be able to tangibly hear that I have been forgiven for the sins and everything that I’ve done, it played the biggest part in my healing.”
Venice is also certain she had a divine encounter.
“I had the worst breakdown of my life, and called my dad. He told me to pray the rosary, that it might help, and it did. I wept throughout, and I felt and shared the pain that Mary had when she was witnessing the passion of Our Lord. In that moment, I felt a deep love that I can’t explain.”
Then she learned that her church, St. Elisabeth of Hungary Church in Van Nuys, was in need of financial help. During a homily, the priest, Father Shinto Sebastian RCJ, spoke of using one’s talents as a sacrifice and service to God.
“That’s when I had an idea to make rosaries for them to sell in their store. That would help raise some money, and then the rest of it would be donated to the schools.”
From the beginning, Venice, 28, decided that she would donate any monies she made back to schools in the Philippines. She says that she grew up “poor, but I lived comfortably,” in San Miguel, a municipality in Surigao del Sur, Mindanao (the southern part of the country). In 2020, she was one of the city supervisors during the census count.
In Bitaugan, the most remote place she visited, she saw so much poverty that she vowed to help in the future in any little way she could.
“In our family we were taught to always be charitable and giving towards the needy. I remember my mom always said, ‘We can never be too poor to give,’ and that always stayed with me.”
Now, several years later and many thousands of miles away, Venice had a plan. She set up her charity, Vee Rosaries, and taught herself to make rosaries, design the website, and organize finances by watching YouTube tutorials. Initially she sold to friends and people who contacted her via the website, but then she had an offer for a second job.
“I told God, ‘If this is what you want me to do, I’m gonna turn down the job, but you have to make it work.’ I spent a month contemplating, then finally took up the courage to show Father Shinto some of my rosary samples — and he asked me to make 700 of them! At the beginning, one rosary took me 30-45 minutes to finish. I recently finished the 200th piece, and I’m much faster now. Luckily St. Elizabeth’s didn’t give me a deadline for it!”
Once she has finished her mammoth devotional task for St. Elisabeth’s, she will reach out to other Catholic churches who are looking for rosary suppliers.
“I have a special love for kids, and I know my purpose is to be a mother,” she said, adding that she read a quote that said, ‘Grief is really just love. It’s all love you want to give but cannot. Grief is just love with no place to go.’ After losing my son, it reminded me of my love for the kids I felt in Bitaugan, and to share this love with them. I decided to give back to kids in my community, to the schools, and to share the graces that God poured in me.”
