Leonard, Anne, Ed. Cor unum et anima una in corde Jesu: Canada 1842-1992. Society of the Sacred Heart, Canada Province. 1992
By Anne Leonard, RSCJ
As we read the stories in this book City House Calling and College Street Remembered that tell our story over the past 150 years, we cannot but ask: will the past be prologue to the future? One wonders too, what might have been our story had Mother Bathilde Sallion in 1842 heeded the boatman's advice not to cross the St. Lawrence River as it was freezing up in mid-December. Instead, Mother Sallion said that they had been told to go to Montreal and they would not move until they were brought there.
This resilient spirit seems to characterize, in one form or another, the lives of the four foundresses, of the first two women to enter the Society in Canada, and of the ten vicars from 1864-1958. It is reflected, too, in the stories of the eleven foundations made and closed between 1842-1991. This commemorative book is an attempt to recapture milestones and cornerstones. Its pages, like the history of Canada's railways and airways, cover the length and breadth of Canada, bringing people from abroad and sending them out again. Travel, however, was often by sleigh, coach or boat, but still they came and the slow growth began...
The laying of the cornerstone was often marked by a religious ceremony. It was a symbol of stability and hope at the time of making a foundation. Still other foundations or new ministries were made without the official blessing of the cornerstone but with a simple house-blessing and celebration of the eucharist. All eleven foundations written here have as well the story of their closing, or maybe, it might be more accurate to say, "the story of their moving on."
What seems to be the common element of all these ventures is the vitality of the mission whether it spanned over a hundred years, as was the case of the Sault; some thirty-five or more years as did St. John, London, Vancouver and Winnipeg; or a short duration as was true for St. Jacques de l'Achigan, St. Vincent, Sandwich, Sept Iles, Whitehorse and Kitimat. One is struck by the dedication of the religious, the works undertaken and the outreach - even in the cloister days - of the mission of education, formation and human development, with the young, with immigrant and poor people, families or single working women.
Significant, too, are the stories within the historical perspective: war years, changes in the education system, political developments. Acts of God, too, played their part. The Sault fire of 1929 is graphically recounted to highlight the greater fire of courage of our religious and the loyalty of alumnae and friends. The Winnipeg flood in 1950 is yet another, happening as it did just the very year our nuns were moving house. With the psalmist, during their daily recitation of the Office, our religious could well have added, "Fire and flood, bless the Lord!" along with snow and ice, frost and cold, wind and rain.
Canadian literary critic, writer and professor, Northrop Frye once described Canada as the "Journey Without Arrival" because the country became settled largely as a result of explorers, discoverers and navigators looking for the route to China. Some did settle but many moved on. They came from foreign lands. In some respects the journey without arrival typifies the missionary spirit of the religious recorded here. First of all there were the four foundresses: Bathilde Sallion, Henriette de Kersaint, Evelyna Lévêque and Anne Battandier, who came to Canada from New York at the request of Mother Sophie Barat. Anne, after only four years in Canada died at St. Vincent, while the other three left for various missions in other countries. Even the first religious to enter the Society in Canada, Marie Léocadie David and Marie Améline Morin were sent to other countries never to return au pays de leurs aieux. Marie Léocadie is buried in Kenwood and Marie Améline died in Cuba.
Of the ten Vicars, between the years 1864-1958, only two, Mothers Ellen Mahony and Corinne Clapin were born in Canada. Teresina Trincano and Stanislaus Tonmasini were from Italy, Clémence Cornélis from Belgium, Amélie Schulten from Germany, Henriette Sarens and Mary Moran from England, Juliet Blanc from France (Savoie), and Bertha Padberg from the United States. As Vicars, they were to travel not only in Canada but into the United States and across the ocean for General Chapters. In fact, one is amazed at the distances covered and the amount of travel in the early days as well as in later times! Upon leaving Canada, several continued holding responsible positions in countries such as the United States, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Peru, Chile and Ireland. Five Vicars were to die in Canada. A beautiful Celtic cross was given by the Children of Mary in memory of Mother Trincano, the first Vicar, and today it stands in St. Francis Cemetery, Montreal, as a reminder of the gift of self of all those early Vicars and religious who lived in Canada.
The story of these lives of foundresses, first vocations, vicars, and of foundations made and closed is, indeed, the paschal mystery of suffering, death and resurrection. The courage and confidence exhibited here are caught in the image of Mere Corinne Clapin who in 1929, when the Sault was struck by lightning, avant de partir... récita le Magnificat, face aux ruines fumantes, and then set about les travaux de reconstruction.