Philadelphia Sisters Make Annual Pilgrimage

Ten smiling faces from the Philadelphia congregation made their way up the drive to the International Centre on Wednesday, May 22. Led by Dolores Clerico and Regina (Jean) Laurich, the sisters made a week-long pilgrimage to see and experience sacred sites related to the foundations of the Sisters of St. Joseph. 

The aperitif is a mix of moscador (sparkling white wine) and cassis.

The sisters arrived just in time for an aperitif of moscador and cassis with accompanying hors d'oeuvres before a dinner of steak haché (chopped sirloin in tomato sauce), buttered butterfly noodles, haricot verte, cheese, bread, wine, and dessert.  

The sisters make a toast to their pilgrimage along with thanks for a safe journey.

The sisters had morning and afternoon prayer and briefings. They learned more about the 17th century France, which gave them an historical context for what the founding sisters faced in Le Puy in 1650.

The sisters visited the Kitchen and were quite moved by it as they imagined the founding sisters living there in such a small space.

 Pat tried out a footwarmer that the founding sisters likely used in the Kitchen.














The sisters visited the Living History Centre where they learned about 16th and 17th century France that led to the foundation of the six founding sisters. On the day before, they visited the Église du Collège where Father Medaille preached and the Tree of Martyrs where three sisters were guillotined during the French Revolution.

Jean Laurich and Dolores Clerico and confer on the 100 years before the founding of the Sisters of St. Joseph. Jean, coordinator of the Philadelphia sisters' Mission Integration, will lead next year's pilgrimage.

The sisters visited several other sites in Le Puy.

Cathedral of Notre Dame of Le Puy

 The sisters attended Mass at Des Carmes parish, a 14th century church built by the Carmelites. Father Chamaly, pastor, recognized the sisters at Mass and thanked them for coming to Le Puy and Des Carmes. The people in the pews smiled and waved at the sisters in kind.

Chapel of St. Clair (St. Michel is on the left)

Église du Collége, a Baroque-style church, one of the first of its kind in France. Father Medaille preached here and the early sisters worshipped here.

Place du Plot is a central gathering place in the old city.

Although it looks formidable, several sisters climbed St. Michel and were glad they did. 

Lunches at the Centre were light despite the sisters' vigorous activity in the city. Lunches included salad, cheese, jambon paté (ham paté) and everyone enjoyed it.

After having spent numerous days in the city and in group conferences, the highlight of one evening was a visit to the French restaurant, L'Écu d'Or on Pannessac Street. The food and service were outstanding, the atmosphere was pleasant, and everything was oh, so very French.

The meal included a salad and a main dish of trout, chicken in a curry sauce, or beef in a wine sauce. All topped off with fancy French desserts. Delicious!!  The sisters learned how to read a French menu where diners have a choice of three courses or four courses with various combinations of appetizers, main dish, cheese, dessert.

 

 









 



The French in Le Puy don't typically serve butter with the meal. You must ask for it. Our server graciously supplied it, but the butter was only about 2 square inches. M.E. and Pat and shared it with a couple other sisters with still some left over.

On Monday, the last day of the pilgrimage in Le Puy, the sisters had a quiet retreat-like day of reflection and processing. They shared brief statements about the impact of their pilgrimage experience.

Inspired by the sacred spaces and stories of our founding sisters (and brothers) as well as my pilgrim companions. Challenged to live the gifts of grace of love.

Literally standing and walking in the footsteps of our first Sisters has been a very sacred experience.   Joan

The fire of the Spirt went through the entire time in Le Puy.  Mary Esther

My experience at the International Centre was a journey with companions into the heart of God—a changing awareness and deepening of my vocation.  Maryanne

The Pilgrimage Experience has been an opportunity for deepening my SSJ identity allowing the time to become more aware of the gift of PRESENCE and ministry of PRESENCE.  Rosanne

The pilgrimage has been a profound experience of heritage and hope. The bonds and memories created in these ten days will surely continue to bless us.   Merilyn

SSJ Hospitality at its finest.   Pat

A blessing.   Sheila

Powerful and Inspiring Experience.  “M.E.”

We said good-bye to the sisters on Tuesday morning after breakfast. They posed for a few last photos. It's always sad to see the new friends we have made say good-bye. However, we are glad to have the opportunity to provide them with hospitality in the sacred spaces of the Sisters of St. Joseph.

 

Bernard, from Schmitt Voyages, served as the driver. He took good care of the sisters on the ground to and from Lyon to Le Puy.

