{"id":423186,"date":"2026-08-04T01:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T01:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/423186\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T01:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T01:38:08","slug":"in-heartbreak-la-catholic-finds-a-new-vocation-making-rosaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/423186\/","title":{"rendered":"In heartbreak, LA Catholic finds a new vocation: making rosaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know somewhere, someone is going through something similar, or even worse, and I would like to be an instrument of help,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After graduating with a bachelor\u2019s 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-fianc\u00e9, and they learned they were expecting a child.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 a critical element in the baby\u2019s development. Without any family network in Texas and requiring further medical support, they moved to the ex-fianc\u00e9\u2019s native California.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d said Venice. \u201cHe only lived for five hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their relationship ended soon after, and Venice found herself with almost nothing.<\/p>\n

Help came from Ana, her ex-fianc\u00e9\u2019s Filipina stepmother, who helped her find a live-in caregiver job. Debts were a worry however, but Venice didn\u2019t feel spiritually, emotionally, or physically ready for a second job.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was working in the facility six days a week, and busyness distracted me from feeling the grief. Throughout my relationship and pregnancy, I wasn\u2019t able to go to church because my ex would get so angry and he wouldn\u2019t let me for whatever reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u201cfelt a huge wave of emotion I was trying to suppress, and I started bawling,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n

\"\"One of the handcrafted rosaries made by Torrefranca for St. Elisabeth of Hungary Church in Van Nuys. (Submitted photo)<\/p>\n

\u201cI was blaming myself for what happened, all the what ifs and could\u2019ve 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\u2019ve done, it played the biggest part in my healing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venice is also certain she had a divine encounter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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\u2019t explain.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s talents as a sacrifice and service to God.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u201cpoor, but I lived comfortably,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our family we were taught to always be charitable and giving towards the needy. I remember my mom always said, \u2018We can never be too poor to give,\u2019\u00a0and that always stayed with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, several years later and many thousands of miles away, Venice had a plan. She set up her charity, Vee Rosaries<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told God, \u2018If this is what you want me to do, I\u2019m gonna turn down the job, but you have to make it work.\u2019 I spent a month contemplating, then finally took up the courage to show Father Shinto some of my rosary samples \u2014 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\u2019m much faster now. Luckily St. Elizabeth\u2019s didn\u2019t give me a deadline for it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Once she has finished her mammoth devotional task for St. Elisabeth\u2019s, she will reach out to other Catholic churches who are looking for rosary suppliers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a special love for kids, and I know my purpose is to be a mother,\u201d she said, adding that she read a quote that said, \u2018Grief is really just love. It\u2019s all love you want to give but cannot. Grief is just love with no place to go.\u2019 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.\u201d <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"author<\/p>\n

\t\t\tJames Bartlett is a freelance journalist and award-winning true crime author who has appeared in more than 150 publications. You can follow him on social media: @gourmetghosts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rosary beads are often more than an aid to prayer. Sometimes they help people through the most difficult…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-423186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}