Philadelphia Sisters Make a Pilgrimage to Le Puy

Sixteen sisters from the Chestnut Hill (Philadelphia) congregation weathered torrential rains and a hail storm during their week-long pilgrimage to Le Puy, but their enthusiasm, patience and excitement about “coming home” never deterred them--or slowed them down. 

One thing they surely discovered was that being a pilgrim isn't all that easy. Their journey started out on Wednesday, June 6 with a long plane ride from Philadelphia to Frankfort, Germany, and another to Lyon. At the Lyon airport they were greeted by a bus that pulled a trailer filled with their luggage. 

They finally arrived in Le Puy just after a rain storm. (It had been raining in Le Puy nearly every day for the past month.) They had to drag their luggage up one or two flights of stairs to their rooms because the elevator at the Centre was being repaired. Then, just as everyone was settled in their rooms, the repairman finished his work! 

The theme of the pilgrimage was to walk in the footsteps of the sister-founders. Sr. Dolores Clerico and Sr. Sheila Holly were the group leaders. 

Each morning, the sisters prayed together around a candle and received some input on the history of the founding sisters. In the afternoons they visited sacred SSJ sites in the old city and explore other interesting places.  

 

Meals begin with prayer led by one of the sisters. Then, one by one, the sisters of each table go to the buffet table to fill their plates with delicious French food.

The sisters enthusiastically signed up for kitchen clean-up. Kitchen duty entails a team of two sisters who prepare the dishes for the dishwasher while a third sister shakes out the table cloths and sweeps the dining room floor.

On one of the first evenings at the Center, a couple ace gardeners noticed the Centre's rose bushes needed trimming so they pitched in to do the work. Many thanks to Vickie and Donna with some help from Mary, Mary Elizabeth, and Bonnie to do this much-needed job.

 

During the rosebush trimming, they made some new friends.  

Some candid photos of the group.

 

During the final two days, the sisters climbed St. Michel (right). Others went up to the Notre Dame statue. Most of them went to the St. Joseph Mount--again in the rain.

On Wednesday, June 13, the sisters packed their bags and headed for Lyon to visit the Lyon Congregation's Heritage Center to learn more about Mother St. John Fontbonne. On the way, they stopped at her birthplace in Bas-en Basset and Monistrol, the town where she entered the community and later became a local superior.                 

Many sisters described their experience of Le Puy as "coming home." Their visit to the Kitchen where the founding sisters lived was especially meaningful.