5 10 108 https://www.scfederationarchives.org/files/original/836c1b6d32ab26439f9e4ffc925b8edc.JPG 6242454c8a8ac0581486866b8c97cb9d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Artists’ Palette and Brush used by William Lamprecht circa 1901 Subject The topic of the resource Subject Mural painters Mural painting and decoration--20th century. Convents--United States--History--20th century. Monasticism and religious orders for women -- Catholic Church -- History Catholic Church. Archdiocese of Cincinnati (Ohio) Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Cincinnati (Ohio) Mount Saint Joseph (Ohio) Description An account of the resource Description For the eight months it took to execute the mural, William Lamprecht and his wife, Augusta, resided at Mount St. Joseph where he loved to take long walks to enjoy “God’s great Panorama.” A faith-filled man, the artist recognized his talent as a gift from God. He never began a project without preceding it with a novena of prayer and fasting. Each morning, he rose with the tower bell at 5 AM, attended Mass with the Sisters and received Holy Communion. When he began his painting each day, he left strict orders not to be disturbed. Lamprecht’s mural in the Motherhouse Immaculate Conception Chapel sanctuary dome, painted on a doubly curved surface like the inside of a bell, is of Mary Immaculate. Mary is depicted as the “woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev. 12:1). The figure of Mary is 15 feet tall and the entire mural rises 65 feet above the wainscoting. Above the figure of Mary is God the Father and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. The central figure is surrounded by angels, each representing a scriptural symbol associated with Mary’s role in redemption history. Below the figures of Gabriel and Michael, are angels carrying a crown, a lily branch, a psaltery, a palm of victory, the rod of Jesse, the Ark of the Covenant, a star, and a harp. The herald angel at the base carries a scroll: “In unbra manus suae protexit me” (In the shadow of His hand He hath protected me). When he completed his work, Mother Sebastian asked the artist how this mural compared to his other paintings. He replied thoughtfully, “It is my last and my best.” Shortly after completing the mural, Lamprecht’s health began to decline and, in 1904, he retired to his native country of Germany. He died March 19, 1922. Generations of Sisters of Charity, students at Mount St. Joseph Academy and the College of Mount St. Joseph, families, and guests have been awed and inspired by Lamprecht’s work as well as his devotion that shines through each brushstroke. A true blessing for many! Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Manufacturer A well-used brush and painter’s palette preserved more than one century ago are reminders of a significant chapter in the history of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. In 1899, Mother Sebastian Shea traveled to New York City in search of a muralist to paint the half-dome above the altar in the Motherhouse’s Immaculate Conception Chapel. The German painter William Lamprecht accepted the commission, excited by the size and scope of the project. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available N/A Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource ca. 1901 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource N/A Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights, reproduction, and use requests or more information, please contact the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Archivist Relation A related resource N/A Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Equipment and tools; Art and decorative works Mural is 65 feet tall, width figure not included in inventory Language A language of the resource Latin Type The nature or genre of the resource Physical object; image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context N/A Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Mount Saint Joseph (Ohio) Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati https://www.scfederationarchives.org/files/original/022581442207e88d86ddde786e4a51c8.JPG adcc02c527c03f6ee0afaf9b8c2f03d8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Key to the St. Joseph Motherhouse (Stokes Mansion) at Seton Hill Subject The topic of the resource Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill (Greensburg, Pa.) Sisters-Religious life House key Engraving (metal-work) Description An account of the resource The original key to the front door of the Stokes Mansion which served as the first motherhouse and Academy of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill in Greensburg. Mother Aloysia Lowe, foundress of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, used the key up until her death in 1889. The Sisters preserved the key as a treasured memento of the community’s early years in Greensburg. In 1932, in honor of the 50th Jubilee of the congregation, Father Daniel Sullivan, the first priest-president of Seton Hill College, commissioned a special engraved metal accompaniment for the key. It reads “With this key Mother Aloysia Lowe unlocked and entered this the first mother house of the Sisters of Charity Aug. 7 1882. Seton Hill.” On the reverse appears a quote attributed to Mother Aloysia which reads “I opened not merely the door of this house, I swung the gates of an era.” This attributed quote reflects the roles of Mother Aloysia as leader, foundress, and visionary. It serves as a reflection of the sisters’ astounding work over more than 150 years. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available N/A Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1882 (original key) c. 1932 (engraving) Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource N/A Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Courtesy of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill Archives, Greensburg, Pennsylvania Relation A related resource N/A Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Metal (unknown) Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Physical object Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context N/A Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1882-1932 Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill https://www.scfederationarchives.org/files/original/b4f7edf0d34b9b1e56cfbc1bc44b953c.jpg 68411b881f3dcc3560ffb157dce5909d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Snowsuit from Roselia Boarding Baby Subject The topic of the resource Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill (Greensburg, Pa.) Sisters-Religious life Hospitals-Maternity services Orphans and orphan-asylums Social service-Religious aspects-Catholic Church Roselia Foundling and Maternity Hospital (Pittsburgh, Pa.) Maternity homes-Pennsylvania-Pittsburgh Pennsylvania-Pittsburgh Orphanages-Pennsylvania-Pittsburgh Children Adopted children Adoption Women Pregnant Women Description An account of the resource Description A baby left on a convent doorstep on March 17, 1884 initiated the journey for the Sisters of Charity in Pittsburgh to establish their first healthcare institution, a medical facility and boarding home for foundlings and unwed pregnant women. With the help of Roselia and Charles Donnelly and other benefactors, the sisters opened a small house in July 1891. By the end of the first month, the admission of nineteen infants stressed the limits of the building. The need for additional space prompted Mr. Donnelly to purchase the old Ursuline Academy in the Hill District. It became known as Roselia Foundling and Maternity Hospital. From 1891 until its closure in 1971, over 27,000 orphaned and temporarily boarded children came through Roselia. Nearly 50 years later, John Smith* contacted the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill to learn more about Roselia and for clues into his beginnings. John’s connection to the Sisters of Charity, though brief, hints at the influence the Sisters of Charity can and have had on children. After his mother abandoned him at birth, infant John was sent to Roselia as a boarding baby in 1938. The Sisters of Charity in charge there lovingly cared for him for nine months. He was later formally adopted by his paternal grandparents. For 80 years, the outfit the Sisters delivered John home in was preserved in the family. The snowsuit includes the note: “Johnnie, You were so small your little feet were inside this little suit.” Thankful for the love and care of the sisters and for the opportunity to live a full and rich life, John donated this snowsuit to the archives of the Sisters of Charity, along with the story of his upbringing and family. It serves as a symbol of the warmth and love the Sisters have had for children, particularly foundlings, adopted children, and infants. The Sisters of Charity hold the records of Roselia and continue to field research requests related to birth parents and children. *Name anonymized to protect identity. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Source Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available N/A Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource ca. 1938 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource N/A Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Courtesy of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill Archives, Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Relation A related resource N/A Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Costume (mode of fashion) Clothing & dress Language A language of the resource N/A Type The nature or genre of the resource Physical object Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-2018 Roselia Foundling and Maternity Hospital (Pittsburgh, Pa.) Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill https://www.scfederationarchives.org/files/original/31a11d352fbeec210a50abaeb1ee6380.jpg 849ef616b4a46cb7f72fd8d2cd1bfc02 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Statue of Madonna and Child Jesus Subject The topic of the resource Catholic Sisters Religious women Statue Madonna and Child Jesus Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth Convent Station, NJ Newark, NJ Madison, NJ Sisters of Charity of New York Description An account of the resource This statue of the Madonna and Child Jesus was given to Sister Mary Xavier Mehegan, a Sister of Charity of New York, circa 1859. The statue was given to her by the Sisters of Charity of New York when Sister Mary Xavier agreed to help found the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth in New Jersey. Now Mother Mary Xavier, she kept the statue in the first Motherhouse in Newark, New Jersey and carried it in her arms on the carriage ride to rural Morris County on July 2, 1860 when the Motherhouse was relocated to Madison, New Jersey. It is on display in the Heritage Room of the Motherhouse. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available N/A Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource ca. 1859 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource N/A Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Permission for reproduction or quotation must be obtained through written application to: Director of Archives, Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, P.O. Box 476, Convent Station, New Jersey. This permission is valid only insofar as he Archives of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, as owner or custodian, has any rights in the matter and does not remove the responsibility of the author, editor, and publisher to guard against the infringement of any rights; including copyright, that may be held by others. Relation A related resource N/A Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Statue, plaster Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Physical object Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context N/A Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth https://www.scfederationarchives.org/files/original/e08744bc1ee837c449b2c3aae126d332.jpg 5106cc751a0095b657598dc76b01f58e Physical Object An inanimate, three-dimensional object or substance. Note that digital representations of, or surrogates for, these objects should use Moving Image, Still Image, Text or one of the other types. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Embroidery on silk of pandas Subject The topic of the resource Catholic Sisters Religious women Missionary activity Orphans Embroidery Chinese artwork Hunan, China Missioners Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth Convent Station, NJ Description An account of the resource In October 1996 Sister Mary Carita Pendergast, a Sister of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, received this piece of embroidery, framed in glass, from Agnes Chao, a Chinese woman living in Shanghai at the time. Sister Carita had been a missioner in Hunan Province, China from 1933 to 1951. The Sisters of Charity raised the orphaned Agnes from infancy and educated her to the level of a normal school (teacher education) graduate. Agnes then taught in the Sisters’ school in Wuki. When the Communist government interrogated Sister Carita prior to her expulsion from China in 1951, they turned to Agnes and demanded that she testify to the Sisters’ crimes, which she refused to do even with a gun pointed at her. In 1996 Agnes Chao was a grandmother, working in a factory; the cost of shipping the package to Sister Carita – a token of Agnes’s gratitude and concern – might have been two months’ salary. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, Convent Station, New Jersey Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Permission for reproduction or quotation must be obtained through written application to: Director of Archives, Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, P.O. Box 476, Convent Station, New Jersey. This permission is valid only insofar as he Archives of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, as owner or custodian, has any rights in the matter and does not remove the responsibility of the author, editor, and publisher to guard against the infringement of any rights; including copyright, that may be held by others. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available N/A Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource ca. 1995 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Embroidery (under glass) Language A language of the resource English Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource N/A Relation A related resource N/A Type The nature or genre of the resource Physical object Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context N/A Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant N/A Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth https://www.scfederationarchives.org/files/original/24b22cb8bc93057d9a2dbc01c6c428aa.jpg 0c4122c09ab1674e76d2d453bb3e26b1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Poor Box from St. Patrick’s Asylum, Manhattan Subject The topic of the resource Poor boxes Charity Orphanages St. Patrick’s Orphan Asylum (New York, N.Y.) Description An account of the resource The first New York mission of the Sisters of St. Joseph in New York, the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum, was incorporated in 1817. Known as St. Patrick’s Asylum due to proximity to St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, the orphanage was quickly filled, to capacity. To raise funds for a new building, a poor box was placed in St. Patrick’s Orphan Asylum by Sr. Elizabeth Boyle, who became the first Mother Superior of the Sisters of Charity of New York in 1846. The donations placed in the poor box were a source of support for many. The word, ‘Charity’ in gold, capital letters is painted on the front of box; a wood cross is positioned on top of the box. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of New York Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available N/A Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource ca. 1820 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource N/A Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Permission for reproduction or quotation must be obtained through written application to: Director of Archives, Sisters of Charity of New York, 6301 Riverdale Avenue, Bronx, New York, 10471. This permission is valid only insofar as he Archives of the Sisters of Charity of New York, as owner or custodian, has any rights in the matter and does not remove the responsibility of the author, editor, and publisher to guard against the infringement of any rights; including copyright, that may be held by others. Relation A related resource N/A Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Wood, with painted gold lettering Stand: 48” tall Charity box: 8” (tall) x 4” (width) x 2” (depth) Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Physical Object Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context N/A Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant ca. 1822-1862 Sisters of Charity of New York https://www.scfederationarchives.org/files/original/e9045a29ce91e2cddfe87ea9011dbd84.pdf cff5969bec48f6770e248db7c6515a11 PDF Text Text 1 ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW OF SISTER MARY CLARE HUGHES, D.C. JUNE 17, 2019 CONDUCTED BY SISTER MAUREEN SCHMALZRIED, D.C. Transcribed July 9, 2019 by Scott Keefer Sister Mary Clare, Welcome. It’s good to have you with us today. I wonder if you could tell us something about your vocation story. Well I’m happy to be with you and to talk about the community rather than my vocation story, but I’ll tell you a little bit about how I came to the community. In the summer of [19]42, my sister said to me, “Clare, are you going to the community or not?” And I said “OK, do you have to know?” Well, she said, “if you’re going to the community, I’ll get married in August. If you’re not, I’ll have a Thanksgiving wedding.” Well, I said, “Kitty, maybe you’d better consider August.” So she was married August 29, and I left home on September 8. I already had one brother in the seminary and one other sister married, and shortly after I came to the community, two brothers were conscripted, and there was no one home with my mother. So if I hadn’t come that September of ’42, I don’t know when I might have come, or if I would have come. But anyway, I did come in September of ’42, and I postulated at old Mt. Hope [in Baltimore], and we had about 20-some other women postulating with me at Mt. Hope, and it was a great time. Getting used to living with more than your own family, getting used to living with the sisters day by day – because in high school we went home at the end of the day. We didn’t live with them-- Mt. Hope eventually became Seton, but when I was in postulatum, it was called Mt. Hope, so I should be referring to it as Mt. Hope. I left Mt. Hope to go to the seminary around December 2 of 1942, and my vocation date – the day I recorded as entering the community – is December 14, 1942. I was in the seminary ‘til January of ’44, and I was missioned to St. Joseph’s School, Martinsburg, West Virginia, and I was missioned to the third and fourth grade. Of course, I knew discipline was a problem, but Sister Imelda Maillette was a first and second grade teacher separated from me by a cloak room. So she helped me out, and gradually the discipline became possible for me. So you began as a teacher? I began as a teacher, but, in January of 1946 my Sister Servant received a call from Emmitsburg to ask me if I would consider entering nursing. Well, I had one time thought of nursing, so I couldn’t say no to the community, although I was very, very happy teaching and happy in Martinsburg. But as I say, I couldn’t say no. �2 So I left there within a week to come up to St. Joseph’s, because I was getting to the class in the College, and the second semester had already started. So that was the reason for my quick exit from Martinsburg. I had two other sister companions, Sister Annina Scharper and Sister – I think her name became Mary, I’m not sure – I knew her as Angelica Ahl, and the three of us went through nursing together. [note: Sister Angelica’s name became Sister Margaret] From the College, we went down to old Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C., and we had women companions in class with us, and they were delightful. We went through our basic nursing with some courses out at Catholic University, because we were matriculating for a Bachelor’s of Science in nursing, so the degree had to come from the Catholic University. It was called Providence Hospital’s School of Nursing at the Catholic University when I went there. As I finished my nursing program with my baccalaureate, Sister Isabelle [Toohey] asked me if I would continue and matriculate with my Master’s program, which I did do. So I didn’t leave Providence Hospital until January of ’51, at which time I was missioned to Jacksonville, Florida. On my first mission to Jacksonville, Florida, I was named Director of Nurses, and in those years, the Director of Nursing had both nursing service and nursing school, but of course I had an assistant in the school and an assistant in nursing service, but they were very happy years. I was a very young sister on that. There was only one other young one, Sister Jane Francis Fairley. All the other sisters were elderly and it so happened that the community asked me in May of – I’m not sure the year, but I’ll think of it later – if I would become the Sister Servant and administrator. Well, my father and mother had taught me obedience, so no matter how I felt about it I had to say yes. So I followed Sister Evelyn Roach as the administrator and Sister Servant. The sisters were delightful. They were just delightful. They supported me in many many ways. For instance, one sister was approached by one of the doctors, and he said, “Sister isn’t Sister very young to become the administrator?” And Sister Philomen [Scholl] said to him, “Doctor, Sister is older than the Queen of England.” She didn’t say by a couple weeks though. But that was the type of support I received and it was just delightful. That helped a lot, didn’t it? It was a great help, a great help. And I had others. Pauline Mitchell who was just a wit of our creation and so many other sisters. Of course, in those days, we had many more sisters assigned in the hospital. Unfortunately, they began to dwindle. I was administrator there for just two years when the community asked me if I would go to Saginaw, Michigan as the administrator because Sister Camilla, who had been the administrator there was chosen as our treasurer. So sister came to Emmitsburg, and I went from Jacksonville, Florida to Saginaw, Michigan in January, the coldest month. �3 When I got to Saginaw, all I could see was grey. It was grey outside. Everything inside was painted grey. It was just a grey situation. Sister Constantia Clark was assigned to help me in Saginaw the construction being done when I went there. She also thought it was too grey for everybody, so when it came to painting our refectory, we had three grey walls and one coral wall, and it just made all the difference in the world in our lives, because three times a day we had the benefit of that brightness and looking at our sisters in a very bright way. So we loved it, and I loved it, and I loved Saginaw. Another advantage, one block away was St. Vincent’s Home. So we had another community of sisters nearby, and that was delightful. They came over every Sunday morning for the second mass. Those were the years when we had a second mass on Sunday, and then we went back to St. Vincent’s to have breakfast with them. It was just such a comradery, and we looked forward to those weekends, and they looked forward to our coming over to their house. Nice community time. It was a beautiful community time. I received word, however, after two years in Saginaw that I was going to be missioned here to the Provincial House, and I was going to be a member of the Council. Sister Eleanor [McNabb] had just been made Visitatrix in August. In January, I was missioned from Saginaw – you’ll note that was two years exactly that I was in Saginaw – and Sister Marie Daly happened to be in Saginaw when I left. So we drove down to get a train in Detroit, and as we drove down to Detroit, we listened to the takeoff of [Alan] Shepherd going out into outer space. So I always remember that astronaut’s feat in relation to when I left Saginaw. What a memory! Then I came here to Emmitsburg and found out that I was going to be acting as the assistant to Sister Eleanor, which I thought would never going to work out, that I didn’t have enough experience, that I wasn’t old enough. However, God was very generous in his graces, and his sisters again-- the support, they practically carried me along. I couldn’t help but do OK. I don’t know that I did well, but I did OK. I remained here, believe it or not—I think I was here 21 years, 12 years as assistant to Sister Eleanor and nine years as Visitatrix. So that totals I think 21 years. In those 21 years, many things happened as far as community and vocation is concerned, and I’ll bring them up as we talk a little bit more, like the canonization of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the beginning and continuation of general assemblies in the community. It was a great grace to be at the first one. We had one that was scheduled for two years in a row over Christmas and New Year. It was I think 1968 to 1969. The Perfectae Caritatis indicated that all communities must have assemblies and elect their general superiors. Well we were already electing our General Superiors by the Sister Servants of Paris. But with the new constitution, that election was designated to be carried out by the general assembly. �4 During the 21 years that I was here at Emmitsburg at that time, many, many major events took place, and I was very blessed to be here for those particular events. For instance, we closed the [St. Joseph] College. That wasn’t a fortuitous event, but it was a historical one, and it occurred in 1973, but there were other community events that were even more historical that I shared in, such as going to the general assembly. That only could be an experience that I wish every Daughter of Charity could in her lifetime experience. It is such a community event that—it’s just almost unbelievable to tell somebody when you think that there is a Visitatrix and one or two delegates from every province in the world participating in that meeting, and you just realize the depth of community experience that’s there and the love of the community as expressed by those members of the general assembly and how for the sake of the community they worked hours and hours into the evening and early morning hours to get the best in our constitutions so that our community could have the strongest community life in order that we would take care of the poorest of the poor. And oh! Some of those sisters lived in such poor countries. To hear the representatives from Madagascar and Mozambique speak, it was wonderful for we Americans to learn from them exactly how they took care of the poor. It encouraged us, motivated us to come back to our country, our United States of America, and do even more for the poor if that were possible. It was just such an experience of service of the poor as we experienced an even wider community living among the members of the assembly, and we were doing that to strengthen our community life, our prayer life, for the service of the poor. What a grace! Such a wonderful privilege and such a wonderful, wonderful grace! The assembly started in Rome because that’s where the Church asked us to start. But guess what. The mayor of Rome had all these religious communities moving into Rome, and we were tax-free. So he went to the Holy Father and asked that the Church stop asking the communities to have their headquarters in Rome because he needed more tax money, and we were coming in and coming in, but not taxable. How interesting! In the summer of 1946, I was home here at St. Joseph’s for summer courses, and Mother Antoinette Blanchot was elected during that summer. She stopped here at Emmitsburg, so we had an opportunity to meet her, and what a fortunate occasion that was because we all became fascinated with her writings as she took office in Paris. It was just a great gift to have met her on the way to Paris. That was special. �5 I came to Emmitsburg from Saginaw in January of 1952, and I do think I’ve mentioned this before, but I was here for the exhumation of the remains of Elizabeth Seton, which took place on October 26, 1962. For those of us who have never been present for one, I was very taken with the strict legality of it. We all had to take oaths that we would not touch anything, that we would not move anything, and we kind of stayed in the same position all during the exhumation. And when the two pathologists took the bones of Elizabeth from the coffin that she was in and laid them out on—I would say a door, it was a long board—they put all the bones out to identify them, and they identified them by her height and other indications that they – the professionals – knew but I didn’t know. One of the things they told all of us was that one of the phalanxes of one of the toes of Elizabeth Seton was missing, and they could not go on without that. So we all were quite concerned that this would throw off the process of the beatification, but fortunately one of the secretaries remembered that there was a relic of Elizabeth Seton in the safe of the Visitarix’s office. So we waited while she went and got that phalanx, and that pathologist verified that it was the missing phalanx of the toe and then they verified that it was a completed skeletal remains of Elizabeth Seton. What a privilege that was. Was any of the clothing left? You know, I don’t remember whether any of the clothing was left, but if it were, it would have been just pieces of clothing. I would have remembered if it were a dress or a cape or her cap, but I do not remember that. All I remember was the dust and the bones and the little coffin. I came to Emmitsburg in January of 1962 and was named, God help me, Provincial assistant to Sister Eleanor McNabb. Of course, because I was assistant, I had opportunities for which I am most grateful and which I thank God every day that they were available to me. I was present for the beatification of Elizabeth Ann Seton on March 17, 1963, and that was the last official act of Saint John XXIII. Of course he was not Saint then, he was John XXIII. But we could tell even then that he was not well. You could tell it from his eyes, the dark, dark, dark circles of his eyes. But it was such a glorious occasion. We who were there had to thank the many, many sisters, college graduates, friends of the community who had worked so hard for Elizabeth’s beatification. They had had all types of petitions signed and sent to Rome, and it was they that should have been fortunate enough to be there. But we tried to represent them by expressing our gratitude to them to Elizabeth on that special occasion. In December of 1963, Mother Guillemin visited Emmitsburg. I should know much more about that visit. But unfortunately, at this point, I remember just the highlights. One of the highlights was Mother wanted to see the lights of New York. That amazed me because I know the city of Paris is called the City of Lights, but she wanted to see New York. So we went to New York in the early evening. We crossed all the bridges of New York so that Mother Guillemin would have a good look at New York City from different vantage points. The next day we took her to view the windows so she could see the windows along Fifth Avenue that were fixed for Christmas, �6 and of course, we took her in to Saks Fifth Avenue so that she could see the decorations. But you know right well we didn’t buy anything at Saks Fifth Avenue. And of course, Mother didn’t know what Saks Fifth Avenue was, but the decorations were glorious to view, and we were happy that we were able to show them to Mother Guillemin. And she was happy to see them. Oh, I’m sure she was happy to see them. Of course, there are two very particular occasions that occurred later in the month of September of 1964, and the first one was the change of the habit. And if I recall correctly, it was September 12, and, miraculously, the whole world changed on December [correction: September] 12, whenever that date was in their country. Because Father Slattery and Mother Guillemin had gone to Spain because the Spanish sisters would be the ones that would gave up the most in changing the habit, since they had had—even while we wore the cornette, they wore a different headpiece. But Father and Mother asked them if they would change, and they agreed to change. So the whole world changed on that date of September 12. We’ve had to be very grateful. So they agreed to go along with it, and that’s why everyone was so grateful. They agreed, and they changed. It’s remarkable, I was here at the Provincial House, and we were a much larger group of sisters here then than we are now that it went so smoothly. But one sister, after mass, went back upstairs and took off her new coif and put on her cornette and went about her daily chores. One of the workmen saw her and immediately got in touch with another sister to tell her that Sister Frances Miller had changed back into the old habit. So the sister explained