Century of Adoration

Read about our founding and early years in Detroit - parts I, II, III and Part IV. Our complete 64 page Centennial Booklet is also available as a pdf file.

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A Century of Adoration Part 1: The Beginnings

Westward the train chugged, westward toward Detroit!   Detroit, the goal of seven white-clad Cloistered Dominican Nuns. Detroit, soon to be the locus of their contemplative living and apostolic love.

   As the Annals tell us:  “Their itinerary lay on the upper side of the Niagara river which flows in rapid currents from Lake Erie to Ontario, and which possesses the most beautiful cataracts in the world. With the eyes of contemplative souls they viewed this stupendous work of the Creator. Through the years of cloistered seclusion which lay ahead they would return in prayer and conversation to this marvel of marvels, again hear the roar of the of the falls above the sound of the train, and compare the Creator with the creature: the Creator making Himself so humble, so insignificant in the Sacrament of His love for their sake.” God’s greatness, God’s humility, the two concepts were always united in their thoughts. And with the riches of the Dominican monastic life, they were bringing their privilege of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament to the city they already claimed as their own.

   Who were these foundresses who had left the Monastery of St. Dominic, Newark, New Jersey, on the evening of April 1st, 1906? Each of them would leave her special cachet on the community in the motor city.

   Mother Mary Emmanuel, the Prioress, was one of four nuns who first brought Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament to the United States in 1880. Love for Jesus, zeal for Adoration, kindness and cheerfulness marked her leadership.  Mother Mary Theresa, Sub-Prioress, brought an ardent temperament along with her Spanish zest for rigor of observance and of penance (perhaps a bit too much at times, the Prioress thought!).

   Capable Mother Mary of the Visitation was a mature religious. The others were promising beginners. Gentle Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart who was just 24 was a fine musician.  Impetuous Sister Mary of the Infant Jesus, who had celebrated her 20th birthday in the train, was filled with energy and enthusiasm. Prayerful Sister Mary Joseph, a saintly lay-sister, was still a novice. Each had her own special gift of nature and grace to bequeath to the Community now and in the years to come, as we shall learn in subsequent chapters of this history.  Sister Mary of the Nativity, a mature Lay-sister loved by all, was soon compelled by illness to return to Newark.

 As they detrained in Windsor, they were met by Father Francis Van Antwerp. Through God’s loving Providence it was he who was present with Bishop John S. Foley when Mother’s offer of a foundation arrived. Perpetual Adoration? A good thing for Detroit to be sure, but...”What shall I do with them, Van?” the Bishop mused. “Let them come,” replied the capable and popular Pastor. “I’ll take care of them.”  That spontaneous promise he kept with outstanding distinction for the next 25 years!

 A suitable house had not yet been found, he informed the Nuns. In the meantime they would lodge with the Sisters of the Good Shepherd and the Religious of the Sacred Heart. Moreover,  Father was determined that the good Nuns would  ride in one of the new automobiles before cloister was established. After all, this was Detroit!  Mother Mary Theresa’s Cuban accent exploded in exclamations “Oh, Oh!” “My goodness!” “ And they say they can go up to 30 miles an hour!” Mother Mary Emmanuel tried to calm her, but to no avail. Mother Mary of the Visitation, a former school teacher, retained her composure. The delighted young nuns giggled at the fun. Mischievous  Father Van was amused.

 But Father was not neglecting his search. In just a day, the Murphy Mansion at 1189 Woodward Avenue was procured. Carpeting and draperies were removed, cleaning and partitioning began immediately. There were dozens and dozens of windows to be washed as Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart could testify. The new confessional needed to be stained. It was, by Sister Mary of the Infant Jesus who neglected to pin up her white habit..... the hem!!  The offended garment-edge was tied up in a butter bag, the best remedy someone said. Discreetly the other nuns made no comment; but during the evening “Salve Regina” procession, they could not subdue some tittering over the rattling bag.

 The sacred vessels and sacristy supplies  promised by a devout friend had not yet arrived. Father Van provided all from his Holy Rosary Church, even his own chalice. He brought a sturdy but rather scruffy used altar with platform and steps, and also two paint brushes, along with cans of white enamel paint and gold for the trimming. How handsome it was. This altar was used until the permanent chapel was built in 1912.

 “I’ll take care of them.” Father Van was there with welcome advice on matters both great and small, even to such as “Now look here, you Sisters can’t burn that red sanctuary lamp in the front window. There is wickedness in this city; people will not understand.” The following morning a man exclaimed to the Prioress:  “Mother, you have a beautiful new statue of St. Anthony in the front window, I saw it last evening. And Mother,” he confided, “the saint raised his arm and blessed me.” Mother had to inform the devout man that it was young Sister Mary of the Infant Jesus standing in the bay window hanging a curtain there. The nuns were not about to deprive the dear Eucharistic Lord  of a single thing - not even a vigil light.

 “There is wickedness in this city,” Father Van had remarked.  Yes, but there was much goodness, too. Goodness in family life, goodness in civic life. Then as now there was the innocent pleasure in music and sports. Detroit’s Remick was producing such hits as “Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet” and “Moonlight Bay.” And although  the Tigers came out in sixth place that year, Frank Navin was predicting larger parks and larger crowds. And from its Bishop to its simple faithful, Detroit was good to its new Nuns.  These, amid busy days were faithful to their times of prayer.

 Soon a happy succession of  ”First’s” was recorded for the new foundation.  On April 6 the little group of five choir nuns chanted Matins and Lauds of the Compassion of our Lady - their first Office prayed in common, standing around the fireplace in the Murphy Mansion for all 15 psalms and nine readings from Sacred Scripture and the Fathers of the Church.

 On April 8, Palm Sunday, the Chapel now ready, Father Van celebrated the first Mass in the new Monastery. A week later, April 15, Easter Sunday, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament was inaugurated. It was but two weeks since they departed from Newark. The Adoration was only for the day hours at first, with the assistance of women and girls from Holy Rosary and other parishes. Soon there were 120 volunteers.

 Three weeks later, May 7, Bishop Foley came to bless the Monastery and to establish the enclosure. When the nuns asked his blessing their Bishop replied: “Not I, but Jesus bless you and make your Order to grow. Work for the salvation of souls and the conversion of sinners by your prayers and good works.”

 The following month, Bishop Foley formally presented in writing his vision of the role of Bishop and nuns. The Bishop would provide priestly ministry for Mass and sacraments. “The Sisters, on their side... promise the Right Reverend Bishop that they will persevere in the observance of their Rule and Constitutions and that they will, moreover, both by day and by night according as their numbers allow, attend to the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament exposed in their chapel”    (Letter of Bp Foley June 23, 1906).

 How good to be in cloister with its silence.  Silence invited to recollection and to that “devout and constant contemplation of Our Lord, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier” of which the rule spoke.

 August brought another “first,” the arrival of two candidates. Theresa Barlow had had to wait until her 32nd year before a cloister came to Detroit. As Sister Mary of the Blessed Sacrament she served until a very old age in the life for which she had longed. Her companion, May Ritchie, found the life too rigorous; as Mrs. May Jarkow she remained until her death a dear friend of the Community. So it progressed: some candidates remained and some withdrew; this is the purpose of the Novitiate.

 Thus life in the cloister proceeded. Good Father Van with his daily Mass and his gift of fresh bread for his nuns. The prayer petitioners, the gifters and the adorers, the comings and the goings, the prayer and work of the Nuns. But only for a year and a half! Then, alas, Mrs. Murphy sent word that her Mansion had been sold; the purchaser requested immediate occupancy! Another house need be located.  Fortunately one was found at 1180 Cass Avenue within Father Van’s parish as he desired. But it was smaller. The whole round of cleaning, partitioning, adapting must be initiated again. They moved on November 21, 1907. Candidates continued to come; among them, on December 8, 1908 the Kalt girls arrived, volunteer adorers whom the Eucharistic Jesus called to Himself in the cloister. Both Bertha and Louise remained to bless the house for years to come. Within a few weeks Postulant Bertha was assigned a singing part in the Divine Office. Louise was the leader who, as Mother Mary of Jesus, built the Monastery in Farmington at the age of 78! But that is to rush ahead in our story. Now it was the pressing question of a first Monastery on Oakland Avenue in Detroit, or at least the first section of it. In the house on Cass Avenue crowding reached the point where one nun had her cell (monastic bedroom) on a stair landing! Mother Mary Emmanuel knew she would have to build.

 God would provide..... and Detroit would help. His Providence paved the way.  

To be continued

Note: information drawn from the Annals of the Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament and from the biography of Mother Mary Emmanuel Noel by Sr. Mary of the Heart of Jesus, O.P.

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View of 1100 Block of Woodward Avenue in 1906.

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A Century of Adoration Part II:  1908-1924

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in the outside Chapel of the old Monastery.

Facade of Detroit Monastery

   The year 1908. What might History record? Surely the appearance of the Ford Model T! But also the groundbreaking for the Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament on Sept 4 of the year. The events occur in different spheres; yet they are not entirely unrelated.

   Probably it was in the earlier Model “A” that Father Van provided that memorable first auto ride for the thrilled or terrified Dominican nuns upon their arrival in Detroit in 1906. But the immortal inventor, Henry Ford,  had further plans with the Model T: “I believe that I have solved the problem of simple automobile construction. The five hundred dollar model is destined to revolutionize auto manufacture.”  Ford wanted the auto for the ordinary family. The Model T won a cross country race in 1909, the year that phase I of the Monastery was completed.

   Did the famous inventor become a generous donor for the nuns? Surely not.  But the famous “Mr. Ford’s $5.00 Day” did attract streams of workers to his Highland Park plant. At the time, skilled labor had gone at $2.45 per 9 hour day, unskilled at $1.79. Now $5.00 for an 8 hour day! What an opportunity! Mr. Ford wanted his workers’ families to live above the subsistence level. Some of these modest new families joined those of French, German, Irish and Polish Catholic ancestry in Detroit who befriended the Cloister. Their number grew slowly.

   The honor of first donor for the building of our new Monastery went to the Newark Community which took out a fifteen thousand dollar mortgage on the Monastery there to enable Mother M. Emmanuel to begin construction. Help came gradually, mostly in small gifts as is the case of cloisters which lack former school students or hospital patients to help. Friends gather more slowly, drawn by the labor of the “outside” or Extern Sisters or by word of mouth of those who had benefited from the prayers of the nuns. A second loan needed to be procured before the building was completed. For Mother, financial concerns lingered. She and Mr. Walsh, first architect, had a few disputes; both were right, and both wrong. Mr. Walsh who had visited European monasteries, had plans; Mother visited her slim pocketbook and her ideas of poverty. He did finish part one of the building with its granite stone on sills and coping. Cement sills on phase II were to crumble in later years. Other “economies” met  corrections too. One of Mr. Walsh’s monastic windows survived to grace the cloister; its Gothic arch and granite coping were pleasing, but its small size and pale gold tinted glass panes would not have been sufficiently lightsome.

  The Detroit nuns were able to occupy the first half of their building  at 9704 Oakland Ave. in 1909. Oct. 27 and the following three “Opening Days” allowed the public to tour the cloister. One person remarked “I want to see the dungeons!” but there were none to be found. Sr. M. Joseph hid in a windowless store room to make her meditation, taking Spotty the dog with her. Mother M. Theresa took Daisy the cat which Newark had sent to discipline the bold rats back in the Murphy Mansion. Four days later, on October 30, the nuns were relieved when  Bishop Foley came with Father Van Antwerp to bless the Monastery and enclose the nuns. Happily they wended their way toward the parlor, their temporary chapel, to sing a fervent “Te Deum”.

