Jewels from Jane, March 1 (one)

Carondelet, 1 March 1840

Monseigneur:

I have the honor to present my respects and to say that I have taken votes for Sister Marie Joseph [Mary Francis Joseph Dillon]. She is received. She had nearly all the votes. I assure you that I am very much pleased with the votes. I beg you to name the day that you judge proper to receive her vows and to examine her. I should like to know some days ahead so that she can make a short retreat.

If it will not inconvenience you, could you come a day (Thursday or Sunday)when we have no class. Forgive me for asking this, but the Sisters want to make a great feast of this as she is the first that we have received into our congregation. However, whatever day you designate will be a feast day, because I feel that you will give a holiday for our children as well as for the Sisters. We all await the day eagerly.

I have the honor to be with the most profound respect your very unworthy daughter,

Sister Celestine [Pommerel]

P.S. Pardon me again. I wish to know if you think it well that I invite Father Fontbonne for the feast day.

Letter to Bishop Rosati
Translated from the French

Anne Eliza Dillon was the first American woman to enter the Congregation. She was born at Saint Charles, Missouri in 1820 and was the daughter of Patrick McAndrews Dillon, a wealthy Irish land-holder of St. Louis. Her mother died when she was a child, and together with a younger sister, she was placed with the Ladies of the Sacred Heart at their Academy in St. Louis, where she received an excellent education and acquired great fluency in French. It was here at school in 1836 that she met Sisters Delphine and Felicite, who during their first few months in America went every day to the Sacred Heart Convent for English lessons.
from Sister Lucida Savage's book, The Congregation of Saint Joseph of Carondelet, c1927

Jewels from Jane, Jan. 3, 1838

"In October of the same year,[1837] Carondelet received its first American postulant. She was Anne Eliza Dillon, daughter of Patrick McAndrews Dillon, a rich Irishman of Saint Louis. Miss Dillon, born at Saint Charles, Missouri, in 1820, lost her mother when she was quite young. She and her sister were sent to the Mesdames of the Sacred Heart in Saint Louis as boarders. They received an excellent education and spoke French fluently.

"Sister Delphine and her companions, who went to the Sacred Heart convent to take lessons in English, met Miss Dillon there. The latter had been appointed by the Superior to hold long and frequent conversations with the Sisters in their native language. These conversations had drawn these souls close together and permitted them to appreciate one another. Miss Dillon was strongly attached to the Sisters of Saint Joseph, whose simple, modest and deeply sincere virtues she admired. The next year, when she learned of the foundation of Carondelet, the extreme poverty of this house and the serenity of soul with which the Sisters bore with disagreeable things, she said to herself: 'I shall be one of them.'

"Mr. Dillon refused to consent to his daughter's wish. The young girl was firm, struggled respectfully with paternal authority and succeeded in winning this consent. She entered in October and was clothed with the habit of the Institute on January 3, 1838, receiving the name of Sister Mary Francis Joseph. She was generally known as Sister Mary Joseph. Sister Mary Joseph was a blessing from God for the young community, as she was capable of teaching French as well as English. She was a valuable asset. Her affable manner, and her exquisite delicacy made the common life easy and pleasant; while at the same time, her solid, amiable virtue and her invincible strength of character filled Mother Delphine's soul with joy and hope. Her example attracted excellent subjects to Carondelet.

"As the number of pupils increased daily, it was again necessary to enlarge the house. The resources from France made this possible. Several young people of the most respectable families entered the novitiate where they walked ardently 'in the hard road of sacrifice and perfection.' Grace seemed to change privations into sweetness; they were so happy to forget themselves, to deny themselves and to suffer. As the grain cast into the earth seems to die before taking root and growing into a beautiful stem, so the religious establishment of Carondelet, after taking root in the most absolute distress, began to grow and to blossom; and its flowers promised the beautiful fruits which it still continues to produce."

from Mother Saint John Fontbonne: A Biography translation adapted from the original French edition by a Sister of Saint Joseph Brentwood, New York

Jewels from Jane,Oct.30

"On October 30, 1842, we lost our dear Sister Francis Joseph [Anne Eliza Dillon – age 22]. Well do I remember the rough box which the village carpenter made for her last couch, but which was transformed into a beautiful casket by the deft, ingenious hands of the heroic band of which she was a worthy member. I seem still to see the great tears that, silently and unheeded, fell on the black cloth, with each stroke of the hammer, as they prepared that lonely abode for the earthly remains of our beloved teacher. It was on a Sunday afternoon after Vespers that she was borne by the Sisters, followed closely by her white-haired, sorrow-stricken father and her youngest sister, to her last resting place, a sheltered, quiet spot, in the north east corner of the little cemetery near the village church [Sts Mary and Joseph]."

From the diary of Eliza McKenney Brouillet

(Student at St. Joseph's Academy from 1840-1846)

Sister Francis Joseph Dillon was the first American to enter the Congregation.

She was born in St. Charles, MO in 1820.

"She was the daughter of Patrick McAndrews Dillon, a wealthy Irish land-holder of St. Louis. Her mother died when she was a child, and together with a younger sister, she was placed with the Ladies of the Sacred Heart at their Academy in St. Louis, where she received an excellent education and acquired great fluency in French. It was here at school in 1836 that she met Sisters Delphine [Fontbonne] and Felicite [Boute], who during their first few months in America went to the Sacred Heart Convent for English lessons. The young girl was drawn irresistibly to the two Sisters...she was attracted by poverty; and on finishing her education, she gave up everything that she possessed of this world's goods, and with the reluctant consent of her father, went to Carondelet and asked for the poor habit of a Sister of Saint Joseph. This she received on January 3, 1838."

From The Congregation of St. Joseph of Carondelet by Sister Lucida Savage

Jewels from Jane, March 12

Act of Profession

I, Sister Mary Francis Joseph [Dillon], natural and legitimate daughter of P.M. and Ann J. Dillon, married, native of the parish of Portage des Sioux, age 20 years, certify and make faith that by the grace of God, I took the habit of the Sisters of the Congregation of St. Joseph, in our house of Carondelet, the 3rd of January, of the year 1838, and following I made my novitiate in the said house of Carondelet during the space of 2 years and 2 months, during which time having practiced the exercises and observed the rules of the said congregation, I, this day 12th of March 1840, have made my profession voluntarily and freely in the hands of the Monsignor Rosati, in the Church of Mount Carmel [Sts. Mary and Joseph], making simple vows of perpetual poverty, chastity and obedience in the said congregation according to the rules and Constitutions in the presence of + Joseph Ev. De St. Louis [Bishop Rosati], Edm. Saulnier [pastor of Sts Mary and Joseph Church], George Alexander Hamilton [pastor at the Cathedral]

Sister Mary Francis Joseph Dillon [first American to enter the community at Carondelet]