.
"Instead, whoever wants to become great among you
must be your servant,
and whoever wants to be first
must be slave of all."
Mark 10:43-44
Visiting our lovely Basilica of the Assumption last Saturday, I found a little prayer card for the Beatification of Mother Mary Lange. I admit that I actually only noticed it because the good Mother seemed to share my habit (yes, I love puns) of wearing a crucifix and a Miraculous Medal on a single leather cord around her neck (yep, I even check out the fashion sense of saints), and also her face reminded me of the image I had of a saintly South Chicago cousin of a friend.
I noticed books and other items devoted to this woman of faith and service, and primarily bought the prayer card so that I would remember to research (ie. Google) her a bit later.
Quick summary from Wikipedia:
Servant of God (1784-1882) Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange, was the foundress of
the Oblate Sisters of Providence and St. Frances Academy, a high school in Baltimore, Maryland. Elizabeth was born in the 1780s, a native of the Caribbean, her country of birth is not documented but oral tradition says she was born in Haiti and moved with her family to Santiago de Cuba.
On July 2, 1829 the Oblate Sisters of Providence were founded by Mother Mary Lange, OSP, and Rev. James Nicholas Joubert, SS as the first congregation of women religious of African descent. Mother Lange died on February 3, 1882.
This was the beginning of a legacy that has thrived over the past 177 years in 25 cities in the United States, Cuba, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and most recently Africa.
In 2005 three schools (St. Dominic School, Shrine of The Little Flower and St. Anthony of Padua) combined themselves into Mother Mary Lange Catholic School, thus becoming the first school named after her in America. 2008 marked the 180th anniversary of her founding of St. Frances Academy.
I hope this peaks yer interest enough to spend a little time learning about this rather amazing woman of God, and that maybe you'll even ask yourself "who am I serving", as it seems there is still a lot of work to be done ,and we who call ourselves Christian, should be about the doing.
.
"Instead, whoever wants to become great among you
must be your servant,
and whoever wants to be first
must be slave of all."
Mark 10:43-44
Visiting our lovely Basilica of the Assumption last Saturday, I found a little prayer card for the Beatification of Mother Mary Lange. I admit that I actually only noticed it because the good Mother seemed to share my habit (yes, I love puns) of wearing a crucifix and a Miraculous Medal on a single leather cord around her neck (yep, I even check out the fashion sense of saints), and also her face reminded me of the image I had of a saintly South Chicago cousin of a friend.I noticed books and other items devoted to this woman of faith and service, and primarily bought the prayer card so that I would remember to research (ie. Google) her a bit later.
Quick summary from Wikipedia:
Servant of God (1784-1882) Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange, was the foundress of
the Oblate Sisters of Providence and St. Frances Academy, a high school in Baltimore, Maryland. Elizabeth was born in the 1780s, a native of the Caribbean, her country of birth is not documented but oral tradition says she was born in Haiti and moved with her family to Santiago de Cuba. On July 2, 1829 the Oblate Sisters of Providence were founded by Mother Mary Lange, OSP, and Rev. James Nicholas Joubert, SS as the first congregation of women religious of African descent. Mother Lange died on February 3, 1882.
This was the beginning of a legacy that has thrived over the past 177 years in 25 cities in the United States, Cuba, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and most recently Africa.
In 2005 three schools (St. Dominic School, Shrine of The Little Flower and St. Anthony of Padua) combined themselves into Mother Mary Lange Catholic School, thus becoming the first school named after her in America. 2008 marked the 180th anniversary of her founding of St. Frances Academy.
I hope this peaks yer interest enough to spend a little time learning about this rather amazing woman of God, and that maybe you'll even ask yourself "who am I serving", as it seems there is still a lot of work to be done ,and we who call ourselves Christian, should be about the doing.
.
1 comment:
I worked at St. Frances Academy this past summer! It's amazing what they do there. The school is right next to the penitentary and the kids pretty much all come from that area--really rough. Almost all of the graduates go to college, too! Mother Mary Lange's work definitely lives on in what they're doing there.
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