Jewels from Jane, July 3

"In his pastoral letter of 1850 Archbishop Kenrick showed his deep appreciation of the excellent work [of the German St. Vincent Orphan Society:]

"Besides the two asylums already in existence, we have deemed it advisable to approve the erection of a German Male and Female Asylum, as well to comply with the wishes of that portion of our flock who use the German language, as to diminish the burdens on the existing Asylums, and to obviate the necessity of making additions to them, which otherwise would soon be necessary. A large and suitable lot has been secured for this purpose, on very favorable terms, and at a price far below its actual value; and we earnestly recommend the undertaking to your charitable consideration."

"...Five sisters of St. Joseph, from Carondelet, Angela [Hanner], Febronia [Boyer], Adelheid[e] [O'Brien], Stanislaus [Saul]and Ignatia [us] [Witmond] took charge of the new Orphan Home on July 3rd, 1851 [July 2, 1851]. Mother Angela served as Superior of the community.

"Archbishop Kenrick ordered that two collections be taken up annually for the German orphans in all the German Churches of the city. The first collection realized the sum of $369.05; from St. Joseph's Church $116.25; St. Mary's $87.50; Holy Trinity $74.00; Sts. Peter and Paul's, $64.80 and St. Vincent's $26.50.

"On July 25th, 1851, the first orphan girl, Anna Schwerdt, was received into the home; in the following week two boys, Andrew Schwartz and John Gehrig, were entered. Two months later the Home harbored 30 children...

"In its long career of seventy-five years the German St. Vincent Orphan Home experienced many sad vicissitudes, from fire, pestilence and other evils. The saddest was the recurrence in 1854 of the dreadful epidemic that in 1849, had led to the foundation of the Home, the cholera. Within the brief period of two weeks, one sister, Ignatia, and fourteen children fell victims to the awful scourge. On one sad day six little corpses lay in the house; and for fear of contagion, the sisters had to lay them away in the old disused cemetery within the enclosure, until proper burial could be held...

"On the 29th day of December 1888 the Daughters of the Blessed Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, or as they are now better known the Sisters of Christian Charity, succeeded the Sisters of St. Joseph in the administration of the German St. Vincent Orphan Home...Driven out of Germany by the so-called Kulturkampf the Sisters came to America in 1873 and took up their abode, first in New Orleans, and then at Wilkesbarre, PA, until several years ago, when the mother house was removed to Wilmette, Ill."

from History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis by Rev. John Rothensteiner c1928

Orphan girls who entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet from St. Vincent's Orphan Home:

Helena Dorothy St. Clair (Sister Apollonia)

Josephine Riehl (Sister Mary Bertha)

Marie Schlinkmann (Sister Mary Leocadia)

Augusta Ellermann (Sister Mary Calista)

Emilia Dierker (Sister Mary Clare)

Caroline Kunz (Sister Mary Simplicia)

Elizabeth Reis (Sister Mary Clotilda)

Theresa Stratmann (Sister Mary Dominica)

Odelia Hasenmueller (Sister Francis Nazaria)

Jewels from Jane,June 19

"Archbishop Kenrick had a fatherly interest in the Sisters of St. Joseph and was always concerned about their welfare. He had encouraged sending sisters from Carondelet to other dioceses, but as time passed he favored stabilizing and strengthening the congregation by means of an approved central government. He felt that the ties of friendship and loyalty among the various houses needed the seal of authority. In 1856 Father August S. Paris, C.M., the spiritual father of the community at Carondelet, made a trip to Europe and found that the superiors in France favored an independent American government. Mother Celestine planned a general visitation of all the American missions in order to secure the cooperation of the sisters and bishops involved. However, before these plans could be carried out, she died, on June 7, 1857.

"At the election of a new superior, Mother Seraphine Coughlin, superior in St. Paul, was chosen; but on the plea of poor health and inability, she asked to be relieved. Her request was seconded by the petition of Monsignor Augustine Ravoux, administrator of the diocese of St. Paul. Upon the authority invested in him as ecclesiastical superior, Archbishop Kenrick then appointed Mother St. John Facemaz in her stead. [This took place on June 19, 1857, 10 days after the interment of Mother Celestine.] The new superior possessed shrewd business instinct together with a talent for organization. Since her arrival in 1854 from Annecy, France, she had been closely associated with Mother Celestine, and at the time of her appointment was a member of the council at the motherhouse and had been actively engaged in the plans for the adoption of a general government."

from Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet by Sister Dolorita Marie Dougherty

Jewels from Jane, June 7

OBITUARY

Died at Carondelet, Mo., June 7th [1857], MOTHER CELESTINE, Superioress of the Community of the Sisters of St. Joseph.

