What a week full of grace!

The "Busy Persons' Retreat finishes today and I am back on the blog to tell you what a grace it was for me to be with six wonderful people each day. Leaving the house by 7:00 A.M. was not so easy but I was happy to have Mass or morning prayer at the school before we began to see people individually at 8:00. I found that my beautiful people all had different styles of prayer and that did not surprise me because we are all unique! What did amaze me was that they did not seem to be aware of how much prayer they had in their busy lives. It was good to be able to talk with them about God's love for each of us and how we really need that personal relation with Jesus who loves us so much; God wants us to allow Him to love us!
It was good to be part of a retreat team again and we had both lunch and dinner together all week. We close today with a prayer service and a social.
I shall put the continuation of the Canadian Society of the Sacred Heart history off until after Thanksgiving as we have St. Philippine's Feast to celebrate this week end.
 Philippine Duchesne came to America in 1818 from France and established the first convents of the Sacred Heart in Missouri and in Louisiana and her prayer and holiness attracted many vocations so that there were six schools of the Society of the Sacred Heart established within ten years. It was only in 1841 that Philippine's desire to work among the Indians was fulfilled; by then, she was over seventy but was included in the little band of missionaries that set out for Indian territory to join the Jesuit mission and educate Indian girls.
Philippine is known for her  faithful love,courage, fortitude, and generosity and also for her long hours of prayer.

Busy Persons' Retreat is keeping me busy!!

The picture is taken on the day of the First Communion for these students at Sault-au-Recollet.

Please know that I will be back with more Canadian history of the Society of the Sacred Heart after Friday when we finish the retreat; 44 faculty and staff are making it at our school here in Miami and it means leaving here at 7:00 in the morning and returning late with some of the RSCJ Team so we can be together at dinner but I really cannot try to write my blog just now. Do pray for all the retreatants as they are really busy people trying to deepen their own relationship with Jesus.

Sacred Heart Students in Canada

This seems to be a picture of the blue ribbons at Sault-de-Recollet in the 19th century. I suspect that the Religious is the Mistress General surrounded by the leaders of the school. It was an old Sacred Heart school tradition to have ribbons that showed good conduct in the primary school where those who had their "Very Good" or "Tres Bien" each week at the general assembly when the superior presented the cards (some might get only "Good" or "Bien" and, very seldom for something really bad, a "Assez bien" might be given - to be "just good enough" was a disgrace. I think there was still the possiblility of "No Notes" but that must have been after a scandalous week of bad conduct and I do not think it was ever given while I was in school.) After the pink ribbons, it was possible to have a green ribbon and then, for the last two years, a blue ribbon; these were given numbered according to both the votes of the Religious and the students for those who not only were outstanding in good conduct but also showed leadership and helped all to keep the school rule.

I had such a wonderful week end in Vero Beach that I am so grateful - it is always good to see friends and we had such a delightful time with the couple who used to live next to my sister in St. Louis and now have a lovely condo on the ocean. They took us to lunch at the Ocean Grill; it is a great place right on the ocean with marvelous food. I had read about this place in a couple of books and so it was really very interesting to see it. The we were invited for a delicious dessert at their beautiful condo. It was just a delightful day and ended with a visit to the art museum to see Norman Rockwell's art in progress (they had the photographs that he worked from along side of the finished picture and most of them were cover pictures from the Saturday Evening Post and brought back childhood memories. Mass and dinner followed and the a wonderful sleep. We had breakfast at a little place on the beach and strolled the boardwalk in a strong wind. I drove home in that wind for the first hours but it was a beautiful Sunday in Miami.

The Fall Scene in Canada

If I am boring you with the history of the Society of the Sacred Heart in Canada, please let me know. It just is so interesting to me that I think all will be as fascinated as I am to read about our early foundations there. Our next site is in the parish of the Sault-au-Recollet. As early as 1845, the pastor, the Abbe Jacques-Janvier Vinet had invited the Religious of the Sacred Heart to come but each time he wanted to give them the land the trustees raised obstacles. Finally, the Jesuits were able to have the land and began the first Canadian novitiate near Montreal. In 1855, Father Vinet acquired possession of two estates situated on the river and at once offered them to the Religious of the Sacred Heart. During the winter of 1857-58 the moving began and was made easy as the river was frozen solid, which made it easy for the carriages, wagons, and sleds used to transport their belongings.
 Mother Trincano arrived from New York and by midsummer the new and magnificent monastic edifice was ready. Soon the boarding school opened with eighty students. There were more than three hundred involved in the sodalities of St. Anne and the Consolers of Mary. For several years the Society of the Sacred Heart also had both a parish boarding school as well as the day school. After 1883 this school named "Sainte Sophie" functioned only as a parish day school.
In 1864 the Canadian novitiate was organized at Sault with the first four coming from Manhattanville; they were soon joined by eight more and strong vocations were developed here. It was in 1864 that Mother Trincano was named Superior Vicar of the Canadian houses.

I am driving to Vero Beach to see some friends this week end and so will not be writing my blog for a couple of days.
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Convent of the Sacred Heart in Montreal

It seems that we are now located in the heart of the city, but this was the sixth location, I think. I know that the boarding school at St. Vincent opened in 1846 with sixty-four students. Most of them had been with us in St. Jacques. The parents could visit weekly but still had the difficulty of having to cross the river to be able to see their children and they began to be very active about getting a bridge built. Mother Hardey visited in 1848 and installed Mother Amalie Jouve to replace Mother Sallion. By 1852, St. Vincent had an academy of more than 80 pupils, a junior school of 25, and a growing novitiate.Mother Jouve was needed for the southern vicariate and Mother Angelique de Monestrol replaced her. Then trouble arose as we were apparently considering moving the school to the island of Montreal. This decision came from the Mother General with the advice of Mother Hardey so in 1858 all was turned over to the Sisters of Providence. In the meantime, foundations for the new convent at Sault began with the laying of the cornerstone on August 17, 1856.

Well, this history is fascinating but to be continued as I want to share a prayer from Philippine Duchesne as we will be celebrating her feast on November 18.

Lord, I lean on You alone for strength. Give me your arm to support me, your shoulders to carry me, your breast on which to lay my head, your Cross to uphold me, your Eucharist to nourish me.

Montreal, part of our history

This is a picture of a street in Montreal. It will take us several moves before the Society of the Sacred Heart is finally established in the heart of the city. The new foundation was still not in the city but on a beautiful site with about sixty arpents of land. The "acquisition is almost a gift, since it is made on the condition of our paying an annual rent of 740 francs to an elderly spinster, with whose death the rent expires. And even now, the income from the land pays the rent." Soon a stone edifice, a 120 feet long, four stories in height and with two lateral wings, was built and there were forty-five boarders; the nuns hoped the number would be tripled when they moved into the new building. The house is just nine miles from Montreal and can be reached in an hour by carriage as the roads are excellent. The community of St. Jacques was divided then in 1846 with Mother Sallion taking the majority to the new boarding school at St. Vincent de Paul, Ile Jesus, which was separated fro the island of Montreal by the Riviere des Prairies. (Sorry but I cannot put in the accents).
It turned out not to be near enough to Montreal, but more about that tomorrow!

Canada in the spring

This picture is so beautiful that it makes me want to plan a trip to Canada. In the meantime, I am fascinated by the history of the Society of the Sacred Heart in Canada. I will continue to share something of this as it helps to reflect on the way God uses us through history. I will continue today to quote from the house journal cited in Mother Callan's "The Society of the Sacred Heart in North America." It seems that the day school with its 150 children in 1844 was "formed of very ignorant children, even in what regards religion, and the parents know little more than the children. To combat this ignorance, Mother de Kersaint, who is Mistress General of the free school, has opened a class for the women of the neighborhood, giving interesting instructions every Sunday afternoon, and during the first year the attendance averaged about fifty."
Then comes praise for the pastor who is a saint. He seems to have provided the nuns with everything and kept increasing their property. He had promised "four arpents of land. Shortly after our arrival, we were informed that we owned twenty. At the end of some months the pastor asked Reverend Mother Sallion to go with him to visit a farm which he wished us to accept. Then he spoke of another piece of property, and along with it a pretty stretch of timbered land. Here at the end of 1843, we own 360 arpents of land, varying in worth, some quite valuable, some less so."
Mother Sallion is ill in the spring of 1844 when Mother Hardey arrives from New York with several religious. Mother Dumont is left in charge of the house as Mother Sallion is named treasurer general for the American convents and accompanies Mother Hardey and Mother Cutts on the visitations of their respective vicariates as we were not really provinces. The house journal speaks of being "buried in the depths of Canadian snows so many months of the year", but adds that they are never without spiritual help for the Jesuits "are kind and devoted friends." Then it tells us that four of the pupils have entered the novitiate and Mother Sallion returned in November.
It also tells us that it takes about twelve hours to reach the convent from Montreal and so parents are reluctant to send their children and the boarding school has disminished. They are looking for a place in Montreal.

