Okamura Fuku (Japanese: 岡村ふく; June 3, 1899 – April 26, 1982), also known as Mother Helen Theresia, was a Japanese Roman Catholic nun born in the Empire of Japan.[1] In 1944 she was the co-founder, with Fr. Vincent Totsuka Bunkyō (1892–1939, Bunkei Totsuka in some sources), of the Missionary Sisters of St. John the Evangelist, and Sakuramachi hospital.[2][3] She was listed as the director in the early 1970s.[4] Louis Massignon reported meeting her and her congregation in 1959 when he visited Sakuramachi hospital in Tokyo, and she is listed in his correspondence.[5] In 1963, when she was mother superior, she received a national medal for her work with developmentally disabled people, and her role in founding Sakuramachi hospital with Fr. Totsuka.[3]
References
- 1.Massignon, Louis (2009). Écrits Mémorables (in French). Paris: Éditions Robert Laffant. p. 780. ISBN 978-2-221-10656-3.
- 2.Van Hecken, CICM, Joseph Leonard (1963). The Catholic Church in Japan Since 1859. Tokyo: Herder Agency. p. 252.
- 3.[3.2]"Welcome - St. John's Congregation". The Missionary Sisters of St. John the Evangelist. Archived from the original on November 18, 2025.
- 4.Hara, Ryozo; Colligan, James; Macleod, Ian, eds. (1971). The Japan Christian Yearbook 1969-1970. Tokyo: The Christian Literature Society of Japan. p. 359.
- 5.Massignon, Louis. "Extrême-Orient: Hôpital catholique de Sakuramachi (Japon)". Bibliothèque nationale de France. Département des Manuscrits. Fonds Louis Massignon: XIXe-XXe siècles. (in French).