   Mother decided to initiate Phase II in 1911. The cornerstone for the permanent chapel of Perpetual Adoration was blessed by Bishop Foley on June 25 of that year. However, when the completed Monastery was dedicated on March 25, 1912 the dear Bishop was too ill to be present. Auxiliary Bishop Edward Kelly officiated in the presence of Bishop Fallon  of London, Ontario, and many priests and people.

  During the construction and afterward, payments often worried the nuns who prayed and worked earnestly over their embroidery frames. On one occasion, after prayer,  Mother  gave the names of 4 friends for the Extern Sister to contact. The first patron gave a small offering, the 2nd and 3rd refused, but the fourth patron gave $10,000.00! One payment assured! But more would become due. From the time the first portion was occupied, Mother rose at 4:30 AM before the Community was up to offer her own procession with a statue of the Infant of Prague! She showed Him what yet needed be done in phase I and the place where phase II must be constructed. The Divine Infant did not fail. For many years the nuns held a monthly procession in His honor.

Sr. Mary of the Visitation Cowles tends to the boiler in the “dungeon.”

Sr. Mary Joseph, center, with several other unidentified sisters.

Placing the cornerstone.

   There were other aspects of the life to build as well. With construction in progress and other duties to concern her, Mother M. Emmanuel felt she could not do justice to the formation of the Novices. At her request Newark sent Mother M. Alphonsa of the Blessed Sacrament to assume the role.  This competent religious had been Novice Mistress for many years among the Dominican Sisters of St Catherine’s, Kentucky before her transfer to the cloister in Newark. One Sister in Kentucky cautioned Mother Alphonsa, “Here you are somebody, respected by all. There you will be nobody.”  But that was just what Sr. Alphonsa desired, to be hidden with God. Later, she was to assume formation duties in the cloister,  and would succeed Mother M. Emmanuel as Prioress in Detroit as she had in Newark. Diminutive in stature and much beloved, she was always called “Little Mother”; the nomination would be some help for future generations to identify the various Sisters M. of the Blessed Sacrament to adorn the Monastery Chronicles!

   There was monastic observance for Mother M. Emmanuel to consider as well. In 1909 the “Verses of the Passion,” a Dominican Lenten ceremony composed by St Catharine de Ricci were sung for the first time in Detroit. In the same year new Graduales were received, heavy liturgical books with Gregorian Chant Mass Commons and Propers for the entire year! With enthusiasm, the Chronicler announces that choir practice was scheduled three times a week! Life proceeded, gardens grew, shrines were dedicated, candidates presented themselves for “Little Mother’s” novitiate, Father Van preached at reception and Profession Ceremonies. When a surprise celebration was arranged in 1914 for Mother’s 25 years as Prioress, 17 of them spent in Newark, Father Van Antwerp brought his Holy Rosary Choir and harmonium to sing the anthems. The ceremony completed, Father Van offered  the harmonium as gift to the Monastery.

   The Feast of Corpus Christi always had special meaning for the nuns. The “Holy Midnight” was the treasured time of prayer in Dominican Cloisters. In the depth of the silence they celebrated Matins and Lauds of the Divine Office. In Detroit the 14 psalms, 9 readings and a Canticle were sung before the Blessed Sacrament exposed. The time remaining before 2 AM was spent in silent prayer. On a solemn day, the Office might not conclude before 2:20 AM.  Each night was holy, but for the Octave of Feast of Corpus Christi the nuns added a tender devotion special to  those with the gift of Perpetual Adoration. During the singing of the “Te Deum” one Choir Nun and One Lay Sister took their places before the Altar, arms extended in the form of a cross, one arm behind the shoulder of the other, a lighted candle in the other hand. In this way they signified before God and each other, the unity of the Community gathered in the service of the Eucharistic Lord. The Choir nuns  observed the Holy Midnight; the Lay Sisters kept vigil before the Blessed Sacrament during the other night Hours as well as at their daily times of prayer. All were bound together by love of Our Lord and zeal for souls. Here they found their purpose and their unity. In 1915, the Feast held special poignancy although only a few nuns were aware of it as yet. The first night’s ceremony was assigned the Prioress and the senior Lay sister: Mother M. Emmanuel and Sr. M. Rose. Sister had been the first candidate to join the Dominican nuns upon their arrival in America in 1880. Mother, then a young nun, was assigned charge of the Kitchen with Sr. M. Rose to direct. The choir Nun who had been raised in luxury knew little about cooking and housekeeping, the Lay Sister postulant knew little about Monastic living with its stress on poverty, humility and obedience. What adventures they had together. “Sister, did you ever cook spaghetti?” “Sure and I didn’t” came the answer in a delightful Irish brogue, “but I often ate it.” Well, that was a help. Indeed, proud of her first serving of macaroni and cheese, she looked forward to some words of appreciation from the nuns, at the recreation time. Nothing was said, not a word.  Did she forget the salt, put in too much, were the good Sisters displeased? When she inquired, Mother held a finger to her lips. and whispered “Shhh, Sister, this is a Retreat day!”

   Sr. M. Rose was one of that chosen class of lay sisters who have served in religious houses for centuries. Some, like Sister, had received no schooling in the “old country” to enable her to read the choir Office, some deliberately choose the more silent life, others did not wish to pray in Latin. Most were possessed of a singular purity of heart, some truly seem to have “seen God” as the beatitude promises.  Each of the religious grew in her needed knowledge, and each grew to know and love the other. And now they must part.

Mother Mary of the Visitation (left) with Mother Mary of the Blessed Sacrament.

Mother Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (left)with Mother Mary of the Sacred Heart.

From left to right:  Mother Mary Magdalen,Sr. Mary Joseph and Mother Mary Imelda.