Early Society Canadian History

I am getting really interested in reading again about the beginnings of the Society of the Sacred Heart in Canada. We have Mother Sallion's account.She was the first superior and left New York on December 11 with Mother de Kersaint and Mother Eveline L'Eveque and Sister Anne Battandier. The trip on the Hudson river was so cold that the passengers were advised to go to bed early. Encountering an ice barrier, the captain decided to return to New York but offered to land any passengers who did not want to return. The nuns debated. "We were told to go, but not told to return...Let us imitate the Holy Family; perhaps we shall find shelter." They put their trust in the Sacred Heart and disembarked; they trudged forward in the bitter wind and finally reached an isolated post office. It was December 17 when they reached La Prairie, opposite Montreal. Then, after Mass and breakfast and a little rest at the Jesuit Superior's there, Mother Sallion announced that they intended to go on to Montreal! It was a dangerous trip as only part of the St. Lawrence river was frozen solid. However, they did reach Montreal only to learn that the Bishop was not expecting them until spring.
Mother Sallion wanted to get to their new house but she wrote: "The Bishop urged us to remain in Montreal until the day after Christmas. On the twenty-sixth the pastor of St. Jacques sent four small sleighs and two large ones, each driven by a trustee of the church, to fetch us and our baggage....The sleds made wonderful rapidity over the ice. Out of the thirty-six miles, we made twenty-four on the St. Lawrence and the Assumption River. Reaching St. Jacques, we went first to the church, where we found Father Pare, the pastor, awaiting us."
The account continues to talk about how warm the house was with four enormous stoves in full blast and another one in the kitchen. "There is not much furniture in the house as yet, but we have the essentials, and the rest is being made at a shop in the village...The convent was a surprise to the religious who came with sme, it is so well built and convenient...We have all kinds of provisions..."
The boarding school opened on January 2, 1843; they began with three and had sixty by September and the day school soon had 150!

Love God; Love one Another

Today we have Jesus telling us that to love God with our whole heart, our whole mind, with all our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourself and we will be close to the Kingdom of God.
I suspect that we love God with the love He gives us; then we love Him in others. But God is love so we need to allow God to love us so that we can love Him. If I do not love my neighbor, how can I say that I love God?
We had a beautiful Mass here for Ines, our sister who died in Colombia on September 2. Her friends came and we spent time telling some of the things we remembered about her life. She was one who loved God and loved each because she saw God in each.

Canada, we welcome you, too!

I love this picture with its welcome under the flag of Canada! I am getting excited about learning more about this vast and beautiful country; I am also going back to the history of the Society of the Sacred Heart in Canada. The Bishop of Montreal, brought a letter from Reverend Mother Barat to Mother Galitzin who was in New York in September of 1841. She said that the Bishop had thought to return by another route but she had asked him to go by way of New York to discuss the possibility of a foundation in his diocese. In fact, "the house is ready, practically furnished,,,I think we should not refuse the offer. His Lordship promises that we shall have novices soon and accomplish much good in time, the the beginnings may be small, as is ordinarily the case." (This letter is quoted by Mother Callan in The Society of the Sacred Heart in North America.)
Mother Galitzin was ready to leave for the South but now set out with Mother Salliaon for Canada. The Bishop hoped that the Society would immediately make the foundation but it was deferred for a year. Mother Galitzin  reported that the house was beautiful with an enclosure of five acres of fertile land. The Bishop not only was giving us the house but would furnish it and pay for the Religious who would come from France.; she did not mention that St. Jacques was just a village and not easily accessible from Montreal.
We did make the foundation setting out in December in spite of the intense cold that made the trip difficult. More on this later as it is fascinating to read about the early pioneers.

Feast of the Poor Souls

Today we pray for all those who have died and maybe are not yet experiencing the joy of Heaven. I am sure that it is good to pray for all those who have died, but I think there is no time with God and He made us to be with Him for all eternity so I guess we are not so sure now about Purgatory. Still, we pray for all those who may be waiting after death.
We are having a Memorial Mass here tomorrow for our Colombian sister, Ines, who died at the end of August. I hope many of her friends do come not only to pray for her but to celebrate her life and her gift of friendship.

Feast of All Saints 2012

This picture bothers me in the sense that I feel that all the saints will be somehow enjoying themselves in the Trinity and it is the risen Christ they are with in bliss.
Having said that, it is marvelous to imagine what eternity will be and, I suppose, it is also a waste of time as it will be so much more than anything I could dream up in my finite imagination. I know that I will be happy with God and will be satisfied at last and caught up in love and loving and all my family and friends will also be part of this eternal happiness.
In the meantime, we pray to the saints to intercede for us. I am concerned about all those who are suffering the effects of the storm. When we have a hurricane in Miami, the lack of power is very uncomfortable as we cannot use the stove, coffee lovers are especially stressed out in the mornings, we cannot use any machines in our house, there is no hot water, (sometimes no water or no drinkable water), no light to read by, etc. but the worst has been the heat as Miami is really hot! Now, people are without power up north and I suspect they suffer most from the cold. I am praying for all and know that it will take weeks and months to try to get back to normal. May all the saints help them during this time of suffering.