ARTICLES

New saints’ missions called ‘timeless’ and ‘timely’

By Katie McMaster
special to The Catholic Virginian

The Little Sisters of the Poor and their many friends and benefactors were on hand at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart Oct. 29 for the diocesan celebration of the recent canonization of their foundress, now Saint Jeanne Jugan.

Mother Marcel Joseph, superior of St. Joseph’s Home in Richmond, had attended the canonization Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome earlier in the month, joining with 50,000 pilgrims who had come to Rome for the canonization of five new saints, among them St. Jeanne Jugan. Another was St. Damien of Molokai.

“It was grace upon grace,” Mother Marcel Joseph said of the canonization liturgy celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI.

Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo, who presided and preached at the Cathedral liturgy, pointed out that he had long admired the ministry of the Little Sisters.

“Ever since I was a kid, I grew up with the Little Sisters of the Poor in Philadelphia,” he said. “We got to appreciate the tremendous work they did in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

“Their name became synonymous with outreach and loving care.”

Bishop DiLorenzo continued to be inspired by the Little Sisters of the Poor when he went to Scranton, PA as auxiliary bishop in 1988. There they operate Holy Family Residence.

When he was sent to the Diocese of Honolulu in 1994 he did not have contact with the sisters, but then came to learn more about St. Damien of Molokai. The Belgian-born priest was a missionary who later went to Hawaii where he ministered in a leper colony “When I came to the Diocese of Richmond (in 2004) I was pleasantly surprised to be reunited with the Little Sisters of the Poor,” he said.

The Bishop remarked on the similarity of the lives of Jeanne Jugan and Damien and found it interesting that they were canonized on the same day (Oct. 9). He said their lives paralleled one another.

“Both had a sense of an inner calling that was so consuming that marriage and family was not an option,” he said.

In the case of St. Jeanne Jugan, the young French woman saw the needs of the elderly in a real person. Damien of Molokai had the same experience seeing the needs of those with leprosy through one individual.

“They just jumped in and tried to do something about it,” Bishop DiLorenzo said of the two new saints.

“Both of them did not experience much progress in the beginning...but others started to notice what they were doing and were attracted to that life and said to them ‘Can I come and help?’”

Their witness “drew people in who helped out and eventually they drew in more people,” Bishop DiLorenzo said. He spoke of the dark period both Jeanne Jugan and Damien went through as their ministry grew.

“There are some figures that get in the way of charismatic leaders and they do create problems, but they were able to surmount these problems,” Bishop DiLorenzo said.

The religious communities they founded were successful in being able to “capture the original charism and values that the founders wanted to be brought to bear on the problems of old age and sickness,” he added.

Both Jeanne Jugan and Damien promoted values, which the bishop said, are “timeless and
also timely.”

“St. Jeanne Jugan’s values are as relevant today as they were back when she initiated her mission,” he said.

The national discussion of health care reform and the government’s role in it shows that “we’re still working on unfinished business,” Bishop DiLorenzo said.

“We should be looking for the common good,” he asserted. “Money should not be the final arbiter.”

He also addressed the issue of conscience formation and how important it is for a national health care plan to be respectful of the variety of views in society.

“As Catholic Christians, our consciences need to be respected,” Bishop DiLorenzo said of final health care legislation.

Many who attended the evening liturgy have had long ties with the Little Sisters of the Poor.

One of them was Ginger Eck DiLoreto, of St. Bede Parish, Williamsburg, who was a volunteer at the old St. Sophia’s Home for the Aged each Wednesday when she was in high school.

“I was so inspired at 15 years old for their example of what they did for other people,” she told The Catholic Virginian.

“They took care of people who really needed it and never acted as though they had a difficult life.

“To me at that time it seemed like one of the hardest ways to live your life,” Mrs. DiLoreto said.

During the Mass the Little Sisters renewed their vows of poverty, chastity, hospitality and obedience facing the congregation. The Sisters make perpetual vows, but normally renew them each year on Dec. 8, the Feast of *the Immaculate Conception, said Sister Regis.

St. Joseph’s Home in Richmond has 95 residents and 10 members of the Little Sisters of the Poor who serve the residents who must be at least 60 years old. Many residents are in their 90s and most go to daily Mass at 11 a.m. in the home’s chapel.

The Sisters all watched on TV the canonization Mass at St. Peter’s as it was being celebrated in Rome.

“We were all up at 4:30 in the morning to watch it,” Sister Regis told The Catholic Virginian.

Later that same afternoon the Mass and commentary were rebroadcast for the residents.

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