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Our birthday
girls this
week are:
Mary Curtin 6 December
Angelus Cleary 8 December
ST PAUL’S POST St Paul’s Province Weekly Newsletter: 107 3 December 2018
Lord, bless us this Advent
as a people awake
to what you ask of us. Amen
Lord, you call us to be alert
to the signs of the times.
Lord, you call us to be watchful
as you make yourself known in prayer,
in other people and in your creation.
Elmleigh had their Christmas Fayre on
Friday. The proceeds were for St
Gemmas Hospice in their 40th Year.
Kerry Jackson (CEO) came,
accompanied by her mother, and
spoke about St Gemmas.
The Fayre raised £750.
Relatives/friends of Sisters:
Marguerita’s brother, