Good-bye, Line

After five years at the Centre International, Line (pronounced Lynn) Rioux handed over the keys to her associate of the past three years, Eluiza de Andrade. 

Line goes on to Lyon to serve a six-year term on the Conseil (leadership team) of the Congregation of Lyon. She hails from Maine and is a member of the Winslow community.

Even though Line began her term in leadership on August 1, she stayed on at the Centre to train me and to help with several groups we hosted, including the 36-person Cultural Diversity program. In effect, she has been doing two jobs since May where she attended Chapter (the governing body of the community), got elected to office, and began her new ministry. She has juggled the work of her Congregation and the work of the Centre, which also included a week-long pilgrimage that she and Eluiza conducted in October. 

Line and Eluiza were the reasons why I inquired about working at the Centre. They are super sisters and were fun to work with as a team. I will miss Line.

Good luck, Line, in your new ministry!!

 

Sunday was Joseph's Table Day where the pilgrims buy something at the Farmers Market on Saturday (without telling anyone what they bought) and then cook it the next day. This community-building exercise just shows what women can do both in the kitchen and with each other.

Maria and Kathy make a very fine tortellini and mushroom soup. 

Click here for the recipe.







Carol makes a French dish: radishes with butter. It was beautiful and tasted good!

Marge makes a delicious stir-fry with every vegetable she has available. 

Marge and Mary cut up vegetables for the stir-fry. Oyster mushrooms are especially beautiful, as Mary can attest.






Too many cooks in the kitchen did NOT spoil this dinner. In fact, it only enhanced it since everyone was dedicated to making the noon meal special. 

Even so, the women used every available space they could find. Here Judy and Patsy cut up more vegetables in the hallway while Judy (below) later used a dining room table to grate some Romano cheese for the soup.

Betty set the tables. 














Voilà!  A very fine meal made and shared. The women presented each item they purchased and/or made and talked about how it contributed to the meal and God's blessings. 

Thank you, St. Joseph, for a wonderful experience at your table!!

CSJ Pilgrims Enjoy a 3-Star Repast

The pilgrims gathered at Bambou & Basilic, a Michelin three-star restaurant in Le Puy, to celebrate their pilgrimage. The restaurant is in the old city, a 30-minute walk from the International Centre. 

Angelique was our server, a patient and kind woman who afforded us excellent service and a friendly smile always. The food is described as fusion food that resides between the modernity and traditions of Le Puy. It was a real treat with insights into French cooking and service. Below, Angelique takes the count on who wants which meal: bamboo or basilic. 

1. Amuse Bouche

The "amuse bouche" course literally means the food that amuses your mouth. In other words, it is an appetizer or aperitif. It was served with champagne (some with a touch of chestnut or apricot flavoring) and some colorful and tasty morsels on tiny pieces of bread (left) or a bit of cold lentil soup (right).   

                                

Angelique uncorks a bottle of delicious red wine from the Auvergne region. The chef takes special pride and care to serve local food.

2. Entrees

The entree is the first course of the meal. While Americans call the main dish their entree, the French call their entree the course that helps you "enter" the meal. We had a choice of four entrees.

Chicken with quail eggs and vegetables

Sot l’y laisse confit et œuf de caille sur un sablé aux herbes, concassée de tomates et tagliatelles de légumes

Fois gras of duck (liver)
Foie gras de canard « Maison », compotée de rhubarbe, dôme de pomme au Muscat de Rivesaltes, brioche toastée

Pumpkin soup

Velouté de potimarron de Saint Vincent, poudre de lard et amandes torréfiées














Shrimp with cucumbers, beets, goat cheese

Gambas marinées aux agrumes et curry, rouleau de concombre, vinaigrette aux perles du Japon et fromage de chèvre

Carol Crepeau, program director from La Grange, and Judy from Cleveland. 

Kathy (left) from Wheeling with Mary (right) from Nazareth 

3. Plat -- the main course

The main course or plat, is a meat, fish or vegetable dish in France. We had four choices.

Roasted Beef with onions and potato

Pièce de bœuf rôtie sur une compotée d’oignons rouge, râpée de pomme de terre, jus à l’échalote

Pollock fish

Lieu jaune rôti dans un beurre noisette, épinards et endives croquantes, mousseline de légumes et émulsion au citron confit

Gilt-head bream 


Dorade royale sur une écume de Mona Lisa, brocolis et croustillant aux anchois, huile de chorizo

(This fish is a member of the bream family Sparidae found in the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern coastal regions of the North Atlantic Ocean.)