to her that we would no longer change after mass and put on a different coif or a different cornette, because in the old days that’s what we did. We wore a special a apron and a special cornette to mass and holy communion and after breakfast. We changed them, and that’s what Sister Frances did. She was just keeping with tradition. But it was wonderful that everyone was able to change throughout the world. And of course you know, as everybody does, that the coif changed quite quickly. I don’t remember the date that we got word that the white wouldn’t curl underneath the blue as we first did it and it was straighter and looked much more finished and tailored. But everybody... it’s remarkable, the simplicity that was manifested in that change. All regretted losing the cornette because it was so widely known and we received it when we received the habit. But everyone was so simple in accepting the decision to change the habit, and, as we all remember, it was recommended by the Second Vatican Council. And I was just so amazed and full of thanksgiving that that change went as well as it did. It was all grace. Grace through and through. �7 Later that same month of September, the 20th to be exact, I think only something like eight days, a week and a day, another enormous change took place for all the sisters here in Emmitsburg, and that was our move from the old Provincial House to the new Provincial House. Remember, that was two gigantic changes for the sisters in this mission, because they were primarily the older sisters of the province, the older ones who were here because they could no longer manage steps or some of the physical conditions on the missions, or they were in the infirmary. We had a great number of sisters here, but they accepted that change so beautifully. The sisters came in from the missions to help walk with the sisters, or if they needed to be driven down to the new provincial house, they went along with them. In essence, it became a bit of excitement instead of a chore. It became almost a celebration, and that helped to make everybody so accepting and so grateful, because when they saw the new provincial house and all the amenities it had provided each one of us, we couldn’t help but be grateful. It was beautiful. It was beautiful, there’s no doubt about it. Of course, as you recall, we didn’t have the basilica for many, many, many months. The chapel was in the large room beneath the basilica, which was not divided up as it is now, it was just a large auditorium at that period. The alter was on the stage, but as I approached that chapel one morning, that’s when I became aware of the difference in our habit. I entered those three little steps down into what is now the museum of the basilica, and you saw nothing but the dark, dark, dark headpieces, which you didn’t see upstairs because the sisters weren’t in rows next to one another. But down there we had to sit in rows in order to fit ourselves in, and it was the area where I was very aware of the difference in the habit. But again, that was just a feeling, and I could thank God that the change went well, and it was better for everybody that we had change. I remember people saying how dark everything was because we were used to seeing the white cornette and the white collar in the back, and it was all dark blue. Yes, it was very, very dark And just another P.S., I was a postulant in 1964, and we could not wait to get into the basilica, which we called the big chapel. And we decided we would be in for Christmas, and Christmas came and went and we did not get in it. So we finally went in it on January 16, 1965, and we declared, that must be Christmas. I think that’s very important that it be known and recognized that we really didn’t move in ‘til ’65. January 16, that date sticks into my mind. And the crucifix had a corpus on both sides. That’s right. The large crucifix over the alter had a corpus on either side of the cross. Later, I’d say maybe a year or so, might have been earlier, someone pointed out that that was not �8 liturgically correct, that we just had the corpus on the side of the cross that the congregation viewed. So the figure on the reverse side of the cross was removed, and I have to say I don’t know where it went or what happened to it. But it was a gorgeous figure, but unfortunately... I’m sure some church has it now. Someone told me that they gave it to some church. I don’t know which one it was. I’m sure it was given to a church, but I’m not sure which one at the moment. Another momentous occasion arose during my years up here, and that was the establishment of the domestic, provincial, and general assemblies, and it was so edifying – and that’s the word that meant the most to me, it means the most to me right now – it was edifying to see how everyone in this facility entered into that preparation. Because those of us who were in the community at that time remember we had to fill in little blocks along the edges of all the papers, and that was a bit hard for fingers that were arthritic or old, but the sisters entered into that very, very industriously. And they wanted to share, because this was the community’s future, they wanted to share in those questions, and knew that their questions would represent them at the assembly. So they worked very hard on those first questionnaires. It was wonderful to see. And then of course, after those went to Paris, we entered into our first provincial assembly, and that was held in what is now the Shrine. It was the large space under the big chapel as it was called then. It was not yet known as the basilica, and that assembly was held in that room. And we do have pictures to go along with this, I know. But the table was up front, and at the table sat Sister Eleanor and Father [Charles] O’Connor, and, I’m pretty sure it was sister Mary Carol Eby was the secretary of the assembly. Although by constitution, it was probably the provincial secretary, so I think Mary Carol must be up there reporting, but I’ve seen a picture and reviewed it so often, and it shows Father and Sister Eleanor and Sister Mary Carol giving a report at the microphone, and I think that’s why her name immediately came to my mind. That room was filled because our province then comprised the whole Eastern seaboard, Ohio, and Michigan. So that room was filled. But at the election of delegates for the assembly during those days, Sister Hilda Gleason and myself were elected as delegates to the first international assembly. The reason I’m stressing the word international is that assemblies were held in the community before this, but they were only attended by the Sister Servants of Paris. And of course we had to remember that we had a couple hundred houses in Paris. So it was a large assembly, but it was limited to the particular geographical area. Again, by mandate of Perfectae Caritatis, our constitutions were looked at and updated and representation from all the provinces was indicated as the best way for all the Daughters of Charity to be represented at the general assembly. So it was with such anticipation that we went to that general assembly, and believe me, we took every Daughter of Charity with us, because we knew that we were only there as delegates it was emphasized. �9 Now, the Visitatrixes were ex officio, but the delegates were delegates elected by the provincial assemblies. So we were very conscious. It’s amazing, when you are elected, how conscious you are of being the representatives of those who elect you. But it was such unusually new experience for the delegates who were there. We learned how to accept and sit while somebody spoke in Portuguese, or somebody spoke in Spanish, or somebody spoke in Italian, or somebody spoke in French, or somebody spoke in English to be very mindful of what they were saying. And this was not as difficult as it sounds, because we had simultaneous translation. Every member of the assembly had simultaneous translation, and that was such a great benefit to each one of us, because no matter what the delegate or Visitatrix, no matter what language she spoke in, we got the translation in our own language. What a tremendous benefit that was. During the assembly, on August 11, 1968, Sister Hilda Gleason was elected a General Councillor, and that was a real privilege that she should come from our province. We know now that the holy spirit was behind our voting that day, because Sister Hilda, after her term as General Councillor, was missioned to Taiwan, as Vice-Visitatrix of Taiwan, and then later became the Visitatrix of Taiwan and served the community so admirably both as General Councillor going all over the world in that role and then establishing the community and similarly helping to establish the Church in Taiwan with such a tremendous role, and Sister filled it admirably well. Two of the Sisters in Taiwan under Sister Hilda were Sister Evelyn Frank and Sister Annina Scharper. Neither of them had any study in the Chinese language, so they were both named to go to the University, and they attended the University for two years and became, in that being together, great friends, and that friendship has endured to this day. When Sister Evelyn was Mother General, she had occasion to come here to the United States on business, and she always stopped to see Sisters Annina. It showed us that a happy friendship can exist in our community and remain very strong and loving and still be just such a boon to everybody around them, not just the two of them, because we shared in that friendship as well. It’s not my intention to give a chronological history in giving my autobiography, but as I relate community events, I think it’s important to name the date when something happened, or to give the date when something happened, so I am aware that as I mention what happened in my life, I am giving dates and just ask you to forgive that and understand why I’m doing it. We like to have dates. Oh good, we like to have dates, well that’s good. Mother Chiron came to Emmitsburg in January of 1969 for the erection of the five provinces of the United States. From the original two provinces, which were established in 1910, the St. Louis and the Emmitsburg province, were to be subdivided into five provinces. For that occasion, Mother Chiron came to Emmitsburg, as did the sisters, as many as could, from the other provinces to be present for that at the establishment of their new provinces. It was a wonderful occasion. �10 We know that the provinces of Los Altos Hills [California]; St. Louis, Missouri; Evansville, Indiana; Albany, New York; and Emmitsburg, Maryland were established in January of 1969. Many wonderful things occurred because of that division into those five provinces, and we see God’s hand in that because more Daughters were able to become acquainted with other aspects of their province, of their missions, of their ministries, and able to take greater part in it. We see that that was a wonderful event not just for the community, but for the Church, because we were better able to serve the poor through the division of the provinces. Of course, history has changed that, and we’ve reunited, but that is history. That’s what happens in history, but at the time of the division into the five provinces, there was an upsurge in interest in the community and a greater ability to serve the poor in our various missions of the five provinces, so it was a wonderful event. It was the right thing to do at that time. Right thing to do at that time. It was the right thing. A major change occurred for the Emmitsburg province in July of 1972 when the sisters of Villa St. Michael in Baltimore, Maryland moved here to the Emmitsburg campus, and that involved 133 sisters. I was on-deck for that, and it was so remarkable, and so enjoyable, and so edifying if I may still use that word to see how those sisters took that change. Now you remember, most of them would be in the 80s and 90s and some even in the 100s, but they came up here as delighted as they had been to go on their first mission, because it was something new for them, and it gave fresh views and fresh things to do to sisters who had been settled in their retirement in Emmitsburg. It was wonderful occasion for us who lived here as well as for those who were coming to join us in our community life here in Emmitsburg. Believe it or not, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, now Saint Teresa of Calcutta, visited Emmitsburg in October of 1975, and I have done a little bit of math on that, that was just the following month Mother Seton was canonized in September of ’75, and Mother Teresa came in October. And her reason—expressed reason for her visit was to visit the tomb of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. It was an unusual visit in every sense of the word. The Council had to be the night before in Wheeling, West Virginia for the retirement festivities of Bishop Hodge Joseph Hodges [Joseph Howard Hodges]. He had been a product of our St. Joseph’s School in Martinsburg and had kept close to the community all through the years, so the Council was scheduled, and the people in Wheeling had bene notified that the entire Council would come. When we heard about Mother Teresa’s wish to come here, and her schedule wouldn’t allow for any changes, so we were in Wheeling ‘til about 11:30, and then we drove back to Emmitsburg, and I don’t think anybody who took that trip was in bed before 2:30 or 3:00, and Mother was due here at 8 in the morning. That’s the only time that her schedule would allow. But you know, it’s like everything else, if you turn it over to God, it works out well. We didn’t show too much fatigue that day, and Mother was bright eyed and so interested in anything we could share with her about Saint Elizabeth Ann. �11 She stayed through the dinner hour, and I can still see her standing by the mike, where you so often stand Maureen [addressing interviewer], just where that mike is now. She stood and talked to the entire community. And what did she talk about? She talked about love. How all of us need and appreciate loving and how anyone with whom we come in contact in our various apostolates, as they were called then, needs to be shown love. It was such a simple but effective message for every Daughter in that refectory, and we had to express our gratitude to Mother Teresa for that, because it was message that everyone valued, and it also showed Mother Teresa’s great sensitivity to any audience that she might be speaking with, and I think her visit brought great benefit to any of us who were present here for it. Recently, there was an anniversary of that visit, the 50th anniversary of that visit, and the pictures came up on the email on the iPhones, and one of my nieces told me that her son had pictures of Mother Teresa visiting Emmitsburg that day. They were on email; we had not put them there. So I think that maybe the Frederick Post would come that day to take pictures of Mother Teresa and seen that they got on the email for the 50th anniversary of her visit. Because to Frederick, that was a visit to Frederick County, not just to St. Joseph’s, Emmitsburg. Richard McCullen, our Superior General, visit Emmitsburg in 1982. His warmth, his wit, and his wisdom charmed all of us. Two stories associated with his visit are always in my mind. The first is that the five Visitatrixes came together with Father to receive council and to ask questions of him, and during that visit, the five Visitatrixes and Father went out to the Shrine of Saint Vincent on the grounds of the Provincial grounds because it was in a new setting, and Father was going to re-bless the statue. He did do that, and we were conscious during the blessing that there was a reporter there because she had her little pad and was making notes with what was occurring and what remarks Father might have made. But it surprised us because we finished the blessing, but the young lady cornered Father and kept him for quite amount of time, and we just stood off waiting for him to join us for our continuation of our meeting. However, it went to over half an hour. So the other Visitatrixes went inside, but I waited for Father. When the young lady finally left, he came to me and said “Sister, I’m sorry about that, but that was that young lady’s livelihood.” How conscious I was by that remark, that Father was always conscious of his service of the poor and showed his great compassion and understanding of other people. Another story that happened while Father was here. He was very busy during the day, so he went to see the Villa sisters after supper. Of course, many of them were already in bed, but that didn’t phase Father. He went from room to room, and he’d say to the Sister as he entered “Sister, would you care to receive my