Sisters process around cloister walk.

 Mother M. Emmanuel and Mother M. Theresa discussed it. The Detroit Monastery had indeed been blessed; was it not time to erect another Throne of Adoration for the Lord? Bishop Thomas F. Cusack of Albany was eager to receive them. November 21, 1915 was set as departure day. A special supper with delicious lemon pie was prepared for the seven nuns.  But they were not to enjoy it after all. Father Van Antwerp, with his horror of being late, arrived quite early to take the travelers to the train. They must come and right Now! Each year on their Foundation date the Albany Community feasted on lemon pies in memory of those the Detroit nuns had lovingly prepared for them.

   But disappointments deeper than missed pastry were to plague Mother in the new location. Detroit had been founded as an act of Thanksgiving; richly blessed, it seemed Mother’s crown. Albany was founded as an act of Reparation. It became Mother’s Cross.  Only God knows which was more pleasing to Him. Both vocations and funds were very slow in coming. Within 2 years, Detroit had begun construction of phase I of its building; in Albany it would take 12 years to begin phase I. Mother M. Emmanuel did not live to see it. Phase II was never to be constructed.

   It was in late November that Mother M. Emmanuel departed to Albany. Less than 2 months later, in early January, her beloved Sr. M. Rose took her journey to eternity  after an illness of one day. An era had closed.

   Death would come for several others of  the Detroit Community as well. Most moving was that of two young nuns during the Flu epidemic.  Sr. M. Gabriel died in 1919. She was 24 and but 3 years professed. Sister had shared her desire to cultivate the virtues as she cultivated the plants  in the garden assigned to her. God must have found her spiritual work well done and called her home. She was the second Chichanski girl to pledge herself to God in the Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament. Her older sister, Dora, had gone on the Albany foundation while yet a novice. Upon the deaths of Mothers M. Emmanuel and Theresa, Dora was called to leadership for many years, a task the retiring nun found uncongenial. Yet she did well.  Sr. M. of the Holy Ghost was the first Chichanski nun, Sr. M. Gabriel was second. But she was not to be the last. Through the double grille little Margie Chichanski gazed at the still body of her big sister, Sr. M. Gabriel, laid out in the Nuns’ choir. In due time she too would follow her sisters into the cloister. There as Sr. M. Therese she would serve for many years!

   Both Viola Allor and her suitor had a decision to face; should they marry or should they enter religious life. They would make a novena. Viola offered her prayers kneeling on the upturned bristles of a sturdy scrubbing brush. The nine days complete, Viola entered the Monastery and her friend joined the Jesuits! Early in 1920 the flu claimed the life of Sr. Mary of the Angels. She was 26 years of age, 3 of religious Profession. “I want to be a Nun of a thousand years” the fervent young Sister had written. How God reckoned her years we do not know. Surely she had lived them with great earnestness.

   The Monastery Chronicle has much more to record. In 1922, relief when the last mortgage payment was paid.  Pleasure at vestment and banner orders received: local parishes, the Felician Sisters, the Cathedral in Toledo, the Visitandines of Georgetown and so on. Gratitude is often recorded for gifts of produce, gifts of time, of garden work, of new statues. 1923 brought the gift of electric lights in choir; neighbors had complained about the gas. 1924 brought lights for the first floor. Eventually the boon reached the second floor; monastic cells were illumined by 15 watt bulbs. The neighbors would not be dazzled!

   The liturgy gained a number of firsts. 1919 St Dominic’s Invitatory was sung for the first time; in 1922 the entire Matins and Lauds with 9 ornate Gregorian responsories; December 8, Our Lady’s Matins sung, Easter 1924 etc. In 1923 new Breviaries were received. No, liturgical changes were not invented at Vatican II. This has been going on for centuries in the Church.

   Candidates continued to come, some left. Among the latter talented LaVergne’s and unique and colorful Violet’s parents demanded they depart. Both returned in due time. We shall meet them again.

   Faithful Father Van was still with them.  Still with his dislike of delay. On confession days he continued to blare his auto horn for the final two blocks as he drove down Boston Boulevard. Quickly the Extern Sister summoned the cloister Sister Touriére (page) who promptly told Reverend Mother who promptly notified the nuns. When Father Van reached the confessional his first penitent was waiting! What a good friend and mentor he remained. No wonder they loved him.

   Father Van preached for receptions and professions and rejoiced over them. The nuns rejoiced with him too as he became Monsignor Van Antwerp, Vicar for religious, and finally Vicar General of the Diocese. They shared his sorrow too when the tabernacle at Holy Rosary Church was desecrated. The nuns joined in the special novena and in the solemn day of Reparation.

  Mother M. Emmanuel died in 1928, Mothers Mary of Jesus and Mary of Mercy in 1924. Now none of the American Foundresses was alive. An era had closed. But another was opening. On June 23, 1923, the Holy See published an Indult offering to the cloistered nuns of the Great Orders which had formerly enjoyed Solemn Vows the opportunity to resume them. What did “solemn” vows involve? What would they do for the enthusiastic nuns? This we shall explore in Chapter three of our History.

To be continued . . .

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Sisters at prayer in the Detroit Monastery

SOLEMN VOWS

Tomorrow! Tomorrow!!

  It was April 29, 1930. Mass completed, the Community gathered in the Chapter Hall. Each of the nuns longing to pronounce her solemn vows on the morrow advanced to the center, dropped to her knees and with arms extended in the form of a cross asked forgiveness of her faults and the prayers of her Sisters. Now they were ready for the morrow.

