Mount St Mary Academy - Mercian Yearbook (Little Rock, AR)

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Mo1'HER MARY FIDELIS, R. S. M, Provincial of the Sisters of Mercy St. Louis Province f

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Foreword Red barr upon a field of gold, White nor: upon a field of red Courage, the red, And .rervire and zeal- Purily, the white, The from for Jarfifire, So.faflJioned Merfy'.r Shield. Four bars for service and love, courage and zeal, white cross for purity and sacrifice-the Mercy shield the graduate wears on her finger is a device, dating back to the days of the Crusades and suggesting today the same qualities and characteristics as it did to the Knights of Old. Mother Catharine McAuley's admiration for the knightly order of Our Lady of Mercy, founded in 1218 by St. Peter Nolasco for the ransom of captives, inspired her to adapt the order to women and to select for her Sisters of Mercy the insignia of the four red bars and the Crusaders' cross of white. The young woman in the world today has urgent need ofthe virtues of courage and zeal, serv- ice and love, purity and sacrifice. With the Mercy shield on her finger, she is constantly reminded of its significance of loyalty-loyalty to herself, embodying in herself the principles of her Catholic heritageg loyalty to her fellowmen, loving her neighbor and serving him, heedful of the Great Com- mandmentg loyalty to her country and to her God, fulfilling her civic and religious duties, mindful of her early training during the years which served as preparation for her investiture with the graduate's Mercy Shield. So that the world-or the little corner of it in which we move-may know our emblem and un- derstand our love for it and our pride in its significance, we have selected our class ring as the motif and theme of our yearbook. Thus the MERCIAN of 1948 shows our readers the graduates studying and working, praying and playing, in activities hallowed by the wearing of the Mercy Shield.

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SISTER MARY MARK, R.S.M. Principal Dedication Because they so inspiringly illustrate, by their lives as Sisters of Mercy, the qualities indicated by the Mercy Shield, the motif for our yearbook theme, the Class of '48, with admiration, affection, and appreciation, dedicates the MERCIAN to Mother M. Fidelis, R. S. M., Mother Provincial, in honor of her Golden jubilee of Religious Profession as a Sister of Mercy, and to Sister M. Mark, R. S. M., our principal teacher, and Senior Class sponsor, as a tribute to her on her Silver jubilee as a Professed Sister of Mercy. The Staff offers fond and sincere congratulations also to the Silver jubilarians, Sister M. Damian, R. S. M., Sister M. Stanislaus, R. S. M., and Sister M. Ita, R. S. M., as we dedicate the MERCIAN to THE JUBILARIAN SISTERS OF MERCY