blessing?” and of course they’d say yes. We went into this one room, and he said that to the sister, and the sister said “Oh Father, I’d be happy to have your blessing.” And with that, she pulled her hands out from under the covers, and she had black woolen gloves on [holds hands together in front of her]. Of course, Father and I wanted to laugh, but we had to hold our mirth until we left sister, because it just showed her �12 great reverence for the blessing of God, particularly when it was given to us by our Superior General. That visit showed his great concern for every sister, because it wasn’t just the Visitatrixes he met with. He’d greet every sister, and if she wanted to stop, he’d stop. It just showed me a completely wonderful side of Father, just to see him in action, and his gift of sharing himself totally. He really gave himself completely. During that same time period, Jimmy Carter, the President of the United States, also visited the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Accompanying him were his wife, Rosalyn, and her mother, his mother-in-law. After touring the Shrine and listening to a brief account of Elizabeth Ann Seton’s life, he was very relaxed, comfortable, enjoyed what he was seeing and hearing, and did not seem a bit hurried. As he was leaving, the sisters gathered around the front door, and he was there among us, and I mean among us because the Daughters surrounded him. As he left, he gave me an embrace, and that picture was picked up by many of the newspapers in our country, and circulated, but happily it was because he was at the Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. That was special to have him visit wasn’t it? Oh, it was very special to have him visit. Rosalyn was very simple also, and the mother-in-law... She was part of the little party. They stood in the Shrine over by the alter of Elizabeth Ann Seton and just asked any questions and listened to our responses and anything we shared with them. It was a lesson for me in true simplicity. True simplicity. And I’m sure other sisters could tell you many other things about that visit of President Carter. But it was really a highlight of my years here in Emmitsburg. The President of the United States and the head of the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity. I see them as two wonderful events in my time at Emmitsburg. I should have said this first. The day before our President came to the Provincial House, the FBI crawled all over our place. Every nook and cranny of the Basilica, the corridors that he was going to traverse, the lobby that he was going to enter in to, it was crawling with FBI men. But of course, the Daughters enjoyed it, because they saw what happens when you do have a person who is subject to all types of untoward people who might want to get a hold of him. They have to be very careful where he goes. We understood it, and we just enjoyed the FBI men. We would try to converse with them, but they were serious about they work. They didn’t really enter in. They were gentlemen, but they were about their business. Throughout my terms here in Emmitsburg, I was very much aware of the support I received from our Vincentian brothers, and that included believe it or not Father [William] Slattery, Father [James] Richardson, and Father McCullen during my terms. I was also here for other terms like Father [George Gregory] Gay’s, but it was after I was out of office that he came. However, Father Slattery was not only admired by we the Daughters of Charity of Emmitsburg and the United States. When we did go over to the assembly, we saw the respect, love, genuine appreciation of our French sisters for Father Slattery. �13 This is just a little aside, but you know when we changed the habit back in 1964, the whole world changed at the same time, because Mother Guillemin and Father Slattery went to Spain and asked the sisters of the two different habits there if they would change to the universal one, and they all agreed. So on that day of the change of habit, the whole world changed, and I just thought the pair of them, Sister Guillemin and Father Slattery could convince anybody to do what the Lord wanted us to do. Thank God for that. Yes, thank God for that. In addition to the generals that gave assistance to me, I have to be very aware of the Directors who shared their understanding, their knowledge of the community, their appreciation of what the Daughters of Charity were doing with me and what an assistance that was in my years, and I must particularly mention Father [Charles] O’Connor and Father [John] Cusack. I know they’re both in Heaven now, and I hope they’re praying for this province and the larger St. Louis province as it is now, because they really worked with us at the grassroots, and I think they can present our situation to God and get his adit. We always have God’s support, I’ve no doubt of that. But even more mindful they will make him of what we are doing down here, I’m sure. I cannot forget though that we also had the Brothers in town. At one point we had five priests at the priests’ house in town. They came over here for confessions. They came over here for all types of liturgies because the Shrine was fairly new at that time. We had many, many types of events and liturgies, and our Vincentian brothers were always on deck. You could count on them. We could have 15 bishops, but hidden behind those bishops were our dear C.M. brothers, and were they wonderful to us. I’ll have to tell almighty God how grateful I am for them. As I listen to myself, I keep hearing the word “thanksgiving,” and that’s a word I know I will always associate with my vocation, my years in Emmitsburg, my understanding and working with so many different wonderful sisters and priests, particularly our Superiors. There all owed a deep gratitude, but I’ll come back to that a little later. After I left the terms up here in Emmitsburg, I worked for a number of years in different apostolates. I was at Providence Hospital for two years, Jacksonville for another two, Bladensburg for two, and then in 2000, I was asked to assume the directorship of the Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann, and I filled that role to 2005. That made me so aware, as I was jotting those dates down of how my life here in Emmitsburg was so intertwined with that of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, our American foundress, because I was here for her exhumation, her beatification, her canonization, her removal of relics from the College chapel to our Provincial House chapel, her removal relics from above the alter of the Provincial House chapel to where they are now in her little Shrine in our basilica. As the years passed, I saw what other Directors in the Shrine have done and how they have had so many different programs and booklets and occasions to invite the public and how we are �14 progressing in making Elizabeth Ann Seton known to more and more Catholics. It is, as I want to emphasize, the part of so many of our lay staff that are doing that. But the seed is growing. The seed if growing because so many come and are greeted so well by our staff of the Seton Shrine that many of them do return, and even return from distances. It is with great gratitude that I’m aware that that’s occurring. From the Shrine, I was assigned to the ministry of prayer in the Villa St. Michael, and I came here in January of 2006. What a tremendous missioning that was for me because being here at St. Michael’s Villa, has really been the zenith of my vocation. I am here among many wonderful Daughters of Charity who have had all types of experiences, all types of encounters with the poor, all types of experiences that they share with us, we share with one another, and it has been so enriching. I myself must say, I think my years at the Villa, as I remarked earlier, are the zenith of my vocation. It is such a grace and a blessing to be here among them. Here I celebrated my 75th year of vocation, and here, as I said, I live with such marvelous Daughters, and without trying, just being, there is a togetherness that is most unusual, and so affectionate, so caring, so supportive. I just think that God saved the Villa, and he saves it for many sisters, as their last mission because I am with so many excellent Daughters, and we are all on the road to deeper companionship with Jesus, so there is a union among, and a purposefulness among us, not artificial, it’s just there. It’s part of us. It’s such a great experience of community. I have always loved the community, but I think I have experienced it in it’s completeness, it it’s fullness here at Villa St. Michael. Thank God for the Villa. Thank God for my sister companions. If I could sing, I would sing the hymn “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow,” for as I worked on these taped minutes of my autobiography, I was more and more aware of the fact that my life was one complete succession of graces and benefits from God. I know family, faith, community are tremendous blessings from God, but all of them, faith, family, and community, have become deeper in my awareness of God’s goodness to us by living in the Villa. I cannot stress that enough. I would put that at the basis of all my happiness in all my final years of community living. We’re all getting ready to join him. We’re all trying to deepen our companionship with Jesus, so that when he comes for us, we will love him as much as we can, and that forms a bond that I’ve never felt before. I’ve always loved community, always stressed that the three middle words are “You” and “I,” and it has to be together we form community. But in the Villa, it is not just expressed, it is lived and it is felt. And it propels me forward, and I thank God with all my heart for my years at the Villa, and also for all his blessings of faith, community, family, anyone else that I received during my whole life, I want to thank him for them. But the zenith is the Villa. And we thank you, because you have been a blessing to us also. � https://www.scfederationarchives.org/files/original/f16c2b384223325d5e3a08afecfec962.mp3 9e1e6b22f3d15097bc09e7897b9cf991 https://www.scfederationarchives.org/files/original/918e80a540ed8d55237eac7052aa394d.jpg 20024b385c23d7ce3d24d775bfef1b57 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Daughters of Charity, Province of St. Louise Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Hughes, Sister Mary Clare, D.C. Oral History Subject The topic of the resource Hughes, Sister Mary Clare, D.C. Catholic hospitals Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. Emmitsburg Province Description An account of the resource Sister Mary Clare Hughes, D.C. discussed her life in community as a Daughter of Charity. She began her career as a nurse at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Jacksonville, FL and St. Mary’s Hospital, Saginaw, MI before becoming Assistant Visitatrix of the Eastern Province of the Daughters from 1962-1969, Assistant Visitatrix of the Southeast Province from 1969-1974, and Visitatrix of the Southeast Province from 1974-1983. Relating to her time in office, she discusses the first Provincial and General Assemblies of the community after Vatican II, the changing of the Daughters of Charity habit, the exhumation of Elizabeth Ann Seton in anticipation of her beatification, the division of the five provinces in 1969, the closing of St. Joseph College, the building of the new provincial campus in Emmitsburg, and important guests such as Saint Teresa of Calcutta and President Jimmy Carter. She also discusses her close collaboration with General Councillor Sister Hilda Gleason and Vincentian Superior Father Richard McCullen. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hughes, Sister Mary Clare, D.C. Schmalzried, Sister Maureen, D.C. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Daughters of Charity, Province of St. Louise Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-06-17 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Keefer, Scott (Transcriber) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Rights owned by Sister Maureen Schmalzried, D.C. Permission for any type of publication of archival materials, including text, photographs, video, or audio must be secured from the Daughters of Charity Communications Director before publication. Contact archives staff for appropriate forms and contact information. Relation A related resource RG 1-3 Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Collection RG 3-4 Habit Collection RG 4-31 Rev. Richard McCullen Collection RG 6 (General Councillors) Hilda Gleason RG 7-4-5 Erection of Five USA Provinces Collection RG 9-4-1 Sister Eleanor McNabb Collection RG 11 Emmitsburg, MD – St. Joseph’s Provincial House Collection RG 11 Emmitsburg, MD – Seton Shrine Center Collection RG 11 Emmitsburg, MD – Villa St. Michael Collection RG 15 Provincial and General Assemblies Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1:08:20 Audio/mp3 Application/pdf Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Hughes, Sister Mary Clare, D.C. Oral History Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1924-2019 https://www.scfederationarchives.org/files/original/ad8f06015b467be463a9885813c1dfdd.jpg a735053e8606c2a7c064fd9468d2f3ee Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sisters of Charity of New York Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Bullock, Angelica Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Sugrue, Noreen, SC Location The location of the interview The New Jewish Home, Kittay Senior Apartments, Bronx, New York Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data audio/mp3 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 28:52:00 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sugrue, Sister Noreen, SC Oral History Subject The topic of the resource Sugrue, Sister Noreen, SC Description An account of the resource Sr. Noreen Sugrue has shared her reative skills as a teacher, artist and Congregation archivist. She taught elementary grades, spirituality to novices, and art to students of all ages, including one summer in Appalachia and ten summers at the New York Foundling. From 1973-1986 as the Assistant Archivist for the Congregation, she chose a new archives storage location and designed the building space, managed the artifacts in the Elizabeth Seton Museum, and arranged and described the historic materials. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sugrue, Noreen, SC Bullock, Angelica Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Sisters of Charity of New York Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-05-06 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Mindy Gordon (Transcriber, Editor) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Permission for reproduction or quotation must be obtained through written application to: Director of Archives, Sisters of Charity of New York, 6301 Riverdale Avenue, Bronx, New York, 10471. This permission is valid only insofar as the Archives of the Sisters of Charity of New York, as owner or custodian, has any rights in the matter and does not remove the responsibility of the author, editor, and publisher to guard against the infringement of any rights; including copyright, that may be held by others. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/wav application/pdf Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Sugrue, Noreen, SC Oral History Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant New York City https://www.scfederationarchives.org/files/original/a0d0abeb6c9e5dd1d5fef502a039fee0.jpg 4ae3c93555b388c642c0a893ec3ef959 https://www.scfederationarchives.org/files/original/66bbf0b012b59a31d60fa10f9e1789c8.pdf da3a08de63e6ba354d41ed87c3e9f773 PDF Text Text Sisters of Charity of New York Interview with Sr. Grace Henke, SC Monday, October 28, 2019, 3:23PM • 41:24 Angelica Bullock 00:00 Today is Monday, October 28, 2019. The interviewer is Angelica Bullock. The interviewee is Sister Grace Henke. It is about 10:49am, and we are at the ALP (Assisted Living Program). Sr. Grace Henke 00:20 Right. Angelica Bullock 00:21 So Sr. Grace Henke, can you please state your full name? Sr. Grace Henke 00:25 Yes, it is Grace Cecilia Henke. Angelica Bullock 00:30 And what was or is your religious name? Sr. Grace Henke 00:34 My religious name was Sr. Mary Adrienne Henke. Angelica Bullock 00:46 And what is your current age? Sr. Grace Henke 00:49 My current age? Let's see, I was born in 1932. So what would that make me? I guess? So that would be 1932, would be 68, 78 and 9- 87. Did you get that? All right. (laughter) Angelica Bullock 01:14 Okay. And do you remember approximately what year you entered the congregation? Sr. Grace Henke 01:20 1951. Angelica Bullock 01:23 And you remember your age at the time? Sr. Grace Henke 01:26 I think I was probably, well, that's 1932 to 1951- do that on your calculator. (laughter) -1- Transcribed by https://otter.ai �Angelica Bullock 01:37 19 Sr. Grace Henke 01:39 I was 19. I was surprised. Angelica Bullock 01:41 Okay. Sr. Grace Henke 01:42 I worked for a year at the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, which was like the annex to the Sisters of Charity. Really, because we had to work for a year for a dowry, some kind of a dowry. So we save money. Angelica Bullock 01:58 You know, I think I did hear another Sister that I interviewed...She said that she worked there. 