  What a year it had been! On June 23, 1929, the formal proposal had been made to the Community; on June 24 came the unanimous vote to petition for Solemn Vows. The Bishop’s permission secured, the letter to Rome had been forwarded; the response arrived on Christmas Eve. Deo Gratias! Even before that happy date, serious preparation had begun: Retreat of Fr. Pendergast in the Fall and of Fr. Reilly in the Spring. Several times there were long study days with Fr Reilly presenting the meaning, juridical and spiritual, of solemn vows and papal enclosure. Eagerly the nuns had assented to everything.

  April 30, 1930, Feast of St Catherine of Siena, was the blessed day. Mass was at 9:00, the students from Sacred Heart Seminary constituted the choir, Monsignor Doyle was the celebrant, Fathers Louis and Pokriefka, former curates at Holy Rosary Church served as Deacon and Sub-deacon, Fr. Vincent Kienberger, O.P., read in Latin and English the Decretal admitting the nuns of the Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament to Solemn profession with Papal Enclosure. After the Gospel, the eligible nuns advanced to center Choir as Bishop Gallagher took his place at the grille. Mother Mary of the Sacred Heart, Prioress, pronounced her solemn vows before the Bishop. Then each of the other 21 nuns knelt before their Prioress, placed their hands in hers — which held the Constitutions — and firmly pronounced her vows. The Novices and Sisters in temporary vows looked on with admiration and longing.

  In his homily, Father Reilly assured those attending the ceremony that Solemn Profession was the highest vocation of a woman in the Church, next only to the sacred Priesthood. These Dominicans were now “nuns” in official Church parlance: religious women in solemn vows living in Papal enclosure. The nuns spent the rest of the day in prayer. There was no need to cook since all was a gift from Walker Caterers. This was such a unique occasion that the Bishop said they should enjoy the treat. The following few days were for Community rejoicing. Indeed they did!

  But what exactly did the solemn vows enjoin? Juridical norms could be briefly stated, profound spiritual implications ran much deeper. There was Papal Enclosure and the nuns cherished the closer bond with the Pope. The obligation to celebrate the Divine Office, indeed each one of the seven “Hours” of it, was more serious; the nuns were aware that they prayed in the name of the Church as sacred privilege and duty. And the vows? The law simply stated that contrary acts were not only unlawful, but also invalid. One had given not only the act but even the capacity, not only the leaves and fruit, but the tree itself, roots and all. They had given everything in this Solemn Profession, everything to God. And so, did these nuns really long to be bound, more tightly bound? Yes. Yes, as the Bride and Bridegroom long for their wedding day, to be totally given to each other in love “unto death do us part”; the nuns desired to give all in love, but for them death would not part, it would bring only closer union for all eternity.

  Sr. Mary Magdalen Sandt was not able to pronounce her solemn vows that day; she had not yet completed the time of temporary vows. Later she would pour out in poetry the meaning of the solemn vows for her. All the nuns would agree.

Bishop Gallagher

Mother Mary of the Sacred Heart

Sister Mary Magdalen

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FR. VAN

  But  — did you notice? Monsignor Francis Van Antwerp’s name did not appear among the celebrants of that great day. He who had officiated or preached at every Clothing or Profession, been with the nuns for every joyous occasion, then in the evening had sent in ice cream “to finish the day,” he who had come for Mass or Benediction daily, he whose advice had guided the Community always! There had been a few warnings. In 1928, because of illness he missed the Clothing in the Holy Habit of Sr. Mary of the Heart of Jesus, the Violet Board who, several years before, arriving late, had tossed her suitcase over the wall, climbed through the locked gate, then hurried to ring the doorbell in order to get into the Monastery! Monsignor had been ill often in 1929 and in 1930. He died on June 25, 1930, a month and a half after the Solemn Vows. Fittingly he was buried next to his friend Bishop Foley to whose query “What shall I do with them, Van?” Fr. Francis Van Antwerp had replied: “Let them come, Bishop, I will take care of them.” That he had done faithfully for 24 years. The love between the priest and the nuns ran deep. A few weeks following the death, nephew Fr. Francis Van Antwerp brought the Monsignor’s Breviaries for the Monastery. Fr. Van Junior, as the nuns termed him, remained a warm friend of the community.

INTERLUDE

  Quiet and peace! Ah, no. On June 11 came architect Mr. Winter, 2 hoists, several engines and 31 workmen to repair roofs, chimneys, upper cloister and other cement work. It would not be the last time. Alas, the feast of the Prioress, Mother Mary of the Sacred Heart, had to be postponed to July 4 when no workmen would be present. The nuns had a happy day. In the evening, the Outside Sisters provided popcorn balls, but it was Friday, a fast day. The treat would have to wait for Sunday.

NEW CONSTITUTIONS

  The Father General of the Dominican Order, Martin Stanislaus Gillet, O.P., had been invited for the Profession of Solemn Vows. Unable to come at that time, Fr. presented himself on Oct 30; he was in the area on the regular Visitation of the Eastern Province of Dominican Fathers. Accompanying him were his Socius Fr. Garde, two French Friars and 2 Friars from St. Dominic’s parish, Detroit. Following a short visit in the parlor, the Fr. General gave a conference in French at the chapel grille. Fr. Garde translated. Fr. Gillet spoke

with enthusiasm of the new Constitutions of the nuns just published on Sept. 10, 1930. They had been brought into conformity with a new code of Canon Law, as was required. The General desired “to fasten the bonds of unity among all the members of the great Dominican Family, not excepting the nuns for whom in his lifetime St. Dominic exercised so much care.” It was Fr. Gillet’s hope that the new Constitutions would accomplish this for the nuns, scattered as they were in independent Monasteries throughout the world. If he hoped that the nuns would accept the new Constitutions with joy he was to be disappointed. They did not! From all over the world came letters; Detroit’s missive was posted Jan 26, 1931. They voiced not compliments but complaints. A few Monasteries wished to reject the new Constitutions entirely. Others expressed concerns, even consternation. Keep the perpetual abstinence from meat? Of course. Keep the traditional Monastic fast from Sept 14 to Easter? Surely. But no more black fast in Lent? And what about this austerity, and that? No more kneeling to drink a beverage while holding the cup with both hands! And no palliases! (a large muslin sack which was filled with corn shucks – used as a mattress). What was the Order coming to! Poor Fr. General was dismayed, but he knew what to do. He was a superior; he would ordain. He was a Dominican, he would teach!

