Ana Julia Duque Hencker was born on 14 August 1898 in
Salamina in the
Caldas Department as the eldest of nineteen children born to Antonio José Duque Botero and Ana Berenice Hencker Rister (of German origins). Five of her siblings entered into the
religious life with one brother becoming a
priest and three sisters all becoming
religious; Elías became a priest while María, Lucila, and Tulia all became nuns. Hencker was
baptized on 16 August in the Immaculate Conception parish in Salamina; on 31 October 1902 received her
Confirmation from the
Bishop of Manizales Gregorio Nacianceno Hoyos and on 7 September 1907 made her
First Communion. Her parents provided for her initial religious formation and it was from them that she developed a strong devotion to the
Mother of God and would herald her known trait of reciting frequent
rosaries. But she was an avid reader in her childhood and fostered a strong desire to become a
Carmelite after she read the works of
Teresa of Ávila since the writings of the saint strengthened her faith and religious ideals. Hencker worked in her parish as a
catechist and became part of a Marian group that was active in the parish. But difficulties arose when she turned fifteen since her parents indicated that it was time for her to consider marriage in the future. Her parents had also indicated this to her since it was hoped that it would see her abandon her desires for the religious life since she was the eldest and some of her siblings had expressed similar intentions. Hencker refused their attempts and instead in November 1917 entered a
convent and decided to join the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation in
Bogotá on 20 December 1917. Hencker entered the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation in November 1917 in Bogotá as a
postulant before she commenced her
novitiate there; she was invested in the
religious habit on 26 July 1919. She made her
solemn vows on 21 November 1919 and assumed the
religious name María Berenice upon her profession. The next three decades would see her serve as an teacher and she would work at colleges first at
San Gil and
Ubaté before she was transferred to
Manizales (and on occasion in
Fredonia which was close to the town) and
Rionegro. But she also worked to establish a school for girls of poorer families and of
Afro-Colombian descent to whom she taught reading and writing as well as to train them in catechism and housework. But what caused her much suffering was that women of color could not enter a convent due to
racial discrimination or on the basis of their poor economic backgrounds. Hencker came to see the poor as the chosen ones of God and when she ended up founding a congregation welcomed those women with the noted phrase: "They are hidden treasures of God". In 1930 she travelled to
Medellín to work as an assistant for the formative process for those who had just entered into the religious life. But from 1938 to 1942 she increased her apostolate among the poor and often visited textile factories to instruct people in catechism or to just talk about God and the
Gospel to the workers. But it was during that time that she also visited the dangerous regions that were known for being havens for criminals and
drug addicts as well as for
alcoholics and prostitutes to whom she tried to
evangelize and convert from a life of sin. It was in those neighborhoods that she developed a strong sense of
social justice and a powerful goal to cater to the needs of those on the societal peripheries. Hencker organized Marian conferences and also organized
spiritual retreats and meetings in different places that included hospitals and clinics. She also helped to establish
Catholic Action units as a means to attract adolescents to a stronger religious vocation. But a particular focus was spent on the women that desired entrance into the religious life; she often helped them in their formation and also helped them to discern their call to the religious life. Hencker also focused on welcoming poorer girls and girls of color as well as those of unmarried parents. She came to realize over time that she alone could not resolve the different situations that these girls faced and realized that she needed further support to be able to manage such a broad and difficult apostolate. Hencker secured permission from her provincial superior and the
Archbishop of Medellín Joaquín García Benítez to set up the basis for what would become her own
religious congregation and on 14 May 1943 started steps towards this goal. Hencker had seen the plight of girls and women who often tended to end up on the margins of Colombian life and were more often than not forced to fend for themselves; she wanted to help them and had a stronger urge to tend to those who lived and struggled on the societal peripheries. This hard work paid off on 6 October 1953 when the
Congregation for Religious provided her with the permission needed to establish the Little Sisters of the Annunciation with further permission that she act as its first
Superior General. Further permission for the congregation came on 5 August 1954 when she obtained a decree of perpetual adoration while the construction of the
motherhouse would commence in
Medellín in 1955. The first women who joined her were almost all of color and Hencker helped to form them in the ideals that she wanted the congregation to possess. But difficulties soon arose when some of the women were sent to tend to other apostolates and she herself was sent to France where she fell ill before she could even return to her homeland in 1947. It was upon her return that she resumed her apostolate with a renewed vigor to make up for lost time despite the initial setbacks that saw her almost have to begin anew. Hencker helped the congregation recover from its brief stagnation due to her brief dismissal to France and helped them to further expand their work outside of Medellín and into other regions. She also supported the
apostolic nuncio Paolo Bertoli in further promoting the Catholic Action movement in Colombia. It was around this time that she began to write the constitutions and received further support from Archbishop Joaquín García Benítez who had an active role in assisting Hencker and her companions. This led to the congregation receiving canonical recognition from the archbishop on 3 October 1950 as a pious union and then on 2 July 1953 as a institute of diocesan right. Hencker put on the new congregation's
habit on 23 October 1953 and made her perpetual vows. She made a pilgrimage to Israel in 1954 and made other trips to France and
Rome (a
Marian year had been called hence her pilgrimage to Rome). Between 1962 and 1965 she reviewed the documents from the
Second Vatican Council and encouraged religious renewal among her sisters through studies of the documents. In 1967 she stepped down as the Superior General and continued her apostolate to tend to the ill despite her own illness and sent some of her sisters to Rome for further studies. Hencker founded the Afro-Colombian Missionaries on 15 August 1957 after she received a series of requests from some people of color from the Colombian coast. Her tenure as the Superior General saw houses open in
Ecuador and
Peru but also crossed international borders with a house opened in Spain. The institute received the
papal decree of praise from
Pope Pius XII on 25 March 1958. Hencker established the Domus Dei Institute (it has since been renamed as the Missionaries of the Annunciation) which she established with the aim of welcoming priests and religious brothers into the congregation who shared her views on the service to those that suffered from societal marginalization. Her illness returned sometime in the 1970s and was manageable until it saw her confined to bed rest. This long illness led to her death in Medellín on 25 July 1993 at 2:20 pm. The
Bishop Emeritus of Santa Rosa de Osos Joaquín García Ordóñez presided over her funeral on 28 July with the Archbishop of Medellín
Héctor Rueda Hernández as a
concelebrant. Her congregation continued to expand upon her death and is now established in fifteen countries (such as the
Philippines and
Côte d'Ivoire) around the world as she had once hoped. Her remains are housed at the order's motherhouse in Medellín. ==Beatification==