Lamb

Gigot d’agneau cuit à basse température, samossa d’épaule, jus corsé, condiment de poivrons aux piments de Cayenne

4. Cheese Course

Fresh cheese (before) with fruity syrup (after)

• 
  
• Fromages affinés avec coulis

Faisselle cheese from the Auvergne region

5. Dessert

Fruit and sorbet


Assiette de fruits frais de saisons et sorbets 

Crunchy cookie with fruit and creme

Croustillant à la vergeoise, crémeux exotique, brunoise d’ananas et sorbet fruits rouges













Apple with cinnamon and beer ice cream 


Déclinaison autour de la pomme, glace à la bière et crumble à la cannelle

Bernie (left) and Nina (right), both from Nazareth

Carol with Amandine, hostess of Bamboo & Basilic. She and her husband, Michaël, the chef, have owned the restaurant for the past five years. They have a two-year-old son.

CSJ Pilgrimage VII to Le Puy and Lyon

Thirteen pilgrims arrived at the Centre in the dead of night after traveling over 24 hours. The four-hour layover in Paris was prolonged by a two-hour flight delay. Finally, they flew to Lyon (only a half hour flight) and were picked up by our friendly chauffeur, Monsieur Jacky. They rolled into the Centre driveway at 945 bedraggled and tired, but their spirits were high.

Betty Granger leads the crowd into the Centre International. Two by two they went up the elevator to their rooms to drop off their luggage. Then they came down to the dining room for a snack of sandwiches, chips, come slaw, soda and, of course, wine. 

On Thursday morning they were up for breakfast at 730 and ready to begin at 930. By 1030 they were ready to walk into the old city of Le Puy. Pilgrimage director and guide Carol Crepeau (second from right) leads them forth.

Welcome Congregation of St. Joseph!!

Pilgrimage to Our CSJ Origins -- St. Flour

Sr. Line Rioux (blue jacket) and Sr. Eluiza de Andande (strawberry jacket) led a pilgrimage for six participants from Argentina, Australia, and the USA on the key places in the history of the Sisters of St. Joseph. The participants were invited to reflect on God's active presence in the persons studied and places visited as well as to become aware of God's presence in their own lives through the mission and charism already alive in each of them.

The first stop was St. Flour, almost 2 hours from Le Puy. St. Flour was our founder, Fr. Medaille's, first mission after he became a priest in 1643. 

Jean Pierre Medaille was born in Carcassonne, France, on October 6, 1610. As a Jesuit, he was first assigned to be a missionary to the small villages in south-central France. He also taught grammar at the Jesuit college in St. Flour. While he was there, he met several women who were tending the sick and wanted some kind of spiritual community. He later met more of these kinds of women in LePuy where he eventually founded the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1650.




St. Flour started out as a  small town located on a rocky outcropping called Mt. Indiciac. It flourished as a medieval city developed in the 12th century. The new city is down below. Population is about 7,000. Fr. Medaille would have mingled among the people in the old city.



Fr. Medaille taught at the Jesuit College in St. Flour.

entrance to the Jesuit College

St. Peter's Cathedral started out in the 5th and 6th centuries through Florus, the first apostle of the Haute-Auvergne area. He arrived on Mount Indiciac where the old city was built. After he died, the first sanctuary was built to shelter his tomb. In the 11th century, the abbot of Cluny founded St. Flour's priory. A Romanesque basilica was built here on the rocky outcrop of the site. Pope Urban II consecrated this church in 1095. 

The early gothic-style basalt nave of the church was built in 1398 and consecrated in 1466. The church had survived the collapse of its northern section in 1396 as well as the Plague and Hundred Years War.

During the French Revolution, the church's four towers were pulled down, the bells and statues were broken, the paintings, sacred ornaments and liturgical books were burned. The building was then named "Temple of the Supreme Being." 

Old altar of the church where Fr. Medaille probably celebrated the Eucharist.

This ancient crucifix is made of wood, but it looks like metal. It is located in the middle of the nave instead of at the altar.









The church has several artistic items:




5th century fresco preserved from the original church











elaborate organ located in the back of the nave














pietà made of wood and the forerunner of Michelangelo's pietà

Several side altars surround the back of the altar. Priests used to say Mass at these altars whether there were people present or not. The statue on the left and below is St. Peter for whom the cathedral is named.

St. Joseph side altar with the baptismal font 


















majestic candelabra of a bygone era










dramatic entombment of a saint







We packed a picnic lunch to eat in a public park. 

We also checked out a local patisserie.

Before we left St. Flour, we stopped for coffee....

....and posed for pictures 

The first and second world wars were traumatic events for France. War memorials dot the entire country in commemoration for those who lost their lives. This 1921 sculpture is dedicated to the "dead children of France who gave their lives for France" during World War I.

St. Flour is surrounded by the beautiful French countryside.

Here is suburban St. Flour.

Here is wind energy technology near St. Flour.