  In 1931 Fr. Gillet wrote an encyclical Letter to the nuns of the Order. In Part One he addressed the ascetical dimension of their life which so concerned them. Fortunately he was French, and the reputed French finesse came to the fore in such phrases as “fervent but ill informed”, “error or rather unfortunate misunderstanding,” “under the impulse of motives so exalted that it is impossible that, on reflection, they will not adopt with the joy of sacrifice the new constitutions.” But had the French flair faded when he wrote: “If the custom of sleeping on palliases has become general, then, for the love of God, let the palliases be retained” ?

  Perceptively the Fr. General ordained that each nun have her own copy of the Constitutions. The older volume contained a mélange of Constitutions, Commentaries, and Customaries all together in cursory style. Hearing them read only, the nuns could not view the various typefaces and sizes which distinguished the sources. Some of the provisions now omitted had never been part of the law.

  Secondly Fr. Gillet ordained that each Provincial dispatch a competent Friar to instruct the nuns in his Province concerning the new Constitutions and his encyclical Letter. Thus in May 30, 1931, Fr. Thomas a Kempis Reilly arrived for an extended stay.

  One result was the Lay Sisters’ reception of the white scapular on the Feast of the Rosary, 1931. They as well as the Lay Brothers of the Order had worn the black scapular.

  Another change found the nuns keeping Lenten fast in 1932 with the addition of eggs and cheese, and reposing on thin cotton mattresses spread upon their board beds. Gone were the palliases! No more young Sisters stuffing the large heavy muslin sacks with fresh corn shucks each year. And Sr. Mary Agnes lost a favorite job. Since the time she was the young and sturdy postulant Genevieve, she had been assigned to sleep a few days atop each fresh corn shuck sack, lest some older nun mount one side of her “blimp” and slide right off the other. (That danger did not perdure; by the end of the year they had become packed down, hard and lumpy.)

  But Fr. Reilly had far more than the ascetical life of the nuns to expound. It was toward “Part II, The Mystical Life of the Nuns” that the Master General’s Instruction hastened. “Let us ascend higher and speak of the very object of our vocation, that is contemplation.”  It is not possible to unpack all the riches of this splendid letter here. Let us share a few passages.

  “There cannot be any other end of religious life in all its forms than charity...loving God for his own sake and also the neighbor for God’s sake.... The distinction between the different forms of religious life comes from what might be called the works of charity accomplished toward God or neighbor. Hence it is that contemplation, in which consists the only possible work of charity towards God, has given its name to the contemplative life, and distinguishes it from all the other forms of religious life. A religious of such an Order must consecrate herself especially to contemplation. All the rest, all the organized exercises by which one advances toward this end, enters into the category of means of realization, and also distinguishes the different religious families vowed...to contemplation.”

  “The Dominican contemplatives have at their disposal three great means of realizing their vocation, namely a) the choral celebration of the Divine Office; b) the assiduous study of Christian doctrine; and c) the monastic observances. These three means, whatever may be their respective value, cannot be separated from one another. It is their harmonious union which assures their full efficacy in view of contemplation.”

  Faith and charity are the foci of his remarks as the Fr. General goes on to speak of the supernatural knowledge bestowed by faith which must be enlivened by charity. “This is the reason why...our very dear Sisters in St. Dominic ought to devote themselves to the study of sacred doctrine, and principally to all that which in this doctrine refers to God and can nourish their meditations, enrich their prayers, and keep in their minds in an habitual manner the thought of the presence of God and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.... When one has the honor of belonging to the Order of Truth, the Truth should not be feared.”

  Although the Letter expounded the whole teaching about the life, there is no question but that the chief emphasis was this matter of doctrinal study. Happily, Detroit had a little start on it.

  Such riches here. We shall treat more of these facets of our vocation in future chapters.

But the 1930’s with their innovations were not over. The Holy See had another change to introduce. It pertained to Extern Sisters.

Men at work on the upper cloister

Fr. Martin Gillet, O.P.

Above, Lay Sisters wearing black scapulars (Sr. Mary Rose, mentioned in Part II is in the center) while the picture below shows a group of Lay Sisters wearing white scapulars

Sr. Mary Agnes

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METAMORPHOSIS II:  “OUTSIDE SISTERS” TO “EXTERNS” – Dominican Laity to Religious Sisters – June 15, 1936

 He could see her as they approached the next trolley stop, the familiar black dress and cape, white bonnet and the veil.  He spotted also her two large canvas shopping bags bulging with the wares she had gained. Smiling, he took the parcels from her.  She would go begging for more. As always, when they reached Boston Blvd, end of their line, he or the conductor would carry the bags up to the Monastery porch, ring the bell and hurry to take the trolley back on their line. He knew other Sisters would come and take the things inside the convent. These parcels were easy this morning; sometimes there were brooms and mops, occasionally even a pail of fresh fish. He knew he would meet Sister again at the close of her day, more wares in tow. Actually there were two black-clad Sisters. Some days they would just be begging in office buildings downtown or even at homes in the neighborhoods. What a job! They really loved their cloistered nuns. The trolley men liked these women, they were such cheerful and plucky Sisters!

  Sisters indeed they were to the cloistered nuns, sisters in St. Dominic, but not religious sisters in the first thirty years. They were Dominican Tertiaries, those called “Dominican Laity” today.

  As Dominican laity they had no religious vows and were not strictly speaking members of the Community. They might and did come and go at choice. Some would serve a few years at one monastery, then move to another to remain there or just for a rest. They might decide to return home, a few did. Cloister laws of the time did not admit them into the enclosure unless they were ill or elderly. This will clarify some episodes to follow.

