Search Results for label/oral history
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Treasures from Archives: Marleau-Hercules Fence Co.
...the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Look closely at the wrought iron invoice. In the sold to box is the name Mr. Bisch, which has been crossed out. The Bisch family has a long and wonderful history with the Congregation. Joseph N. Bisch served as the superintendent of grounds from 1893 until his death in 1939. He was encouraged to come to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods by his sisters, Sisters St. Bernardine and Mary Anthony Bisch. Joseph’s son Bernard took over upon...
Treasures from Archives: Father Goossens
...in Hartford City, Ind., and was ordained on May 28, 1928, in St. Meinrad, Ind. Prior to coming to the Woods, Father Goossens served the Church in Indiana in Indianapolis, Boonville, Linton and Evansville. Besides his duties as chaplain, Father Goossens was responsible for teaching the young novices at the Woods Church history, religion and ethics. He also was involved in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods Village. Realizing the great need for a local fire department, he found like-minded men in the Village....
Treasures from Archives: Sister St. Francis Xavier’s slippers
One day while gathering some information for a blog on the death of Sister St. Francis Xavier Le Fer, I ran across some intriguing information about an artifact belonging to her. I found the information in the capacious first volume of the Congregation’s history written by Sister Mary Borromeo Brown. The information concerned a pair of slippers that belonged to Sister St. Francis Xavier. On page 766, one reads: “Sister Saint Francis Xavier’s health, as we know, had been delicate...
Providence never fails is a good ‘saying’
...Kuper when she was our director of novices. At one of our daily times of instruction, she made the statement: The donkey on the hill knows more than the wise man in the valley. When I first heard it, it made me laugh; and remarkably, given my history, I got the point right away! Now, almost 49 years later, it still makes me laugh and it frequently catches me up short. Often, when I’m stewing about a situation, the most...
Treasures from Archives: Civil War diary
...Chattanooga, Tenn., in September 1863. He journaled how the prisoners were taken by rail car to Atlanta and then back up north to Richmond, Va., and the infamous Libby Prison. Eventually, Captain Blaire was imprisoned in Charleston, S.C. It was there that he and his fellow prisoners were freed in September of 1864. And there in our Archives in a small envelope within the file of Sister Clarice Asbury is a wonderful piece of our nation’s history. A treasure indeed!...
Treasures from Archives: Providence Press
Sister Cecile Morse ministered as a printer from 1938 to 1979. The Sisters of Providence have a long history of printing and publishing. Take, for example, “Lest We Forget: The Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods in Civil War Service,” by the late Sister Mary Theodosia Mug. It was printed in 1931 by Providence Press of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. Yes, indeed, having a print shop to help not only share information about the Congregation and its many schools, but also to...
Building the Blessed Sacrament Chapel
...Marean Chatard, bishop of Indianapolis, formally opened Perpetual Exposition in the crypt of the Church of the Immaculate Conception. On June 7, 1920, the cornerstone of the chapel was laid. Inside the cornerstone is a box that contains a list of the Sisters of Providence who were living at that time, some medals, a relic of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin, and a short history of the “Development of Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament at Saint Mary’s.” Four years later, on...
The power of this place
...significant took place on this holy ground and continues to take place this very day. We know people go to the Holy Land because it is filled with places made extraordinary by some event in sacred history. The same thing happens in most major religious traditions, notably in the hajj to Mecca in Islam, or to Medina where the Prophet Mohammed himself began his own Farewell Pilgrimage. “The power of the pilgrimage lies in being on that land itself.” The...
Coming of age with Vatican II
...first vows, we became “junior sisters.” We received that black veil and looked like a “real” Sister of Providence. Sister Alexa Suelzer was our director. A Scripture scholar herself, she continued the instruction begun in the novitiate. Sister Mary Leo (Marym) Gootee was Sister Alexa’s assistant. I can still feel her tolerance of our rather cocky selves. Only years later, in conversations with these very significant women in our Congregation’s history, did I understand how they “made the path by...
Sister Maureen Fallon
...or I don’t know, but they just kind of anticipated that and gently took care of that. What is unique or special about the lifestyle of a woman religious? For me I think one of the benefits is being able to come here to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods all the time. And to have a place of history and heritage and hospitality where I know that I can come when I’m tired, when I’m awake, when I’m happy, when I’m not happy,...
Life in the Weihsien internment camp, 1943
...But I think of what Mother Theodore once wrote: “So true it is that misfortune binds hearts together.” What never ceased to be a great misfortune for these sisters was still, nonetheless, a great binder of hearts too. It’s a classic Sisters of Providence move — they took something rather awful and made the best of it, determined to be love, mercy and justice in the world anyway. Learn more about the Sisters of Providence history in China and Taiwain....
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods: a place of welcome
...years at the Woods as a student at SMWC. This place and the Sisters of Providence helped shape who I am. When I come ‘home’ to the Woods, I feel like I am tapping back into the root of who I am as a person.” ~ Jennifer Drake, PA Hamilton, Ohio “I love to visit the Shell Chapel because many local residents don’t know it exists and it is a quiet place to pray and a treasury of history from...