India is Calling! Part 1
In the summer of 1859 Fr. Saint-Cyr, SJ, missionary in Madurai, India and superior of the central region from 1853 to 1869, traveled to Europe searching for a religious community willing to send sisters to that mission to help with the formation of Indian Religious. He visited Emilie in Paris, who invited him to give a talk to the community. After his talk all were impressed by the situation he described: the needs of the people and the joy of responding to the challenge. Emilie writes in her journal:
“While he spoke, I experienced something I cannot explain, but I understood that I will have something to do with this priest regarding that mission. Even when trying to ignore it, I felt in a very certain way that in a short time some of our sisters will be en route to that country.”
For a few months she tried to ignore this conviction until the 9th of September when she accepted the fact that God wanted our sisters to go to Madurai. In prayer she chose those who would go. Shortly after she went to Strasbourg and talked to the community about this project, immediately the three sisters she had in mind volunteered themselves: M. of St. Joseph, M of the Immaculate Conception, and M. of the Blessed Sacrament. Emilie no longer doubted.
Father Saint-Cyr returned from England, having visited twenty religious congregations without having a positive response. Emilie met with him, after which they wrote to the superior general of the Jesuits and to the provincial of Toulouse on whom the mission of India depended. By the beginning of October both had given their approval.
Emilie met with Fr. Saint-Cyr and Fr. Petit to make decisions about all the arrangements and conditions. Seven places were booked in London for the steamer going to India via Marseille. The date of departure was November 28th. In the meantime, light-weight habits were made to replace the woolen ones, too heavy for the climate.
At the beginning of November, Emilie, M. of St. Joseph, and M. of the Immaculate Conception made their retreat in preparation for their vows. On the morning of the 16th, they pronounced their final vows.
Emilie writes: “It was a day of intimate joy as well as interior suffering, for I shall never forget this day when Jesus received me as one of his spouses, stabilized my undertaking by our vows and the departure for the missions; at the same time, he added a sorrow because I foresaw the future and the heavy burden laid on my weak shoulders.”
At 6 am on November 24th, our first missionaries left the house accompanied by Emilie and M. of St. Victor: M. of St. Joseph, M. of the Immaculate Conception, M. of the Blessed Sacrament, M. of St. Francis Xavier, M. of St. Michael, M. of the Holy Angels, and M. of the Annunciation.
They began their journey by train to Lyon where they arrived the next morning. From there they traveled by carriage to Marseille arriving at 10pm where they stayed in a hotel recommended by the Jesuits. The 26th and 27th were spent making sure that passports, money, and everything else was in order. Early on the 28th Fr. Saint-Cyr celebrated the Eucharist. They had breakfast in the hotel then traveled by carriage to the port.
It was a beautiful, sunny day and the ocean was calm. One by one the travelers jumped into the boat that would carry them to the ship.
Emilie writes: “I watched them go away while waving good-bye and smiling for joy. The blue and white habits worn by our sisters looked picturesque on the horizon against the sea. It was as if something heavenly had left the earth where I remained, going to carry the knowledge of Jesus to a place where He was little loved. When the boat had disappeared from sight, I got into the carriage with M. de St. Victor, and we silently went to the railroad station to take the 8 am train. We arrived in Toulouse at 11 pm. After four days there we returned to Paris.”
Our sisters arrived in India just after the end of the “Great Indian Rebellion of 1857,” India’s first struggle for independence which lasted until mid-1859. The United Kingdom replaced the “East India Company” which it had established in the 18th century and started ruling India through a Governor General or Viceroy who represented Queen Victoria, making India part of the British Empire. Queen Victoria took the title of Empress of India. She decided to rule that huge country without discriminating between castes, races, or beliefs. Little by little the style of government, the English language, the educational system, and freedom of religion were adopted.
Trichinopoly
After a long but safe cruise the missionaries disembarked in Madras on December 27, 1859. On January 16, 1860, they arrived at Trichinopoly where the Christians received them with great enthusiasm. Two of them spoke English, all of them began to study Tamil, the local language. Their convent opened on the 23rd under the patronage of St. Joseph. They had to adapt themselves to the climate, the food, and the furniture. Even more difficult was the understanding of a culture totally different from their own and the establishment of a good relationship with the Jesuits.
Our sisters wanted to improve the respect due to women regardless of class or caste. They engaged in a variety of ministries and services. The Jesuits had all sorts of different opinions and expectations. Some of them thought that because of the contemplative dimension of our congregation, “those Ladies” would not engage sufficiently in ministry.
Emilie had given them great freedom to adapt other points she was firm, like their right to receive frequent communion and the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament exposed.
Mgr. Alexis Canoz SJ, administrator of the diocese of Bombay, who had not met our sisters, wrote to Emilie asking her to suppress the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Emilie’s response is worth reading:
“I think, Monsignor, that if you wish that these generous souls give their best, it is necessary not to pull them away from the center of their spirit. If I was in Trichinopoly I would demand, and expect to have, the Blessed Sacrament exposed all day long on Fridays, having the Benediction at the time convenient to the priest in charge of it.
I have given them all the possible permissions and the broadest latitude regarding their ministries and cloister so that they may serve in every possible way in your mission. But I repeat, Monsignor, don’t ask of them too many sacrifices if you wish them to give their best.”
Since 1861 the Reparatrixes in Trichinopoly oversaw a variety of ministries that took place in buildings close to their house. In the area of the Indian religious there was a building for the “Orphans of the Holy Child,” a hospital, a building where catechesis was held, an English/Mixed-Race school, and later a weaving mill.
On Sundays up to 200 children came for religious instruction; there were also meetings of women; youth groups, and a group of the “Apostolate of Prayer.”
Sadly, there were also misunderstandings with the Jesuits. When Fr. Saint-Cyr met with Emilie in Europe, one of main ministries that our sisters were to undertake was the formation of the Indian Religious of the Congregation of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows, which had been founded by Fr. Mecatti, SJ in 1854. Their call was to take care of women, mainly widows, who had no standing in Indian society. Unfortunately, Fr. Mecatti and his collaborators were not ready to transfer their responsibilities to the Reparatrixes.
In 1862 M. of St. Joseph traveled to Europe and returned to India with several new missionaries.
Concepción González Cánovas, smr
conce_gonzalez@comcast.net
Sources:
The Life of Mother Mary of Jesus. Emilia d’Oultremont Baroness d’Hooghvorst, 1818-187; Peter Suau, SJ. 1913.
Emilie d’Oultremont and Her Two Daughters; Manresa Press, London, 1932
The Beginnings of the Society of Mary Reparatrix (1855-1858). Journal of the beginnings of the Society, house of Paris, house of Strasbourg. Introduction and notes by Anne Marie Bertaud, smr. Translated into English by Emma Gravlin, smr. 1993
Historical Perspectives. Autobiography of Mother Mary of Jesus, Foundress of the Society of Mary Reparatrix. Compiled by Jacqueline Desormeaux, smr. Rome, 1974