  There is a roster of beloved early “Outside Sisters”: Sr. Antonia in the first year, Sisters Mary Reginald, Mary Francis, Mary of the Rosary, Mary Assumption, and good Genevieve as the years progressed. The two pillars in the middle years were Sr. Maria of Jesus and Sr. Mary Immaculata.  They are protagonists in some treasured Monastery lore.

  There was much to tote in those canvas shopping bags in earlier days; the ‘pack it in as best you can’ rule found a fresh chicken wrapped in a role of yard goods. The cloistered Sister who received that day’s riches passed the role of cloth to a delighted clothes room seamstress; she placed it on her shelf. Poor chicken voiced no protest at the time, but later she announced her presence in an olfactory manner. True Story!

  A Sister, possibly Sr. Mary Dominic, was dying. The nuns in cloister were praying by her deathbed, the Outside sisters were gathered in the public chapel. Having an appointment with a donor, one Sister set out on her mendicant journey. She could pray on the trolley. Having completed her errand, Sister decided to make one more stop. Might just as well stop at City Hall; it would save her an extra trip later. She responded to the clerk’s usual queries clearly until he asked “When did she die?” “Oh, she’s not dead yet,” the black clad Sister replied, “but she will be by the time I get home.” Sister returned without the Death Certificate. Just as well; Sr. Mary Dominic did not die until many years later. Story apocryphal? It is at least possible knowing the Sister’s pluck.

  “All Gaul is divided into four parts.” Remember your first year Latin and “Caesar’s Gallic Wars”? All Detroit was divided into 2 parts, not by Caesar but by the Prioress. And it was not of course a war, well, not exactly. “A verbal skirmish” let us say. One Sister was unhappy when the other approached some of “her” patrons for alms; the reverse was true as well. The Prioress decreed: Let one Sister take the East side the other the West! Woodward Avenue the Great Divide. Now this tale is true, and the solution worked.

  Yes, we can retell these tales as families do about cherished and much loved members. We can tell them because we know they are but a fraction of the whole story. The whole story about our Outside Sisters is their love of God and of the nuns, their years of dedication, rain or snow or shine, their mendicant life, their sincere gratitude for alms received, large or small, even their serene acceptance of refusal, even of reproach. Jesus had received those too. One day Sr. Mary Immaculata accepted quietly not only a “No” but a tirade of insults from a brusque businessman. She stood and meekly bowed her head; finally a few tears coursed down the old wrinkled cheeks. Ashamed, the bully melted and penned a handsome check.

  Recognizing the strong women who had served the nuns of all the enclosed Orders for years, even centuries, the Holy See enacted new laws which admitted these good laywomen to the Religious Life with simple vows. Thus on June 15, 1936, five Outside Sisters received the white Dominican habit and veil. The three younger women began their Novitiate in the Cloister. Sr. Maria of Jesus and Sr. Mary Immaculata would hold the fort outside and wait. The three young Novices did not persevere. The two grand warriors remained faithful. But God would send others. Isabel Kebbe was soon to enter. As Sr. Mary Anastasia, Extern Sister, she followed in the footsteps of faithful Outside Sisters of old. Sisters Mary Raphael, Louis, Assumption later, and Sisters Miriam, Anna Maria and Faustina Marie of today would follow in her steps.

  It had been a decade full of God’s great gifts. And there were other gifts not yet recorded. Although we have reached the thirtieth year of the Monastery, in Chapter 4 we shall need to review some of them to manifest more fully the Greatness and Goodness of the Lord and in doing so illustrate in the concrete the teaching of Fr. General Gillet.

To be continued . . .

Outside Sisters, SM Jesus is at left center and SM Immaculata is at right center

From left, extern sisters Sr. Mary of the Assumption, Sr. Mary Raphael and Sr. Mary Louis with “Shiny.”

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   On a blustery day, December 29, 1933, Bishop Michael Gallagher rang the doorbell at 9704 Oakland Ave. Mother Mary of the Sacred Heart’s term as Prioress would expire in less than a month; a good time to make a Visitation of the Community, the Prelate decided. He had great respect for this Prioress, yet he knew that she had often been ill in the past year. The Bishop had not announced his coming beforehand; still, the hesitancy of the Extern Sister seemed more than one would expect. Ushered into the parlor, a second unusual wait was equally puzzling. Was something amiss? When the curtains at the grille opened it was the concerned face of Mother Mary of the Infant Jesus, the Mistress of Novices, which met his gaze. She was  the only member of Council able to receive the Bishop she explained. Mother Mary of the Sacred Heart, the Sub-prioress, the Vicaress, and a good number of the other nuns were down with the flu. A Visitation would be very difficult now.

   Having already scheduled this time-slot, the Bishop remained to converse with her a while. What an important office she filled as Mistress of Novices, he remarked, and went on to speak of the education of the child Mary in the temple under the tutelage of Anna the Prophetess, as he believed.  Yes, the nun replied, she had been reading just that in the pages of Mary of Agreda’s book Mystical City of God. The Bishop had heard of this volume but lamented that he did not have a copy. The Nun said she would loan him the community copy, promising to obtain a set for him from a Maltese family in Detroit devoted to the Mystic. As the conversation continued, they spoke at length of Our Lady and of the Passion of the Lord. A “fateful encounter,” the nuns always called it; a “providential” one might be a better term, and the first of many more to come.