02:06 A lot of us work there. And when we left, they knew that we were there. You know, we were there for the year. And they gave us a party and gave us gifts. (laughter) Angelica Bullock 02:20 And you mentioned the dowry. Was there, like, was it expensive? Sr. Grace Henke 02:25 I don't remember. I don't remember, I think might have been a couple of hundred dollars, but I don't remember. Angelica Bullock 02:30 Okay. Sr. Grace Henke 02:30 It was just that you were supposed to bring some kind of money with you. And of course, we had all graduated from high school. Angelica Bullock 02:37 Okay. And how many years have you been in the congregation? Sr. Grace Henke 02:43 Well, I guess that we have to do that again. 51 one today. I guess it's 67 or 68. It's a whole lifetime. Angelica Bullock 02:57 68 years. -2- Transcribed by https://otter.ai �Sr. Grace Henke 02:58 Isn't that amazing? Angelica Bullock 03:00 68 years is a long time. Sr. Grace Henke 03:02 It's a long time. Do I look 87? Angelica Bullock 03:06 No. (Laughter) I never think sisters look their age though. And I always feel like sisters look younger than the general population. Do you think so? Sr. Grace Henke 03:18 I think so too. Angelica Bullock 03:19 Yeah. Okay, so going down the list. This leads us to general information, a little bit about where you from. So where were you born? Sr. Grace Henke 03:34 I was born in the Bronx. Angelica Bullock 03:37 And did you grow up in the Bronx? Sr. Grace Henke 03:38 I grew up in the Bronx. Angelica Bullock 03:40 And what about your parents? Where were they from? Sr. Grace Henke 03:43 My mother was from Washington DC. She was Adrienne Lemerle. And Adrian was spelt the way I spelled my name. It is very French and my father grew up in New York. And he was Eugene Raymond Henke. Can you imagine a Lemerle- Adrianne Lemerle, married Eugene Henke. But- they did, they had a good life together. He died when he was 35. Angelica Bullock 04:24 Wow. Sr. Grace Henke 04:24 So it was very hard on my mother. -3- Transcribed by https://otter.ai �Angelica Bullock 04:27 And how did you feel? I guess, losing your father so young. Sr. Grace Henke 04:33 Well, I probably- I was only 10 at the time. So, you know, I didn't I really didn't know. I remember it was a big thing, whether or not they were going to let me see my father and the funeral home. You know, like it must've been traumatic or not. And I can remember they did let me go in. And like I touched him, and I just said to myself, he's very cold. Like, because he was like, sleeping, you know? Angelica Bullock 05:05 And did you grow up in different areas of the Bronx or just one? Sr. Grace Henke 05:09 No, we grew up I well, Leland. Well, when I was young, we grew up in Hollywood Avenue, and went to St. Francis de Chantel. And then my father worked for Con Edison. So, we moved to Leland day Avenue, because he could get on the subway, the elevated subway- dance point, which is where he worked. So, we really grew up in the Bronx really. Went to let's see, St. Francis de Chantel. And then we moved to Blessed Sacrament. And that was very interesting because and St. Francis de Chantel, they put you in size places in school. So because I was big girl, I was in the back. I didn't know that I couldn't see. I couldn't get my classes- I couldn't do the homework. My father used to get very upset with me. When we moved to Leland Avenue, we went to Blessed Sacrament, the Sisters of Charity. And the first thing they did was give me a test for sight and told me I needed glasses. And I can still remember, to this day, walking out on the street at night. And it was, it was Parkchester, it was like a Fairyland, to see the lights to see everything so clear. Angelica Bullock 06:35 So that kind of leads to my next question. When did you first know the Sisters of Charity of New York? Sr. Grace Henke 06:43 Well, when I went to a Blessed Sacrament, that's when I met the Sisters of Charity. And I was very impressed with them. They were very kind. I don't know what the other sisters were, but these sisters were very kind- and I can remember going to visit them in the convent. Like I enjoyed being with them. And it wasn't until I went to Cathedral High School, we had the Sisters of Charity. I was in the annex for two years and had the Christian charities. And I was thinking of religious life then. The Christian charities really were a German order. And I said, Oh, I don't want a German order, because I wanted to stay where my mother was. So the last two years, you went to the main building, which was Cathedral High School, and you'll hear a lot of sisters went to Cathedral High School. And it was there- I was getting my coat and Sister Anna Mercedes came behind me. This is my senior year. And she said to me, “You have a vocation.” And I burst out crying because, I guess I hadn't thought about it at all. I really thought I was going to go to Hunter College and be in the science field. You know? So, after that, when I thought about that, that's when I spoke to Father, you know, Father Dunellen, and said, “How can I leave my mother alone?” -4- Transcribed by https://otter.ai �Angelica Bullock 08:13 Did he give you any advice? Sr. Grace Henke 08:16 He said, “If you have that vocation, you, you should pay attention to it. And let me talk to your mother.” So he talked to my mother, and she accepted it, which was wonderful. I mean, wasn't it wonderful of her to accept that, because she lost my father and then she lost me. But, when I was at St. Vincent's, she used to come to visit me whenever we could at the Mount (Mount Saint Vincent), and then she would visit me at St. Vincent's Hospital. We had a visit every month, and she would come and visit. Angelica Bullock 08:53 And did you have any other members of your family that were in religious life at that time? Sr. Grace Henke 08:59 I'm the only one. Angelica Bullock 09:00 Wow. Sr. Grace Henke 09:01 I'm the only one. I'm praying now for (redacted). Who is about maybe a teenager now? Because he seemed to be tending toward religious life. So he doesn't know, but I'm praying every day he becomes a priest. You don't know what we're praying for you. Angelica Bullock 09:26 Yeah, that was that was a very big sacrifice of your mom. Sr. Grace Henke 09:31 It really was. Yeah. And that's why I thought the Sisters of Charity. I had thought about the Maryknolls but they go to foreign missions, and they take care of a lot of bugs. So I said to myself, if I go to stay, take a New York- New York convent. It won't be bad. I won't have a lot of bugs. And I'll be near my mother, which was one of the reasons why I chose this community. Angelica Bullock 10:04 And do remember anything about like when you first entered the community? Sr. Grace Henke 10:10 People kept telling us that we were going to scrub the floor with toothbrushes. I mean, this is the kind of thing they told you. "Oh when you join the convent." No, I remember, I must tell you it was like a few. The three years of religious life was like a mystery to me. I did everything I was supposed to do. Went every place I was supposed to go, but I don't remember a lot of it to be honest with you. -5- Transcribed by https://otter.ai �Angelica Bullock 10:44 And when you entered, where there a lot of girls from your high school, Cathedral, that entered the same time? Sr. Grace Henke 10:50 Yes, I would say- we were 41 that entered- I would say half of them are probably from Cathedral. Cathedral High School and St. Barnabas were the two major areas. The sisters, sisters taught there. And that's how you got to know them. Angelica Bullock 11:09 And do you think it was easier entering, knowing that you already knew people? Like you kind of knew some people in the community? Sr. Grace Henke 11:19 No, I wasn't, it didn't, nothing affected me that way- it was just myself and my vocation with God, I think is what drew me and whoever was with me, that was accepted. Angelica Bullock 11:34 I see. So it is more your personal relationship with God. Sr. Grace Henke 11:38 Yes. Yes, I would think so. Angelica Bullock 11:43 And when you entered, did you feel like you're fulfilling that desire, I guess, to get closer to God? Sr. Grace Henke 11:52 I feel that that's true. That it was our-my mission, to serve the Lord and His people. To take care of the poor. Angelica Bullock 12:02 I guess now we can skip to ministries... Sr. Grace Henke 12:06 Okeydoke. Angelica Bullock 12:07 So, I'm gonna let you take charge, and tell me about your ministry. -6- Transcribed by https://otter.ai �Sr. Grace Henke 12:13 So, when I entered it, we took the CUDA preference test. And when we were seniors, and we went into the School of Nursing. When we first went in to, to the school, there was no place for us. There were no-It was I think there were over 60 sisters working at St Vincent's Hospital, and there was no room for us in the residence. So, we lived at Immaculate Conception in the Bronx, which was a school on 14th Street. And we lived there, and every morning we would get on. If it was a nice day we'd walk over to St. Vincent's, which was on 12 Street. Angelica Bullock 12:50 Okay. Sr. Grace Henke 12:51 It was about maybe four, four or five blocks away. But on days that the weather wasn't good, we'd take the bus. So that was interesting. When we went there we were in our black habits, and they gave us a course, a crash course- taught us to be nurses’ aides. So, one of the sisters would give us- Sister Patrice gave me hers-would give us an apron, that white apron that we'd put it on and we'd go to- we went over in March, and we didn't start school till September. So, for those few months, we were living at Immaculate conception and then going back and forth and working as nurses, aides. Angelica Bullock 13:33 Okay. And did you always have some kind of desire to be a nurse? Sr. Grace Henke 13:40 Yes. When I was a Senior I went to I went to St. Vincent's open house, and I know now it was a really a brandy, one of the teachers and she was very quick and she really didn't want to do this open up. So she took us in one door showed us showed us this classroom where they taught, you know, blood pressure and goal and took us out the door. Then I went to I went to Columbia Presbyterian. Each person that went, had a student nurse assigned to them. We had high tea. And then they took us around the hospital. And they took us into the operating room. You know, when you look at the movies, and you have that balcony, and we were so astonished, then they took us to their residence. Each student nurse had her own room, and I said to myself, wow, I'm gonna go here. Of course, I entered the lead at St Vincent's Hospital. But that was fun. So, I really was interested in nursing before. So it was, it was wonderful. I was able to do that. Angelica Bullock 14:53 And how many years were you a nurse for about? Sr. Grace Henke 14:57 Well, I am a nurse. How many years have how many years have I been practicing nursing? I practice nursing till about 2003 so if we started and in 1954 we can do that on computer, before 2003. That was a lot of news. Yes, Angelica Bullock 15:25 Yeah. Forty-nine years. -7- Transcribed by https://otter.ai �Sr. Grace Henke 15:27 That's a lot of years. So, from here, I don't know if you want all this, I was a student nurse and a graduate and an assistant head nurse, and then an evening supervisor. And then I was an instructor in the School of Nursing. I taught anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, and I wrote a book called 'Med Math.' You know, I was teaching pharmacology and this the salesman always come every and a salesman from Lippincott came in, he said, just you're not buying a book. I said, I don't like your book. I'm doing my own. I'm doing my own worksheets. So he said, Could you give me some? So I said, Yes, sure. So he came back a couple of weeks later and he said, We'd like to publish your, you know, your sheets as a workbook. So I spoke to Sister Mary Robin, who is the directed and she said, Why don't you go ahead and do it? It's a big job to do a book. So I did 'Med Math' which was dosage calculation and administration. And that went into five additions. In fact, it's still I think, somebody told me they saw it at one of the, what is it place that sells textbooks? Barnes and Noble. I saw it at Barnes and Noble. So, I did five additions and then after that, they wanted to go into a digital one with a computer. And I said, I really wasn't qualified to do that. So, somebody has a name on, it's 'Henke's Med Math', but somebody suing somebody from the University of Georgia is doing the computer one. So, we were lucky. We got royalties for five years. On that I sent them to the community. What am I gonna do with royalties? Angelica Bullock 17:26 But how does that feel to know that you have like your own textbook and students are …? Sr. Grace Henke 17:31 Well, I wanted, you know, I'm terrible at math. So, I when I did a textbook, I did the textbook for people who were terrible in math, so I always felt very good. In fact, I have something here. Let's see. When I had my 50th anniversary, let me see if I can find this. Elena [Director of Communications] put it on, this was… that's the book. Angelica Bullock 18:02 There's a lot of chapters, thirteen chapters. Sr. Grace Henke 18:05 Well, it was a lot to teach. Oh, here it is. So, these are some of the comments from people. Angelica Bullock 18:15 Oh, this is nice. See? Sr. Grace Henke 18:19 That makes that made me feel so good. And one of them way down at the end said, “I was terrible in math, and she helped me.” I mean, just that one person. I said, “Oh, wow.” Angelica Bullock 18:32 So, I'm reading aloud one of these comments and they're saying that you're one of the best teachers that they ever had. A lot of people are saying that, are saying thank you to you. How does that feel? -8- Transcribed by https://otter.ai �Sr. Grace Henke 18:47 Feels very good. Now, let me tell you what happened. While I was teaching there, they started a nursing course at [College of] Mount Saint Vincent and they made their students take a nursing drug test dosage test. And if they didn't get one hundred, they wouldn't keep them. So, they were having a problem because they couldn't fire or discharge these students. So, they called me and they said, “Would you come?” I said to myself, these are very bright women. They just don't understand what it is. So, I took a whole bunch of medicines, and a whole bunch of medicine tickets. And I said to them, “Here is the order that the doctor ordered and this is the way the drug comes.” And they said, “Oh, so then it was easy to figure it out.” Once you understood. The problem was they weren't doing practical work with them. So, then they all passed. They were right, you know? Angelica Bullock 19:49 But I mean, how does it - I'm not in the sciences at all. But I guess medicine seems like a very like lifeor-death situation, right? You can't mess up dosages right? Sr. Grace Henke 20:05 So, that's right. I would make my students get 100%. But if they didn't get 100%, because I said to them,”If you got 98% in this test, and the 2%, that you didn't know, was the 2% drug that you were giving me,” I said, “Something terrible could happen to me.” So, I want you in the beginning to get 100% to prove that you could do it and not make an error. We did a lot of work on read the label three times, read the medicine three times, check what you're doing. So, I always felt very good about doing that, that I was able to help people help patients by helping the students, was wonderful. It's a wonderful gift. Really. Angelica Bullock 20:54 Do you remember your early days of nursing? Sr. Grace Henke 20:59 Yes. That was in the Ward building, it was called the Seton Building and I worked on the female floor. And these were little old ladies in a room, there were 10 of them in the room, and they were all fractured hips. And in those days when a little old lady got a fractured hip, they put her in traction. So, she was in traction for several weeks at a time until it healed and on her back all