Sacred Heart College - Stella Oriens Yearbook (Regina, Saskatchewan Canada)

Page 10 text:

£Rev. t3 ioi ie 3 la ie S)a Coea S)e esas As the Sacred Heart College is conducted by the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, a sketch of the life and work of the Foundress will prove interesting to our readers. Euphrasie Barbier, the oldest of five children was born on January 4, 1829, at Caen in Normandy. It was in the atmosphere of faith and piety of a truly Christian family that the future missionary grew up. In mental capacity as wed as in the qualities of heart she was well gifted. Her mother taught her the truths of faith, implanted in her young soul an ardent love for God, a tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin, to the Angels and Saints. Like every good Christian mother, Mme. Barbier did not hesitate to correct and punish little Euphrasie for her faults. She seized every oppor¬ tunity of exciting in her a love of virtue and a horror of vice. At the age of six years Euphrasie became a pupil of the Sisters of Providence in her native town. So well did she learn her Catechism and grasp the truths of religion that when about ten years of age, an unusual age at that time, she was admitted to her First Communion. On that occa¬ sion, we are told, she first felt that God called her to the religious life. It is also said that in her ardent zeal for God’s greater glory and the salvation of souls, the child would insist on praying for the conversion of the devil and of the lost souls. As she grew older, Euphrasie felt a great attraction for the foreign Missions and she longed to devote herself to the conversion of pagan child¬ ren in far away lands. This fact is all the more strange as at that period religious women did not go far from their own countries to work for souls. By fervent prayer and self-denial, the future missionary sought to know the Will of God in her regard. The more she prayed, the stronger became her conviction that she was called to devote herself to the foreign missions. God’s Will was made manifest in the year 1861. On August 15, of that year, under the direction of Reverend Father Favre, Superior General of the Marist Fathers, Euphrasie Barbier, now Mother Marie du Coeur de Jesus founded a Congregation under the title of Daughters of Notre Dame des Missions. This title testified to the desire of the Foundress for the extension of God’s Kingdom, not only in the hearts of the Sisters but also in those of heretics and infidels. EIGHT

Page 9 text:

1. HOME — 2. Second Arts Classt ' i 3. The Chapel. — 4. Our Club House. i—where the clos ed 5. The back view . lilt

Page 11 text:

Other generous souls soon came to enroll themselves under the banner of Our Lady of the Missions. The result was that in October 1864, the first band of sisters sailed for Napier, New Zealand where the first Missionary House of the Institute was opened. In 1883 the first House in the vast Indian missionfield was established by the Foundress herself at Chittagong, East Bengal. Two Houses in England and several others in New Zealand were opened during the lifetime of the Foundress. Despite a very frail and delicate constitution Mother Marie du Coeur de Jesus twice visited her convents in far New Zealand and everywhere won the hearts of those with whom she came in contact by her spirit of zeal, her simplicity and charity. Towards the end of October, 1892, Very Reverend Mother went to visit the houses in England. While in Sturry, near Canterbury, she was attacked by her last illness. During these days of suffering she prayed unceasingly. When told that God was about to call her to Himself, she joyfully exclaimed, “Deo Gratias” and shortly afterwards went to receive the reward of her saintly life. It was on January 18, 1893 that, as became a missionary religious, far from her own country. Reverend Mother Marie du Coeur de Jesus gave up her soul to God for Whose glory she had sacri¬ ficed herself. The mortal remains of this valiant woman are buried in the Chapel of the Convent of St. Anne, Sturry, Kent. M. A. EDITORIAL (Continued from Page 6.) The well-ordered discipline and training proper to Catholic schools helps to develop in us a high moral sense, and the habit of doing things because they ought to be done. This is nothing else than striving to keep inclination and passion subject to reason, which is the ideal of natural human perfection.the best we can do. I n this literary venture we are also urged to do the best we can. The effort has been almost exclusively our own, and we present our Year Book to our readers in the hope that they too will agree that our College has fulfilled for us the chief want in life. We wish to express our hearty thanks to our Patrons and Advertisers for their help. We also wish to thank Mr. and Mrs. Z. M. Hamilton of the Saskatchewan Historical Society, the Leader Post, and the Bureau of Publications of the Provincial Govern¬ ment for their valuable assistance. —P. O’F. NINE