A native of France, she became a religious at the early age of seventeen, but her zeal and charity would not be confined to her own sunny land. She who had renounced the world could leave her country to join the few sisters of her community who were already doing the work of God in the wilds of the New World.

It was twenty years ago; soon she was selected to be their Superioress, which place she occupied until her death.

The generation has not passed away that witnessed the first struggles of the new Society in Carondelet--the few sisters in the log cabin, with none of the luxuries, scarce half enough of the necessaries of life; with little to sustain or console them save their special grace, and a faith that the world was worth being purchased even at such a sacrifice.

They persevered--God blessed them--they have succeeded.

The venerable and beloved mother is gone. He who remunerates His servants according to their works, called her in his own time. If a reward is promised to the cup of cold water given for the sake of Jesus, will not her's be exceeding great? Full of holiness in life, her death was that of those who are called "blessed."

During the painful lingering illness, as the parting hour drew near, it was edifying as well as consoling to those who had the happiness of beholding the end of the devoted woman, of the saintly religious!--the perfect detachment from the world, the patient fortitude, the entire resignation to the will of God, the firm hope, the charity--without an alloy of earth to deprive it of its merits.

The funeral on the 9th presented a scene that Catholics cannot easily forget. After the solemn High Mass, the Most Rev. Archbishop [Peter Richard Kenrick] performed the service for the dead and preached, addressing himself chiefly to the spiritual children of Mother Celestine, and while he consoled and encouraged them, he paid a most beautiful tribute to the memory of the deceased; and as he spoke so earnestly and so simply eloquent, the tears of the many who were present told how much she was beloved.

As the ceremonies concluded, the procession moved slowly towards the grave--the cross-bearer, the students of the ecclesiastical seminary, the priests, the Archbishop, the coffin borne by the Sisters, the long train of the religious, the young ladies of the Academy, nearly one hundred in number, and finally, crowds of citizens, each one as if some dear friend were dead. The solemn chants were over, the last prayers were said, the clay fell upon the coffin, and the spiritual children poured forth their grief around their Mother's grave--then all retired from the sacred place, each one feeling the truth of what is written, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord."

Obituary notice from the newspaper

Jewels from Jane, May 31

"The Sisters of St. Joseph had at their Mother House in Carondelet a Novitiate of their Order, an Academy with 130 pupils, an Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb and an Orphan Asylum containing twenty-eight orphans. Sister Celestine was in charge as Superior with seven professed Nuns. In St. Louis they conducted a day-school near St. Vincent's Church with three Sisters and two novices, and one hundred and twenty pupils.

"Another House of the Community in St. Louis had under its direction the diocesan Orphan Home for boys of whom there were one hundred and twenty. Sister Felicite [Boute] with five professed Sisters formed the community:

In 1849 the Sisters stationed at St. Vincent's Convent, having closed their school, "fearlessly gave themselves to the relief of the sick and dying neighbors."[during the cholera epidemic] Two of their number, Sisters Frances Nally and Justine Mulhall, were seized with the dread symptoms of cholera. Sister Justine was but eighteen years of age "a young woman of rare innocence, and extraordiary personal beauty," in the agony of dying had but one wish, that of renewing her vows on the morning of the Visitation [May 31]. Archbishop Kenrick remained at her bedside until after midnight that her dying wish might be fulfilled. On July 28th, 1849, the Archbishop wrote to his friend Mark Anthony Frenaye in Philadelphia:...Eleven religious women are among the victims, two of the Sisters of Charity, two of the Sisters of St. Joseph, one of the Visitation and six of the Sacred Heart.

"...There is another Sister of St. Joseph mentioned in the Catholic Directory of 1850, as having died of the cholera at St. Joseph's Orphanage, Sister M. Antionette Kincaid."

from History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis by Rev. John Rothensteiner c1928