the time. So, the nursing care was very, very serious, because you didn't want them to get bed sores. And I was the assistant head nurse. I put two aides on in the evening instead of one aide and two nurses. I put two nurses so that that room would get good care. And every morning I'd come in and they pull that nurse aid to someplace else. I would run down to nursing administration and say, “I put two aides on and you took one, you have to think of the whole hospital,” used to drive me crazy. But anyway, that was wonderful nursing care. And then I was moved to St. Joseph's, which was a men's room. And a lot of them were diabetics. They were homeless men from the street. So, lots of times at St. Vincent's, this was before insurance, we would keep them all winter. And in the springtime, we’d get them clothes and shoes, and get social service to help them find a place to live. And then let them go out. Was a whole different way of giving nursing then. Now, the first thing they want to see is are you covered. What's your insurance, right? Yeah. And I think St. Vincent, I think we lost, because we would take anybody, I mean anybody in the emergency room, regardless of their ability to pay, that was a wonderful gift that -9- Transcribed by https://otter.ai �we gave to people, you know, the Lord enabled us to do that. Of course, that's probably one of the reasons why we had to close because we ran out of money. Angelica Bullock 23:22 What do you think that's the conversation now? And universal health care and caring for those who don't have insurance? Because when you're at St. Vincent's, that was kind of like the pioneer for all the stuff that's being talked about. Sr. Grace Henke 23:40 So now, we do have these sponsored works that we do, we still have St. Joseph's Hospital [Yonkers, NY]. We have St. Vincent's Harrison [Westchester, NY], which is a mental health pavilion, and we do a lot of work, helping people get insurance. That's part of our work now. You know, with the different sponsored works that we have. And people who come in like Casa Esperanza [Multiservice Center, Yonkers, NY], you know, helping people to learn English and giving them all kinds of supportive services, POTS (Part of the Solution) is another one. We're not in the hospitals now. I think that we were trying to figure out when we went to the last wake, how many nurses were left? I think there may be five of us, five of us in the whole, we were never a large group, you know, in the Community. But if you look at us now, we're all in ArchCare. So that's using the Archdiocesan work. So, we're benefiting from our own help. You know, I can remember when we had an Assembly and the question was would we go into social security? And there was a big to do about that. There are a lot of sisters who said, we shouldn't be going into Social Security, because that's for the poor, and we should be able to take care of ourselves. And I think some sisters left the Community on the head of that. But thank God it was Sr. Margaret Dowling [President, 1971-1979] I think, who brought us into that. And at St. Vincent's, we were working, but we were like, when I was teaching, we were getting a good salary, but we never saw it, it went into the Community. So, in fact, we weren't getting it, I think we were getting a stipend, and W. R. Grace was the chair of the Board of Trustees. And he said to Sr. Loretta Bernard [Mother Loretta Bernard Beagan, 1960-1966; Administrator, St. Vincent’s Hospital], 'Your sisters should get the money from the work that they're doing because they are doing professional work, and that money was what enabled us to pay back all the the Social Security for all the sisters who had taught. So that's how we get the minimum social security. But can you imagine what a great gift that was? Angelica Bullock 26:15 I want to know why you mentioned that some sisters didn't want you to have those benefits? Sr. Grace Henke 26:22 They felt that it belonged to the poor. And we shouldn't be using the money of the poor. That's what they felt. They were very strong. I think some sisters really left the Community. You can ask other people what they thought about that. But where would we go? If we didn't have Social Security now. We were living with Social Security and Medicare, Medicaid, we're on supplemental insurance. We even get something here we get a card from CVS [drug store], which is $50 a month. And there are certain things that you can buy with that like toothpaste and stuff like that. If you don't use that $50 a month, you lose it. And then you get $50 for the next month. Can you imagine? We'd be with getting that with your taxes. Thank you. Thank you. - 10 - Transcribed by https://otter.ai �Angelica Bullock 27:28 But I think that's good, right. I mean, you spent all of your life but still, helping other people. Sr. Grace Henke 27:35 Well, like when Obama wanted insurance for all, it should be insurance for all people shouldn't have to not have insurance, they should be able to go. Okay, we're one of the worst countries in the world for health care. Angelica Bullock 27:53 Okay, I'm going to switch now to the paper I see in front of me about the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Award. Do you want to talk a little bit about receiving that award? Sr. Grace Henke 28:06 Well, as I said to you, at St. Vincent's Hospital, when we had them, it was really a fundraising thing. It was, I think it was the Alfred E. Smith [Memorial Foundation] fundraising and there had to be a Sister every year. So I think after a few years, we were running out of sisters at the Hospital. So I don't take any I don't take any big, I don't feel excited about it. I just say, 'It was my turn.' You can read this award. But this is what this is what I said. One of the things that I did in the School of Nursing, which was wonderful, we weren't accepting people who didn't meet our admission requirements. And I said to Sister Robert [Sr. Mary Robert Nagle], we really should do something about that. So, I got money from the Gilroy Foundation, and from where else? The United Hospital Fund. And I started what's called, we called it a TAP program, and that meant Tutorial Assistance Program. So, we would take women who didn't meet our admission requirements, we'd bring them in, in the summertime, and tutor them. Get them into the idea of studying and help them. Some of them didn't even know that Manhattan was an island. You know, like, if your family loved you, they kept you home. You went to school, and then you stayed home. So, they didn't have a lot of experience. So, we gave them some experiences of being, you know, around the city. And then we tutored them in the School of Nursing and over 10 years period, is I wrote that down over 10 years period, we had 70 women who graduated and received their R.N.'s (Registered Nurse). Isn't that wonderful? And then I started a bioethics course, because we really needed ethics and nursing. So they asked me from the college, we didn't call it pharmacology, we called it pharmaco-physiology. And I did that for several views. That was very interesting; it was fun. And then one of the sisters asked me, Sister Marion Hunt, no it wasn't Marion Hunt, it was Kathleen Hunt, asked me if I would teach with her in philosophy. They wanted to two instructors in each course. so that they could make the course more, what's the word I want? Not more interesting, more valuable, more tuned. So, she would teach philosophy and I would do bioethics. So, I did that for three years with her. Angelica Bullock 31:21 What exactly is bioethics? - 11 - Transcribed by https://otter.ai �Sr. Grace Henke 31:23 Bioethics says, when you're researching a situation, this person is in coma, should we turn off the life support or not? Should we do this? Should we do this surgery or not? So bioethics is, right decisionmaking. in this situation. What's the best thing that I can do, what's the best outcome that I can ask for in this situation? So it helps you sometimes, especially when we did it, we had a bioethics program in St Vincent's Hospital. And we would go around, anybody could ask us, a nurse could ask us to please come, or a doctor could ask us to please come, or a visitor or anybody could come. And there was a group of us and we would apply these principles of bioethics. Angelica Bullock 32:22 I never thought about that before, but I guess that seems very important. It's not only like the medical attention. Sr. Grace Henke 32:35 You're doing it all the time. We're doing it all the time, right? It's not only medical, it's everything. Angelica Bullock 32:46 You think that learning bioethics as a nurse, or your students, makes you more compassionate or more ethical? Sr. Grace Henke 33:00 It makes you more ethical, it makes you more logical in terms of decision-making, because sometimes you're not sure. Should I do this or should I do that? What should I do? So as a professional, it was important for them to be exposed to that. Angelica Bullock 33:23 What else would you like to talk about, Sister Grace? Sr. Grace Henke 33:27 I'm looking to see. Okay. I just wanted to say this. When, when I was at St. Vincent's, it was a community hospital. It was very small and charity was very strong. I told you we served anybody who came in whether they were poor or able to pay. And St. Vincent's, the other thing that we did was, AIDS became rampant when we were at St. Vincent's. And we were the hospital that was known as the AIDS hospital. The doctors and nurses we all got together, and different groups and we said,” AIDS is not a social disease. It's a disease, and it should be treated as such.” So we would have whole floors of AIDS patients that we took care of. And the Village [Greenwich Village] always appreciated us with a Catholic hospital. So when they didn't need us, they didn't come. But for AIDS, they came. And we were proud of that, that we were known as an AIDS hospital. And now it's wonderful because the medicines that they have now are really good. In the beginning, they had no medicines that worked well. Angelica Bullock 34:48 I guess, how did it feel working there at that time when HIV AIDS was so rampant, and people didn't know a lot about what it was? I think in my time, it seems like you can have HIV and it's kind of manageable. - 12 - Transcribed by https://otter.ai �Sr. Grace Henke 35:10 It's manageable. See, in those days, if you got AIDS you we're going to die. It was just no two ways about it. But we were able to take care of them. You're right. Now STD (Sexually Transmitted Diseases), know all those things. Now they just know that they're there because they know there are drugs that work. It's a whole different attitude. And in those days AIDS patients were frowned upon. I mean, people looked at them and said, “Oh, you know, what are they doing to themselves? What have they done?” But we didn't; we never turned them away. We took care of them. It was wonderful. Angelica Bullock 35:53 And did the patients ever express their gratitude towards you or the families? Did they have families? Sr. Grace Henke 36:02 Oh, yeah. Well, because they had significant others. And they were allowed into the hospital they were allowed to take care of them. Yes. You know, people even today, you know, so many years later, people will say to you, well, you were the AIDS hospital. You know, it was wonderful. I wrote down here in the late 60s, remember, how still at St. Vincent's the world changed, and the Congregation changed with it. The Sisters were leaving schools to begin other works. And the Congregation began to change. So that's really true. Angelica Bullock 36:40 How does it feel then when the Congregation started changing? Sr. Grace Henke 36:46 Well, let me think about that because, that's true. People were leaving the works that they were in. Sisters were leaving the works that they were in to do other works like social work. Like the things that we're talking about, you know, the sponsored works into housing and into caring for refugees and people who needed different kinds of activity and leaving hospitals and leaving schools. And the problem with leaving schools was to my mind, the idea of a Catholic school is very important to teach religion so that people grow up knowing some kind of background in religion. And now we don't have that. There aren't Sisters in schools anymore. There are different kinds of work. So that was a big problem. Because the question was, were you going to leave nursing? You know, to do something else. And I said to myself, well, this is my vocation. So, I felt very strong in my vocation, and I stayed with it until I retired actually. Either nursing itself or toward the end of my career, teaching, you know, teaching and writing. Angelica Bullock 38:16 Did most Sisters who were nurses stay nurses or do they go and do other things? Sr. Grace Henke 38:22 Most of the people who were nurses did nurse, and what happened was some of the Sisters who had been teaching who really wanted to nurse asked, and all the different things that came was poverty, chastity and obedience; were the three vows that you took. And after Vatican II, it became poverty, chastity and discernment. So, discernment meant you pray to God, you talk to other people, and you decided really what would be the best thing for you, a whole different ballgame. So, I am a - 13 - Transcribed by https://otter.ai �Heinegeplatz German (obedient) German. So poverty, chastity, obedience meant a lot to me. So, when people were discerning, I was getting distressed because they were leaving schools and see what I'm saying. But I stayed with nursing. But they were very happy. And God was calling them to that. So now I look, when I look at the changes, I don't know did you attend the last Assembly? I don't know, if you ever get a chance to go. What's happening now is they're wonderful. I must read something that I wrote here. We have begun to change and it is exciting. Sisters are energetic and focused on continuing the mission. And I love how the assembly is evolving and the Leadership is developing. Angelica Bullock 40:02 It sounds very positive and inspirational. Sr. Grace Henke 40:05 It's wonderful. It's, so I'm saying now, and the fact that we're here, like I said to Sr. Margaret O'Brien [Treasurer and Councilor, Congregation Leadership], “Is this helpful that we're here? Because we could be any place, you know.” But when she said, “Yes, it's helpful,” so that's my mission now; is to be here. Prayer is my mission in this place, and to be present to the people who live here and work here. Just being here as a Aister is good. We get a list from the Development Office every month for people who are asking for our prayers, and we are very grateful when they write and say something positive happened. Most of the time we don't know. But we keep praying. That's our thing. Angelica Bullock 40:54 That's very nice, because I think a lot of people do want people to pray for them. Sr. Grace Henke 40:59 Yes. Yes. And if you ask me to pray for you, I ask you with, what the first name of the person is, and I put that in my prayer envelope. I say, 'Lord, I may forget, but you remember.' So, we say the rosary every day for all those people who have asked for our prayers, and we mention if we need other intentions, we mention them too. - 14 - Transcribed by https://otter.ai � https://www.scfederationarchives.org/files/original/294797d171691ffa455328ffcf94165f.mp3 feb84f6ef38fe7300bc6952c1223d930 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sisters of Charity of New York Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Bullock, Angelica Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Henke, Grace, SC Location The location of the interview The New Jewish Home, Kittay Senior Apartments, Bronx, New York Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data audio/mp3 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 41:24:00 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Henke, Sister Grace, SC., Interview Subject The topic of the resource Henke, Sister Grace Description An account of the resource Sr. Grace Henke, SC, details her formative years as a novice and extensive career as a nurse and instructor at St. Vincent's Hospital School of Nursing. Sr. Grace authored 'Med-Math: Dosage Calculation Preparation and Administration' to simplify measurement of medications needed for patients. Sr. Grace developed a program to tutor underprivileged students to become nurses. She was part of the team that treated AIDS patients in the Greenwich Village hospital during the early years of the crisis. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Henke, Grace, SC Bullock, Angelica Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Sisters of Charity of New York Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-10-28 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Mindy Gordon (Transcriber, Editor) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Permission for reproduction or quotation must be obtained through written application to: Director of Archives, Sisters of Charity of New York, 6301 Riverdale Avenue, Bronx, New York, 10471. This permission is valid only insofar as the Archives of the Sisters of Charity of New York, as owner or custodian, has any rights in the matter and does not remove the responsibility of the author, editor, and publisher to guard against the infringement of any rights; including copyright, that may be held by others. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Henke, Sister Grace, SC, Oral History Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant New York City AIDS Healthcare Sisters of Charity of New York https://www.scfederationarchives.org/files/original/4449f57f69072501dfcb2aa0d2006199.jpg be996a2fb6ee46ad1c9ac6d797387ce1 https://www.scfederationarchives.org/files/original/c286a077aab85b235be2196a5bf706af.pdf 52d841a8fb48498c2fa25b9e072aa113 PDF Text Text Rosemarie Lakra, SCN    Born on September 15, 1937, in Sirsi village and Katkahi parish, in Ranchi  diocese  and  district,  I,  Celestina  Lakra,  am  the  fourth  child  of  my  father,  Patras  Lakra  and  mother,  Louisa  Xalxo.  We  were seven girls and one boy.  In  the  order  of  birth  they  are  Albertina,  (later  Sister  Agatha),  Alexius,  Anasthasia,  Celestina,  Mary  Constantina,  Anna  Rosalia,  Albina  Julita  and  Henerietta.  The  second  youngest  girl,  Albina  Julita,  died  when  she  was  three  years  old.  My  good  Catholic  parents  saw  to  it  that  we  had  daily  prayers  and  attended  Mass  whenever  possible.  My father was trained as a  Cathechist and a teacher.  We were a middle class joint family.  My brother,  Alexius,  married  young and had three children.  There was a severe famine  in  the  early  1950s.  One  after  the  other,  many calamities such as death of  cattle  and  horses,  failing  family  business,  and  a  theft  took  place  in  our  family.  Suddenly,  like  Job  in  the  Bible,  we  lost  everything  and  we  became  very poor.  Alexius, my beloved brother died on July 31, 1957 and his three  children  died  within a short span of one and a half years.  My sister-in-law  married  again  and  moved  out  of  my  home.  She,  too,  died  in  1961.  My  cousin brother also died during this time.      My  eldest  sister,  Albertina,  a  trained  teacher,  after  working  for  four  years,  joined  the  Ursuline  Sisters.  My  sisters,  Anasthasia,  Mary  Constantina,  Anna Rosalia and Henerietta are married.     Due  to  financial  difficulties,  my  parents  found  it  difficult  to  provide  an  education  for  me.  I  went  to  the  Mahuadanr  parish  primary  school  which  had  classes  only  up  to  Class  V.  With  financial  help  from  the  Mahuadanr  parish  priest,  I  studied  up  to  Class  VII  at  St.  Teresa’s  School  run  by  the  Holy Cross Sisters.  There was no high school close by, nor road or buses to  commute.  The  only  high  school  was  the  Ursuline  Convent  Girls’  High  School  in  Gumla,  five  days  walk  away.  I  had  a  great  desire  to  study  and  against my parents' wishes I went to that school for my studies.  Each year,  I  had  to  face  obstacles  but  I  managed to finish my matriculation (Class XI)  in the year 1957.     The Holy Cross Sisters invited me to join them and the Ursulines invited me  to study in their college.  Finally with the help of my uncle, a Jesuit priest, I  was  able  to  continue  my  studies  at Xavier’s College staying at the Ursuline  convent hostel.  Because of ill health, I was not able to complete the college.  I also had a desire to become a nurse and so I went to Holy Family Hospital  in Mandar, Ranchi, for General Nursing.  I did the Midwifery from Kurji Holy  1 �Family  Hospital,  Patna  and  I  returned  to  Mandar  Holy  Family  Hospital.  I  worked  full-time  there  for  one  and  a  half  years  before  joining  the  SCN  Congregation.     No  Sisters  were  in our parish until I was in Class IV.  When the Daughters  of St. Anne came to our parish in Rajawal, the villagers waited for them with  garlands.  I also joined them in welcoming and garlanding the Sisters.  As I  saw them, I felt like some current passing through my body, possibly a sign  for  my  desire  to  become  a  religious.  I  grew  up  keeping  that longing in my  mind.      As good Christians, my parents had deep faith and they were very prayerful.  They  influenced  me  very much.  While I was working as a nurse, I met one  of  my  classmates  who  was  joining  the  Ursuline  Sisters  in  Ranchi.  From  then  on,  my  inner  voice  began  to  push  me  and  I  heard  a  voice  telling  me,  "Go  right  now,  and  do  not  delay".  Soon after that, I sought the advice of a  priest who suggested to me that I join a group of Sisters in the Ranchi area.  I  declined  to  follow  this  advice because I wanted to go to a far place.  Then  he  began  to  name  some  of  the  Congregations  to  which  I  kept  saying  “no”,  until I heard him say SCN Congregation.  To that I said “yes”, though I had  no idea about this particular Congregation.  I, being a nurse and the Sisters  having  a  hospital,  I  thought  that  I  would  fit  in  with  them  well.  As  I  look  back, it was God’s Spirit who helped me to choose the SCN Congregation.      When  some  priests  and  Sisters  heard  that  I  was  going  to  join  the  SCN  Congregation in Mokama, they discouraged me with the information that all  the  Sisters  there  were  from  South  India.  They  frightened  me  saying  that,  "You  will be the only one from Ranchi" and in reply I said, "Well, if I have a  real vocation for God's service and mission, I will face it and go ahead.  God  will give me the grace."    I  travelled  alone  and  reached  Mokama  on  August  2, 1965.  As I met Sister  Lawrencetta  I  knew  Mokama  was  the  right  place  for  me.  I  worked  until  October  at  Nazareth  Hospital.  On  December  27,  1965,  I  entered  the  postulancy  with  four  other  candidates  who  had  also  finished  their  nurses'  training.  One of the candidates, Thankamma Xavier, a trained teacher from  Kerala, who had arrived just before me also entered postulancy with us.      One  of  my  happiest  moments  was  receiving  the  holy  religious  habit  and  experiencing  the  hair  cutting  ceremony  on  the  previous  night  of  July  19,  1966,  our  vestition  day.  I  felt  that I sacrificed my hair, offered my life and  my  all  for  the  service  of  God's  people.  Many  Sisters  asked  me  to keep my  2 �maiden name, Celestina.  I told them that if I am changing my way of life, I  would  also  like  to  change  my  name.  I  was  given  the  name,  Sister  Rosemarie.  Teresa  Rose  Nabholz,  SCN  was  our  postulant  and  novice  director.  During the last three months of our novitiate, Patricia Mary Kelley,  SCN  took care of us since Sister Teresa Rose was appointed as the regional  superior.     The six of us took our First Vows on July 19, 1968.  I experienced great joy  as  I  was  giving  myself  totally  to  God.  We  had  a  few months of a juniorate  program  in  Ranchi.  I  took  some  art  classes  in  drawing,  painting  and  making  baskets  from  bamboo  and  cane  at  Yogada  Mutt,  a  Hindu  ashram,  opposite to our convent.      As  a  Sister,  I  was  happy  to  be  assigned  to  Nazareth Hospital from October  1968  where  I  worked  in  the  public  health  department.  I  prepared  visual  aids  like  health  charts  for  teaching  the  public.  I  also  went  with  other  student  nurses  to  visit  the  villages.  We  walked  to  the  nearby  villages  and  used a vehicle to reach the far off villages.  The most common diseases that  we  treated  were  diarrhoea,  dysentery,  fever,  cold,  cough,  typhoid,  tuberculosis,  leprosy,  scabies,  anaemia,  etc.  Miss  Mary  Paul,  an  experienced nurse who studied in Mokama was our supervisor and was very  good to all of us.  Whenever we got an emergency call of a cholera out-break,  we immediately rushed to the area with vaccine and other medicines.  Every  month  we visited a mission station of Patna Diocese to attend to the health  needs  of  the  people  extending  up  to  the  border  of  Nepal  in  North  Bihar.  Most of these mission stations did not have a dispensary or religious Sisters  to attend to the sick at that time.      As  a  young  Sister,  in  June  1969,  I  was  chosen  to  be  with  Sisters  Ann  Roberta Powers and Anne Philip Gnavally to begin a new mission in Chatra.  We  had  a  large  rocky compound and in the cool of the evening, we enjoyed  sitting on rocks to pray together. We named our house, Nazareth Niketan.      Initially  we  had  only  three  rooms  with  an  asbestos  roof.  We  used  one  of  those rooms as our living quarters.  The Blessed Sacrament was kept in the  tabernacle in one corner with a kerosene lamp and it was partitioned with a  curtain.  Our  personal  belongings  as  well  as  the  household  articles  were  kept  in  the  same  room.  For  dining,  we  used  a  folding  table.  The  bathing  room  and  toilet  were  outside.  There  was  a  small  outside  room  which  we  used as our kitchen, cooking on firewood.     3 �We  visited  the  people  in  the  villages  to  encourage  them  to  send all of their  children to school but they were interested in educating only their sons.  We  persuaded  them  to  educate their daughters also by saying unless you send  your  girls  to  school  we  will  not  admit  your  boys.  On  July  8,  we  formally  opened  the  new  school  and  named  it  Nazareth  Vidya  Niketan.  On  the  opening day we had thirty-six children for pre-primary and Class I.  We used  the  two  rooms  and  the  veranda  for  conducting  the  classes.  All three of us  taught in the school.      One  day,  Sister  Ann  Roberta  began  to  bleed  heavily  from  her  nose  and we  were  frightened  and  did  not  know  how  to  prevent  it.  I  gave  her  first  aid,  then  gave  an  injection  and  finally  the  bleeding  was  controlled.  Every  now  and then she had the same problem.  We had no hospitals close by and we  did not know any doctor in the locality.  There were no travel facilities except  an occasional bus service.  We were so happy to see the Gaya jeep stopping  by  one  day.  Sister  Ann  Roberta  travelled  with  them  for  a  check-up  and  treatment in Mokama.     Once  when  Sister  Ann  Roberta had gone to Gaya for some school work, we  heard  a  tiger  roaring  close  to our house during the night.  Anne Philip was  not aware of it, though our beds were close by.  I woke her up and asked her  if  she  had  heard  the  sound.  She  said  that  some  cow  must  be making the  noise.  I  told  her  it  was  a tiger roaring and she responded, "Oh, tiger” and,  unperturbed, she went back to sleep.    From  Chatra,  ​I  went  to  Lady  Reading  Hospital  in  Delhi  ​for  a  year  of  community health nursing in 1970.  ​When ​I returned to Chatra to continue  the  same  ministry,  I  was  asked  to  do  the pastoral ministry for which there  was a great need.  To prepare for the same I went to Tongo in Ranchi diocese  for  catechetical  training.  SCNs  Mary  Juliana  Tuti  and  Ann  Moylan  were  with me for the same training.  It was not easy for me to give up the nursing  profession to take up the pastoral ministry as a full-time job.  I experienced  an inner struggle of being pulled between the two ministries.  Besides, many  of our Sisters were not convinced why a qualified nurse had to be in pastoral  ministry.  The hospital community would have liked me to serve at Nazareth  Hospital.  Sisters  Ann  Roberta  and  Teresa  Rose  supported  me  in  my  decision.  Finally,  I  became  the  first  and  only  full-time  pastoral  Sister  in  1971.      We  were  very  happy  and  felt  privileged  to have our Mother General, Lucille  Russell  visit  Chatra mission in October 1971.  Since we had only one room  4 �for  everything  and  as  we  were  playing  cards  together,  Mother  Lucille  said  that  she  had never experienced eating, playing, sleeping, recreating, etc. all  in front of the Blessed Sacrament.  We all had a good laugh.  Along with my  companions, I made my Final Vows on July 2, 1972 in Mokama.      We  had  CRS  (Catholic  Relief  Services)  'food  for  work'  supplies  for  developmental  work.  We also distributed some of the warm clothes we had  gathered  to  the  people.  We  visited  the  homes  of  the  students  as  well  as  other houses in the villages, taking care of the sick and suffering.  We meant  a  great  deal  to  the  people  and  they  approached  us  whenever  they  were  in  any need, during day or night. I enjoyed my five years of ministry in Chatra.      People used to gather in someone’s house when any priest from Hazaribagh  came  to  offer  Mass  and  administer  Sacraments.  Chatra  parish  with  a  resident  priest  was  not  established  until  1974.  From  the  time  we  were  in  Chatra  we  took  care  of  all  the  spiritual  and  other  needs  of  the  people  including the burial services for the dead.  All three of us had permission to  distribute Holy Communion to the people.  Each Sunday, we had ​gaon girja  (village  church)  para-liturgical  services  with  the  people.  Once  in  a  while a  priest  from  Hazaribagh  would  come  to  offer  Mass  and  consecrate  enough  hosts for the following weeks.     My  third  assignment  was  to  pioneer  a  new  mission  house  in  Sale,  Mahuadanr  in  1974  along  with  SCNs  Jean  Kulangara,  Marianne  Puthoor.  Teresa  Rose  Nabholz,  SCN,  regional  superior,  accompanied  us  on  our  long  journey.  For  the  blessing  and  inauguration  of  the  new  mission,  a  huge  crowd  of  more  than  3,000  people  gathered  on  October  13,  1974.  Most  Reverend  George  Saupin,  SJ,  the  bishop  of  Daltonganj,  officiated  at  the  Eucharistic  celebration.  As  Sister  Teresa  Rose  and  our  guests  left  we  felt  lonely  and  held  on  to  each  other  and  wept.  Mahuadanr,  which  had  no  paved roads in those days, was our farthest village mission.      In  the  beginning,  we  taught  in  the  Jesuit  village  school  along  with  doing  medical  and  pastoral  work.  We  were  not  very  familiar with the area so we  did  not  know  how  to  get  to  places.  We  helped with the retreat for Class X  girls  in  the ​gaon girja near our convent.  One night as we were taking back  the  Blessed  Sacrament  to  the  parish  through  the  fields  we  lost  our  way.  After  walking  for  a  long  distance,  we  noticed  a  light  and  thought  we  had  arrived at the parish.  We chuckled when we found out that it was our own  house  where  the  village  girls  were  practicing  a  dance  for  the  harvest  feast  Mass.  After a year of our being there, a resident priest was appointed to the  parish.    5 �   In April 1975, Father Phil Crotty, SJ, the parish priest of Mahuadanr asked  me  if  I  could  do  some  medical  relief  work  in  Sabagh village on top of a hill  where many people were affected by a rare disease.  Many lives were lost in  that area and some of the villages had not a single person living.  Many had  to  go  on  foot  for  treatment  to  the  only  medical  facility  in  the  area,  the  Carmel  Hospital  in  Mahuadanr,  run  by  the  Carmelite  Sisters  from  Kerala.  The  doctors  could  not  discover  what  was  causing  the  many  deaths.  The  Carmel  Sisters  had  taken  a  few  patients  to  ‘All  India  Medical  Science  Hospital' in Delhi for investigation and treatment.  Since they had no Sisters  to accompany me to the villages, I went with a girl as my companion to stay  in  that  village.  Father  Crotty  came  with  us  with  food  supplies  and  medicines provided by CRS.  Father also carried the Blessed Sacrament with  him.  The people gave us an empty house in which to stay.  I made a place  for the Blessed Sacrament in one corner of the room.  Every month, a team  of  medical  personnel  from  the  hospital  came  to  the  villages  to  treat  the  people.  For  four  months  I  stayed  in  that  village  to  look  after  the  patients  and  feed  the  people.  They  were  instructed  not  to  eat  any  food  other  than  what we provided because no one knew the cause of the many deaths.  The  epidemic  drew  the  attention  of  the  central  government  in  Delhi  and  supported the untiring efforts of the doctors and Sisters at Carmel Hospital.  