   When the Bishop returned on January 13, 1934, to preside at the nuns’ prioral election, Mother Mary of the Sacred Heart, to her relief, was not reelected for a second term. The Community adage ran “ As Prioress, Mother Mary of the Sacred Heart was a very good Novice Mistress”. This should not be misunderstood; she had been a competent prioress. All the formal correspondence, all the canonical requirements pertaining to the Solemn Vows had been excellently arranged; business matters, building repairs were all attended to.  Yet the long-time beloved Mistress of Novices did not find administration congenial. She had been a very good formator. It was a task she had filled for years. Very many of the sisters had been her novices. She loved her young charges, had delighted in teaching them the beginning ways of prayer and virtue, the splendor of the Divine Office, the meaning of the vows, the importance of the cloister, gratitude to benefactors and above all the love of the dear Sacred Heart. Her failing health these last two years seemed God’s way of earning her release. The Community chose as Prioress, Mother Mary of the Infant Jesus, the Bishop’s interlocutor a fortnight earlier.

   Readers have met this new Mother in the first chapter of our History as one of the foundresses of the Monastery in 1906; she it was who turned twenty on the train en route to Detroit. A good deal of her early impetuousness remained. Her conviction of the importance of humility marked her leadership of her novices and the professed sisters as well. With a bluntness that would perhaps cause consternation in our more sensitive times, Mother Mary would speak her mind about the foibles of her charges with such remarks as: “What do you mean ‘IT broke’? You mean YOU broke it.” So the breaker must  display the casualty to all. For a novice who criticized the Chaplain’s sermon Mother’s “solution” was that the novice herself must preach a “better one” to the nuns.

   One tale that was handed down with chuckles through those early years, though the poor white-veiled novice who was the object of the story, did not find it so amusing at the time,  concerned the “Pleat Raid.” Now you, dear reader, will surely agree with us that the Dominican Habit is one of the most beautiful in the Church. (Ahem!) Though its glory is the white scapular given by Our Lady, its basis is a simple white tunic which comes in two widths,  the length alone being  adjusted to match the height of the nun, then gathered at the waist by a leather cincture. An excellent design, all thought, except for the unfortunate  novice who decided to ‘improve’ hers. This did not escape the eyes of the Prioress. There came a day when all the nuns were assembled in the atrium of the refectory to pray for the deceased benefactors. The Prioress summoned Sister “Fashion Queen” to the center and bade her remove the pleats she had artfully arranged in her tunic. There were many pleats and many pins - and many tears as each pin was removed. No vanity here, please! And so it went. A novice might consider that Mother had a little too much zeal for humility; the professed sisters would say she had a lot too much.  But she found ways to practice humility herself as well. Besides,  Mother Mary of the Infant Jesus had many other gifts appreciated by all. They esteemed and loved her so much they elected her for three terms as Prioress, a two-thirds majority being needed for the third.

   The new Mother Prioress had many challenges to face. There were the usual maintenance projects: tile to be installed on the kitchen floor, linoleum in the Host Room and laundry and, most ambitious of all, construction of a second floor over the sacristy and Chaplain’s house to create quarters  for the Extern Sisters, the former rooms at front end of the Infirmary being cramped.

Mother Mary of the Sacred Heart

Mother Mary of the Infant Jesus

New extern quarters were built over the Sacristy

   It was an exciting day when the workmen literally “raised the roof” to begin construction of the Extern Sisters’ new quarters.  Four jacks were set in place and the jacks moved in sync one inch at a time to the desired height. It was a tense time for all, but most nervous was the workman assigned to cut the second floor opening into the wall of the sanctuary to provide an adoration oratory for the use of the Extern Sisters. “That Sister stood watching me all morning,” he complained to the foreman in exasperation. The “supervising sister” proved to be a life-size statue of St. Catherine of Siena on the opposite wall next to the Infirmary Oratory window!

   But the Prioress and Community had deeper, spiritual concerns: the document of Master General Martin Gillet needed to be implemented.  The contemplative aspect of the life must be fostered. They would begin with “the solemn celebration of the Divine Office” as he indicated. Father Vincent Donovan O.P. was invited to help improve the singing of the Gregorian Chant. A number of visits and many hours Father spent directing the choir. Sister Mary of the Angels showed such aptitude that she was trained to be Choir Directress. Several choir books are still extant with her careful tracing of the chironomy,  the indication of the gentle fluid rise and fall of the Gregorian melodies. Even as a soaring passage raises and inspires the soul, it calms it as well, preparing for the period of silent contemplative prayer which follows the Office. No more beautiful music exists in the Church. Each nun put her heart into the lessons as her aptitude allowed.  The execution of the chant improved.

   In June 1934, a landmark year, Father Thomas a Kempis Reilly preached the retreat. Mother found part of it too philosophical (and told him so); this distinction between human acts and acts of man (acts with intellection and deliberation, indicative of virtue or sin, and those of a semi-automatic, merely instinctive response.) The distinction was important in moral life but the good priest wisely returned to a more devotional plane, at least for this retreat. The “too philosophical” aspect would be addressed at another time.

   Doctrinal study had been another of Father Gillet’s concerns. What to do? The Nuns’ prayers seemed to find no answer. Some petitions just needed to be taken over the border into heaven personally, Mother reflected. Yet no nun seemed about to take this journey.  Soon Providence did provide. Father Lemire, assistant at the Blessed Sacrament Parish had urged Sister Maria, the extern sister, to visit a saintly young parishioner. Very ill, Emily Prell seemed near death. Permission was sought  to go to the girl and ask her to obtain the automobile the externs so badly needed. By all means, the prioress agreed, but bring as well the community’s need of doctrinal instruction. The Extern Sister found the angelic Emily dying of TB, serene and joyful “just like the Little Flower”. A few days later, at the end of July, Emily Prell died. And in the days following it was clear that she had accepted the nuns’ petitions, taking them to heaven with herself. Father Healy’s brother gave a good secondhand Cadillac. Now when Mister Albert drove Sister Mary Immaculata to market, he sat tall in the driver’s seat. In a Cadillac he felt that other drivers gave him respect.

   It was evident that Emily had remembe