After the sisters left Le Puy, they went on to Lyon to visit the Living History Centre of the Lyon Congregation. They saw Mother St. John Fontbonne's bedroom and gravesite. The visited Old Town Lyon and Fourvière, which hosts La Basilique Notre Dame and the small chapel next to it, where Mother St. John Fontbonne prayed every day for the sisters she sent to the United States. The sisters left for Philadelphia on Thursday on a flight starting from Lyon and connecting to Frankfurt, Germany.

Italian Sisters of Cuneo Make France Pilgrimage

Sister Gemma Dalmasso (right) of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cuneo, Italy, brought three young Congolese sisters from her community and two Italian sisters from Pinerolo, Italy, for a pilgrimage to Le Puy on May 19-20. They stayed at the Centre for one night and visited the Kitchen and the Living History Centre before they headed out for Annecy, France, the next morning on their way back to Italy.  

The sisters' pilgrimage in France included a visit to Lourdes and Carcasonne, birthplace of Father Medaille.

The sisters were accompanied by Giampiero Martini, their driver, who made sure the sisters were comfortable and safe at all times.

 

SSJ One-Room Schoolhouse in Mandarin, Florida

Sandy and Tracey Arpen have become avid supporters of the Sisters of St. Joseph through their historical research and activism in Mandarin, Florida near Jacksonville. 

Sandy, a retired nurse, and her husband, Tracey, a retired lawyer, visited the International Centre in May while they were traveling in France. They were anxious to tell us about their work in Mandarin and its connection to the Sisters of St. Joseph.


Sandy is president of the Mandarin Museum and Historical Society (MMHS), which was founded in 1989 by a group of citizens interested in preserving and celebrating the rich heritage and history of the area. The group has created the Walter Jones Historical Park, which is comprised of old buildings that once serviced the northeastern Florida area.

Sandy had recently discovered an old one-room schoolhouse that had been built by the St. Augustine Sisters of St. Joseph in 1898 for African-American children. She brought it to the Walter Jones historical park in 2015. It opened in 2016 as a means of illustrating the educational venues available in Florida during the late 19th century and in telling the story of the Sisters' contributions to education in Florida.

After the Civil War in 1865, new opportunities arose for black children to receive a formal education. However, racial prejudice prevented the mixing of black and white children in schools. Eight Sisters of St. Joseph of Le Puy answered the call for educating black children and came to the Jacksonville/St. Augustine area in 1866 upon the invitation of Florida's first bishop, Augustin Verot. The Sisters began their Mandarin Mission in 1898 and built the schoolhouse for both black and white students.  


The Arpens talked about their contacts with Sister Thomas Joseph "TJ" Goldrick who wrote a history of the founding of the St. Augustine sisters in a book titled: Beyond the Call: The Legacy of the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine, Florida. The former mathematics teacher was asked by her superiors to write a history of the sisters. Although she claimed not to know how to write history, she did it anyway and published the book. She also became a source for a 2016 PBS documentary about the Florida sisters produced by WJCT in Jacksonville, FL, in honor of their 150 years of service of establishing free schools, academies, founding orphanages, nursing victims of yellow fever (1877, 1888), and teaching in public schools. The book illustrates how the original eight French sisters were Americanized, how the sisters dealt with bishops in America, and how they were treated for teaching exiled Apache Indians and Black students. 



The Arpens visited the Kitchen and the  Living History Centre. Of particular interest was the history of the founding of the St. Augustine Sisters of St. Joseph, which is the only American foundation that came directly from Le Puy.  






Mandarin Museum and Historical Society (MMHS)



MMHS's first project was to preserve the Mandarin Post Office and Walter Jones General Store, which served as the heart of the community until it closed in 1964. In 1993, MMHS bought the Walter Jones homestead in order to create the 10-acre Walter Jones Historical Park. The park includes a farmhouse, barn, and outbuildings, as well as an interpretive reconstruction of the Mandarin boardwalk that was a fixture of community in the late 19th century and was opened to the public in 2000.

MMHS acquired other historic structures including an early 20th-century saw mill and a late 19th-century log cabin belonging to the Losco family, which was part of the largest wine operation in Northeast Florida. The organization also created a historical kitchen garden based on the writings of Harriet Beecher Stowe and started a citrus grove that demonstrate the types of fruit that were grown when Mandarin was a major citrus producer.  


Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of the influential anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, lived in Mandarin for 17 winters. She wrote sketches of life in northeast Florida during the latter 19th century and compiled them in a book titled Palmetto Leaves.

Located on the eastern banks of the St. John's River, Mandarin was named after the mandarin oranges that once grew there. The small farming village started out growing oranges, grapefruits, lemons that were shipped north by steamboats. Orange groves covered the area until 1980 when a freeze destroyed the trees, and farmers decided not to replant them.