Research points to the toxic seed of the Gondli grain (a type of millet) being  the cause of the epidemic. The poor of the region use the grain for food.      In  1975,  the  first  parish priest, Father Barry, SJ, two catechists and I took  interest  in  the  Birjias,  a  primitive  tribe  who  were  very  poor  and  illiterate.  After  five  years  of  our  contact  and religious instructions, we had a Mass in  the  village  with  Baptism,  marriage  blessing  and  Confirmation.  Now  they  have  a  parish  of  their  own  in  their  area.  Children are being educated and  they  have  improved  economically.  One  of  them  is  with  us,  Sushila  Telra,  SCN.    I  stayed  in  the  villages  with  the  catechists  for  a  couple  of  days  at  a  time.  Every  evening,  we  gathered  different  groups  of  people,  youth,  women  and  men,  separately.  We  prayed  with  them  and  had  discussions  about  their  problems  and  what  they  could  do  together  to  solve  them.  We  organised  various  groups  such  as  Sodality  for  youth and Catholic ​Sabha (council) for  people  in  general  and  ​Mahila (​ women) Sangh  (group)  for  women  to  deepen  their  faith.  We  also  conducted  retreats  for  them  from  time  to  time.  I was  appointed  coordinator  of  the  Catholic  Women's  Group  in  the  deanery  and  the Daltonganj Diocese.  I was one of the three religious Sisters appointed as  consult members of the diocese.    6 �  In  1980  I  was  sent  to  Bakhtiarpur  Community  Health  Centre  to  conduct  programs such as 'mother and child health', school health, village out-reach,  home visits and vaccination at the centre, schools and in the villages.  I also  helped  to conduct deliveries and to take night on-calls at the centre for two  years.     In  1982,  I  went  to  Sudeep, Bangalore for a three-month renewal.  After the  renewal,  Sister  Marietta  Saldanha,  SCN,  the  coordinator  of  Sudeep,  asked  me to help out in the day-to-day running of the place and I stayed there for  seven months.      The  royal  family  members  and  other  well  to  do  people  of  Nepal  sent  their  children  to  study  in  Darjeeling,  India,  where  there  were  good  Catholic  schools.  Because  of  the  quality  education  they  received  in  Darjeeling,  in  1950,  King  Mahendra  of  Nepal  invited  the  Jesuits  of  Patna  to  open  an  English  medium  boarding  school  in  Kathmandu.  The  Jesuits  in  turn,  invited  the  IBMV  (Institute  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary) Sisters, now known  as  CJ,  (Congregation  of  Jesus)  to  begin  an  all  girls’  school  in  a  property  adjacent  to  theirs.  That  was  the  beginning  of  Catholic  presence  in  Nepal.  The  two  boarding  schools  were  known  as  St.  Xavier’s  and  St.  Mary’s  respectively.  There  was  no  other  Catholic  presence  in  the  whole  of  Nepal  before the SCNs were invited to Nepal by the Jesuits in 1979.    When  I  was  called  to  discern  for  the  mission  in  Nepal,  Sister  Margaret  Rodericks,  provincial,  told  me  that  there  were  some  Tribal  Catholics  of  Indian  origin  in  East  Nepal  who  were,  “like  sheep  without  a  shepherd.”  Since  the  SCNs  had  not  yet  gone  to  East  Nepal,  I  joined  the  Kathmandu  community in January 1983 to learn Nepali and to get to know the people’s  culture.  SCNs  were  in  discernment  to  move  to  East  Nepal  from  Godavari  and Kathmandu at the request of Father Cap Miller, SJ, the episcopal vicar  to  Nepal.  In  February  1983, SCNs Anne Marie Thayilchirayil, Ann Murphy  from the US, Jean Kulangara and Tara Ekka moved to East Nepal.  For four  months,  staying  with  Joel  Urumpil,  SCN,  in  Kathmandu  I  attended  a  training  program  to  work  with  the  mentally  handicapped  children.  I  also  had an attack of pneumonia so I stayed in Kathmandu for a few more weeks  to recover.      Wanting to wind up her pastoral ministry in Kathmandu, Sister Joel stayed  a  few  more  months  before  we  moved  to  Dharan.  Joel  wanted  to  set  up  a  dispensary  and  do  some  developmental  work  among  the people in Dharan.  Since  that  was  not  feasible,  Joel  and  I  went  to  a  village  in  Damak  where  7 �there were many Indian Tribal Catholics working in the tea gardens.  I began  my  pastoral  ministry  with  them  and  discovered  there  were  many  more  tea  gardens  in  East  Nepal  with  a  Catholic  population.  They  consisted  of  Uraons,  Santhals,  Mundas  and  Kharias  who had migrated to Nepal several  decades  ago.  People  used  to  live  in  small  mud  huts  around  the  gardens.  They  came  together  every  Sunday to pray and had the ​gaon girja without a  priest.  Occasionally  a  priest  came  from  Purnia  parish  from  neighbouring  India to offer Mass.  Once in a while, Reverend Cap Miller from Kathmandu  also  came  for  Mass.  Whenever  we  had  the  Mass,  plenty  of  hosts  were  consecrated  for  distribution  during  the  para-liturgical  services.  I  prepared  the  people  for  different  sacraments.  Whenever  we  had  Mass,  the  priest  administered the sacraments in each of these places.  I began to keep family  records  of  all  the  people  who  received  the  Sacraments.  When  I  stayed  overnight  in  the  villages,  they  were  very  hospitable  and  gave  me  their  best  corner in the room.  I slept on a burlap mat on the floor which was cleaned  with fresh cow-dung, not yet dry.      On Ash Wednesdays, I prepared ashes from burning the coconut leaves and  blessed it to take to the people in the villages and the tea gardens to remind  them that it's the special season of Lent for prayer, sacrifice, confession and  reconciliation, etc.      One Holy Thursday, the priest could not come for the services.  We ourselves  conducted the services of the day with washing of the feet of six men and six  women,  a  custom  that  did  not  exist  in  the  Catholic  Church  at  that  time.  Whenever  a  priest  was  available  during  the  Holy  Week,  we  had  Masses  in  four different tea gardens on Holy Saturday.      SCNs  Anne  Marie  and Ann Murphy were in Ilam, in the hills and Jean and  Sarita  Manavalan were based in Dharan.  When Father Miller came to offer  Mass  in  Damak,  we  got  the  opportunity  to  visit  our  Sisters  in  Dharan.  In  Dharan we also went to the British camp for Mass with Father Miller.      After Joel and I began taking serious patients to the Dharan camp hospital,  I  got  a  free  pass  to  enter  the  camp  any  day.  The  matron  of  the  hospital,  Miss  Stella  Mary,  became  friendly  with  us  and  she  took  good  care  of  our  patients.  She  also  liked  to  stay  with  us  in  Damak  during  her  breaks.  Whenever  I  was  home  in  Damak,  I  helped  Joel  with  home  deliveries  and  literacy work.     One  of  my  deep  faith  experiences  is  that  whenever  people were in any dire  need, God took me to be with them.  This was especially true when someone  8 �became seriously ill, near death or in any other trouble.  I also helped them  financially  from  the  travel  money  I  got  from  Father  Miller.  Many  of  them  returned that money with gratitude.  I worked for six years in Damak.  I am  proud  to  hear that now in each of those six places, there is a parish with a  resident  priest  and  several  groups  of  religious  Sisters  are  working  among  them.    In  May 1986, I was assigned back to Nazareth Hospital in Mokama to work  with  Sister Lucia Thuluvanickel and Reverend Dan Rice, SJ in the spiritual  care  department.  For  the  first  time,  SCNs  had  established  a pastoral care  department in the hospital.  In January 1987, Sister Mary Lynn Fields, SCN,  helped  us  to  make  a  mission  statement  and  goals  for  the  spiritual  care  department.  Our mission was to care for the total well-being of the patients  and  their  family  members,  staff,  students,  employees,  criminals,  drug-addicts,  alcoholics,  and  whoever  was  in  need.  This  experience  really  was very enriching for my own personal growth.    When there was a crisis in our Barauni mission I was one of the Sisters who  was  asked  to  go for the flood relief work to Khagaria and Mansi for a week.  We  had  lost  Sandhya  Baxla,  SCN,  during  the  flood  relief  work  in  Mansi  in  August 1986.     On  the  night  of  the  first  death  anniversary  of  Sandhya,  there was a rather  major  earthquake  in  which  many  houses  and  properties  were  destroyed in  North  Bihar.  The  administrator,  Sister  Bridget Kappalumakal, SCN, asked  me  to  join  the  Catholic  Health  Association  of India group from Patna along  with our health personnel to do relief work in Darbhanga for a week.      I  coordinated  the  regular  8.30 am Masses and Holy Hour on Fridays in the  hospital.  I  counselled  the  patients  both  at  their  bedside  and  in  my  office.  Patients  were  extremely  happy  with  the  over-all  healing  they  experienced  within  themselves.  All these experiences brought me closer to God and the  people.      In 1989, I was transferred to Sokho, a remote village mission in Bihar.  I was  the coordinator of the house and in-charge of the pastoral and medical care.  I also enjoyed gardening and cultivation.  Most of the time, the parish priest  was  out  of  station  and  I  took  care  of  the  pastoral  needs  of  the  people.  In  visiting  the  families in the villages I reached out to both the Christians and  the  non-Christians,  alike.  I  prepared  the  married  couples  in  rectifying the  inter-religious  marriages  and  brought  them  to  the  Catholic  fold.  I  also  conducted  retreats  for  the  people  to  deepen  their  faith.  By  being  with  the  9 �people  I  learnt  the  customs, practices and their language, Santali.  We had  two distinct groups of people to minister to, the Santhals and the Kharwars,  a  very  primitive  group.  In  order  to  accommodate  both  groups,  we  had  Sunday Masses either in Hindi or Santali.     While  the  Bhagalpur  diocese  was  building  a  concrete  house  for  us,  we  stayed  in  the  dispensary  as  our  mud-house  was  demolished.  After  the  blessing  and  inauguration  of  the  new  house,  Nazareth  Sadan,  by  Most  Reverend Bishop Saupin in January 1993, the Sisters, the parish priest and  a priest from Belatanr mission, drove me to Mandair for my next mission.      Mandair  is  situated  in  a  coal  mine  area.  We  stayed  in  a  village  house  in  Manjalitard  away  from  the  parish  and  the  main  road.  I  worked  as  the  pastoral Sister in the parish, helped in the small dispensary and also taught  in  the  school,  according  to  the  need.  Various  Tribal  groups  had  migrated  and  settled  there.  With  their varied backgrounds it was not easy for me to  work  among  them.  At  this  time,  many  problems cropped up in our parish  and  it  was  about  to  be  closed  down.  We  conducted  several  meetings  with  the  people  and  at  the  end  it  was  decided  that  they  wanted  the  parish  to  remain.     Seeing  our  struggle  to  reach  different  villages  with  no  proper  road,  the  parish  priest,  Reverend  M.D.  Abraham,  asked  the  SCN  provincial  whether  the  Sisters  would  like  to  move  closer  to  the  parish.  He  gave  us  an  option  that  the  parish  would  exchange  our  land  with  theirs  to  give  us  a  more  suitable site near the road.  A concrete building was made for dispensary in  the new place while we lived in Manjalitard village.      In  1996​,  I  was  transferred  to  Biharsharif  for  pastoral  ministry.  Besides  being coordinator of the community I took care of the hostel girls and taught  Moral  Science  in  the  parish  school.  I also visited the nearby villages alone  and  the  catechist  accompanied  me  to  go  to  the  far  off  villages  for  Mass.  I  took  care  of  the  Catholic  women's  group  in  the  parish.  Biharsharif  was  a  challenging mission for me as I did not get the needed cooperation from the  parish priest.      In 1999, from May to October, I helped out in the '​kishori' (​ adolescent girls)  training program in Almora. After the training was completed I came back  once again to the Spiritual Care department at Nazareth Hospital, Mokama.  The hospital had no chaplain and I had to depend on the parish priest for  Mass and Sacraments. When the hospital took the initiative to begin a ward  to care for the HIV/AIDS afflicted persons in collaboration with the  10 �government and other NGOs in 2003, I took a counselling course in  HIV/AIDS in Mumbai, Maharashtra in 2008 to work with them.      Through  the  spiritual care department, I was privileged to serve all types of  patients  and  their  relatives  until  the  decision  was  made  that  certain  departments  of  the  hospital  would  be  closed  temporarily  from  June  2012.  Sisters  Philomena  Kottoor,  vice-provincial,  and  Usha  Saldanha,  the  administrator,  officially  asked  me  to  resign  from  the  hospital  in  August  2012.  After having spent a total of sixteen and a half years in the spiritual  care department it was very painful for me to move out of the hospital.  I felt  my gifts in bringing healing and solace to the sick would be wasted away.  In  fact,  I  felt  a  kind  of  uselessness  within  me,  belonging  neither  in  the  community  nor  in  the  hospital.  It  took  me  some  time  to  overcome  those  feelings  and  move  on  in  life.  I  continue  to  reside  at  Ashirvad  South  community  in  the  hospital  campus.  I  like  to  work  in  the vegetable garden  and  keep  myself  busy  with  the  visitors  who  come  to  our  house.  Occasionally  I  am  called  to  the  hospital  for  counselling  patients  and  continue  to  take  care  of  the  hospital chapel and the weekly Mass and Holy  Hour.      Ever  since  I  entered  the  community  in  1965,  I  have  been  happy  working  with  people  of  many  different  languages  and  cultures.  I was well accepted  by them.  I experienced God's presence, grace and blessings with me always.  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  having  had  good  and successful ministries.  I am  very  happy  that  God  helped  me  and  directed  me  to  enter  the  SCN  Congregation and I am proud to be an SCN.      In  my  fifty  years  of  religious  life,  God  has  walked  with  me  very  closely.  I  recall  the  many  experiences  of  Jesus  being  with me and accompanying me  from village to village, one tea garden to the next and from person to person  wherever I went.  It was an assurance that Jesus is using me to carry on His  mission here and now.     I  am  so  very  grateful  to  my  God  and  my  community  for  giving  me  many  opportunities  to  be  in  varied  ministries  and  places.  I  am  lost  for words to  thank  God  enough  for  the  support,  encouragement  and  deep  trust  the  community leadership has placed in me.      Religious  life  is  a total self-giving and an offering of ourselves to God in the  service  of  people.  In  living  out  my  vows, I lived a life of commitment, deep  faith  and  brought  many  people  close  to  God.  I  have  always  tried  to  be  faithful  to  God  and  my  community.  My  religious  life  is  based  on  prayer,  11 �sacraments,  deep  faith  and  trust  in  Christ and Mother Mary.  They are my  source of life itself and from whom I draw constant strength and courage.      Now  I  spend  a  good  bit  of  my  time  in  prayer  and  I  pray  very  specially  for  each  Sister  and  her  family, needs of the Congregation, people in formation,  Church and the world.    Rosemarie Lakra, SCN      Consent given orally to publish the story on August 16, 2017    12 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Rosemarie Lakra, SCN (Self-Interview) Location The location of the interview India Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rosemarie Lakra, SCN Oral History Subject The topic of the resource Lakra, Rosemarie, SCN; Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource SCN Archival Center Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived SCN Archival Center Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 8/16/2017 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Permission for any type of publication of archival materials, including text, photographs, video, or audio must be secured from the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Archival Center before publication. Contact archives staff for appropriate forms and contact information. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MMC-RosemarieLakra India Sisters of Charity of Nazareth