A story of chasing dreams and discovering a vocation.
Crislane Costa Viana, “Cris,” is 30 years old. Born in Caturaí, Goiás (a state in central Brazil), when she was still very young she started helping her parents work in the fields. It was in this rural setting that she took her first steps in the faith. She traveled miles and miles by cart to go to catechism classes and Mass. She made her First Communion and Confirmation, but, as she herself says, she was “Catholic only in name and by Baptism.”
Already as a child, she dreamed big. Her dreams led her to study aeronautics. Despite financial difficulties, she managed to complete the course that trains pilots for civil aviation.
The same financial difficulties prevented the recent graduate from completing the mandatory flight hours to work in civil aviation. “As I couldn’t get the money and my parents couldn’t afford it, I started to think that it wasn’t what God wanted for my life and I began to look at other possibilities,” explains Crislane.
Cortesia / Crislane Costa Viana
From college to the convent
While still in college, Crislane became interested in religious life. One year after graduating, and with her private pilot’s license in hand, she decided to abandon her career and join the convent of the Franciscan Sisters of Divine Mercy in Goiás.
Her parents did not accept the decision. “I told my mother that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be a sister, but at that moment I was sure I needed to experiment and understand the restlessness I had inside me,” reveals Crislane.
The young woman stayed in the convent for three years, until she finished the canonical novitiate. “At the end of the third year, I discerned that my place was not there. If I wanted to, I could live there until I died, but I wouldn’t be happy. So I decided to leave,” she says.
And it was in the convent that Crislane learned a key lesson she carries with her through life: “In the convent I experienced mercy. I learned, indeed, that God wants His children to be close to Him. We are sinners and, despite our falls, God loves us,” she summarizes.
Cortesia / Crislane Costa Viana
Rosaries for brides
Having left her career and the convent, Cris felt lost in the world. “And now, what am I going to do?” she thought.
But Providence was showing her the path to follow, and she started doing a little bit of everything to get by: She worked as a market vendor, helped in a restaurant, was an app driver, and started selling handmade and personalized rosaries for brides.