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Even
in the lifetime of Saint Madeleine Sophie, there were appeals from
Brazil for a Sacred Heart school. Mother du Rousier was charged at
first with exploring this foundation, but in the end she went to Chile
instead. Years later on the occasion of the dispersion of the French
religious, Mother Digby inquired of the bishop of Rio de Janeiro if the
Society was still wanted. His enthusiastic response was echoed by
former students of French and English houses who - so the Annual
Letters tell us - were thrilled [tressaillaient de joie] at the thought
of seeing their mothers of the Sacred Heart in their country.
Like
most foundations the beginnings in Brazil in October 1904, were
anything but smooth. An alumna offered a property in Tijuca, a suburb
of Rio de Janeiro; it was no sooner accepted and the “little colony”
sent off from France than a former resident of Brazil, who had returned
to France ten years earlier, gave Mother Digby such a bad report of
sanitary conditions in Tijuca that the Mother General changed her mind
about the location and ordered all but two of the foundresses to
Argentina to await developments. Two remained in Rio until the arrival
from Chile of the designated superior, Mother Rosine de Potter, who
came to explore the possibilities. As soon as she had arrived, the two
French religious were to join their companions in Buenos Aires. They
were to go by ship on November 15, but on the night of the 13th-14th a
riot broke out in the city; it soon became a real revolt; the city was
under siege. It seemed impossible for the nuns to cross the city to
reach the port, but an influential friend came to their rescue and
arranged that a boat would meet them in the bay at the foot of the hill
on which their house was located in order to convey them to the ship.
This plan succeeded; the ship departed, and the next day a Rio
newspaper reported in all seriousness that the two leaders of the riot
- who had disappeared without a trace - had left the city at noon from
the Bay of Botafogo disguised as nuns!
Beginnings were in
temporary quarters, as usual, and it took all the ingenuity of the nuns
to accommodate the thirty-two boarders who soon enrolled. They were
willing to put up with the same inconveniences the nuns endured:
rolling up their beds in the daytime so that the “dormitory” could be
used as a classroom, for example. The community refectory in the
basement is described as one in which Francis of Assisi would have felt
comfortable. Their greatest deprivation was a proper altar and altar
furnishings. They had no missal stand; someone fabricated one out of a
cardboard box; predictably it collapsed when the altar server attempted
to move it. The presiding prelate asked for a cushion; having nothing
else Reverend Mother brought the pillow from her bed, covered as well
as possible but recognizable nonetheless.
The long account
in the Annual Letters of 1903-05, IIIrd Part, is worth reading in its
entirety, as it conveys the enterprising spirit and adaptability, the
sense of humor, as well as the energetic zeal of these foundresses.
Even though their primary purpose in going to Brazil was to open a
classic boarding school, as soon as they saw the needs of the poor
around them they went to work to alleviate them. Of first importance
was religious instruction. There were very few priests attending to the
religious life of the people; the result was widespread ignorance and
practically no Mass attendance. The parish on which the church of
Tijuca depended was several hours away, and in ten years the parish
priest had come only three times. The nuns immediately arranged to
invite the local people to Mass and Benediction and to instruct and
prepare their children for the sacraments. The first feast of the
Sacred Heart was the occasion of a grand celebration with a procession
in the garden and a sort of congé for the children of the school and of
the neighborhood together. Townspeople were able to watch this and one
factory worker, who was known to be hostile to religion, was heard to
remark: “How good these nuns are! They make no distinction between rich
and poor, black and white; they do good to everyone.” What an excellent
reputation to have established from the beginning!
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