Jewels from Jane, Oct. 31

St. Joseph Male Orphan Asylum
October 31st 1880 (?)
St. Louis, Mo.

Dear Rev. Mother Agatha [Guthrie],

This is just a mere sketch of what I would like to relate to you about the past years of my religious life.
Sr. M. Aloysius [Fitzsimmons]

"Sister M. Aloysius Fitzsimmons was received by Rev. Mother Celestine [Pommerel] in the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Carondelet, Mo. in the first branch of the order in America, March 17th, 1839. The same year July 2nd received the Holy Habit of the order from Rev. Father Ven Bon in the humble log house where I spent so many happy days. My companion, Mary Kelley [Nally?], in religion Sr. M. Francis. There were with me in the novitiate Sr. Mary Joseph Dillon, Sr. Antoinette [Kincaid], Sr. Adel...

"Mother St. John [Founier] was the first superioress in St. Louis, she had charge of the colored school [opened Feb. 5, 1845 on Third and Poplar Streets]. The sisters that were there were Sr. M. Protia [St. Protais Deboille], Sr. M. Joseph, Sr. M. Antoinette, Sr. Teresa [Struckhoff], & Sr. Aloysius had her turn there, we then got the asylum & was paid by the Archbishop. After 4 years hard work, Mother St. John went to Philadelpia."


Handwritten note in Motherhouse file

Jewels from Jane, Sept. 3

"Twelve novices made their vows in Carondelet during 1854, the largest number that had yet been professed in one year; but Mother Celestine still found the number too small to meet the growing needs of the Congregation, and appealed to the Mother House at Lyons for recruits. Lyons could not spare subjects for America at that time, but aid came from an unexpected quarter. In Savoy, in a Seminary of the diocese of Tarentaise, was Abbe Miege, brother of John B. Miege, Vicar Apostolic of Indian Territory. Abbe Miege was a friend of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Moutiers, and through him his brother in America entered into correspondence with these Sisters. The result of the correspondence and also of a consultation between Bishop Miege and Mother Celestine in the summer of 1854, was an arrangement made by him with the Superiors in Moutiers, who promised to send Sisters from that place to Carondelet, with a view to undertaking later the education of the Indian children in his vast territory. [The jurisdiction of Bishop Miege extended over Kansas and Nebraska, and included all the Indian tribes west to the Rocky Mountains. He was then residing at St. Mary's Kansas, in the neighborhood of the Potawatomi settlements.]



"Mother Therese Buisson was Superior of the pious community of Moutiers, which had become deeply interested in the foreign missions through the Annals of the Propagation of the Faith. The zeal of the Sisters was stimulated by the recent departure from Savoy of many priests and religious for the East Indies, among the latter, members of the neighboring communities of Annecy and Chambery. [The first Sisters of St. Joseph to go to the Indies left France in 1848. In the fall of 1853, another band of six left, accompanied by several Fathers of the Society of St. Francis de Sales.]



"Mother Therese had no difficulty in getting volunteers for America and from them she chose Sister Euphrasia Meiller, late Superior at St. Sigismond, Sister Saint John Facemaz, Sister Gonzaga Grand, and Sister Leonie Martin. The most fervent daughters of Moutiers, Abbe Bouchage calls this first missionary band of a community which he describes as composed of 'select souls whose names should be inscribed on the tablets of history for the edification of the faithful and as an example to the religious of the future.'



"Leaving Moutiers on September 3, 1854, accompanied by Mother Therese, the missionaries made brief visits to the communities of St. Sigismond and Chambery, and then proceeded by stage to Lyons. Here they were warmly received by Mother Sacred Heart Tezenas, successor to Mother Saint John Fontbonne. At Lyons, they parted with Mother Therese, and placing themselves, as did the missionaries of 1836, under the protection of our Lady of Fourvieres, proceeded to Paris, where they remained for a short time at a house of the Congregation in the Rue Monceau. They sailed from Havre on October 21, and by a strange coincidence, the name of the vessel was Heidelberg, the same as that on which the first Sisters came in 1836. [The first Sisters came on the Natchez.] On board was Right Reverend Augustus Mary Martin with four priests and several seminarians for his diocese of Natchitoches, Louisiana.

"The Sisters landed at New Orleans December 7, the same date on which another band, as yet strangers to them, arrived in Canandaigua. After a few days spent with the Tertiary Carmelites in New Orleans, they proceeded by steamer to St. Louis, which they reached December 21, and where they were welcomed with open arms by Sister Felicite [Boute] at St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum. On the following day, Mother Celestine, who had come in to meet them, conducted them to Carondelet. Brave and courageous souls, who had obeyed literally the Gospel precept to forsake home and country, whey entered at once into the active life of the community, to which at least three of them, were to render long and faithful service. [Sister Euphrasia Meiller died in March 1859. The Sisters of St. Joseph did not go to Bishop Meige's diocese. On the occasion of that prelate's visit to St. Louis during the Provincial Council of 1858, the Superior of a colony of Sisters of Charity from Nashville, looking for a home in another diocese, appealed to him on the advice of the Jesuit, Father De Smet; and with the permission of Archbishop Kenrick, was received with her community under his jurisdiction.] Though young in years, they were all women of unusual ability, thoroughly imbued with the principles of the religious life, and animated by the spirit of sacrifice that characterized the pioneers of 1836. In Sister Saint John, who was in her thirtieth year and had spent eleven years in the convent, Mother Celestine, herself a woman of deep piety, was quick to recognize the strong and enlightened faith that measured temporal things only in the light of eternity, and the remarkable spiritual insight that rendered her peculiarly fitted for the guidance of others. Sister Saint John was chosen a member of the Council at the Mother House, and in that capacity, rendered invaluable assistance to Mother Celestine."



From The Congregation of Saint Joseph of Carondelet by Sister Mary Lucida Savage.

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, April 7

April 7, 1837.

"Good Mother Celestine and I [Sister Saint John Fournier, who was a novice at the time] left Lyons on April 7, 1837. We arrived at Brest the 17th of the same month, stayed with the Sisters of Wisdom at the expense of the government (the government also paid our passage), until the 5th of June when we embarked on the frigate Hermione; we stopped for four days at Fort Royale, then set sail for Havana, which we reached at the end of July. We were obliged to stay there for seventeen days, waiting for the French consul's boat which was to take us to New Orleans.

"Yellow fever had broken out in that city, and our Commander, who was a real father to us, did not want to let us leave the frigate. Every morning he sent two officers in uniform to take us to Holy Mass, and at five in the evening he would take us in his row boat to the consul's house or to the home of some of his French friends. He would bring us back at ten or eleven o'clock. A fine Religious life! But we could not help it; he was afraid we would get sick.

"Finally we left Havana for New Orleans. There the Vicar General, Father Jeanjean, fearing the fever, accompanied us next day on the boat to St. Louis, which we reached on the 4th of September, the same year. When we arrived, Bishop Rosati received us with open arms, saying he believed we had run away with the soldiers. (We had 400 on board besides the forty officers, all of whom treated us with the greatest respect.) The bishop placed us with the Sisters of Charity at the asylum, where we stayed for five days because of the continued rain. Finally, on the 9th of September, we left for Carondelet, which is only five or six miles from St. Louis. Our good sisters came half way to meet us. The bishop, in telling us he did not want us to lose our rosy cheeks, had not told us the real reason he was lodging us in St. Louis. The poor house was too small, he was having it raised one story, and there was no roof; but the weather was good.

"We opened our trunks and were distributing the little presents sent to our sisters, when all of a sudden the rain fell in torrents on us, on our beds, on our books, on everything. Good Mother Delphine had foreseen that, and had hired a cabin not far from our garden, a cabin which had been vacant for three years. We had to run there, but with mud up to our knees, we did not run very fast. They brought us some mattresses which we stretched out on the floor, and we tried to take a little rest in our wet habits, but alas, who could sleep with rats, mice and numberless little insects not only as companions but walking over us all night and for ten or twelve nights in succession? The house was finally covered with a roof, and we left our famished companions to feed themselves as best they could."

From a letter of Sister Saint John Fournier written in 1873

Sister Lucida Savage tells this story of their arrival in her history of the Congregation:

“Bishop Rosati, evidently fond of planning surprises, sent no word of their arrival to the community in Carondelet. On September 10, the private conveyance of a Catholic physician, Doctor Rodier, who was well known to Mother Delphine and her Sisters, was secured. The Doctor was a native of San Domingo, and had brought with him from there to St. Louis a faithful colored servant, familiarly known to his patients as Black Margaret. Besides being able to manage the Doctor’s horses well, Margaret possessed the additional accomplishment of speaking excellent French. She drove the two Sisters to their new home, and entertained them on the way with the history of St. Louis and its environs. They reached the convent during the evening recreation. The surprise of the Sisters there on beholding in the flesh those whom they believed dead was scarcely greater than their wonder and amusement at finding the two strangers better informed than themselves about conditions past and present in the village of Vide Poche [Empty Pocket as the town of Carondelet was known].

“The story of their journey was soon told. They had been detained at Brest until June 5, awaiting the sailing of the French frigate, Hermione, bound for the West Indies. There was a long delay at Havana and another at New Orleans; and the Sisters, weary of their three months at sea, knew nothing, of course, of the alarm which their failure to arrive earlier was causing on both sides of the Atlantic.”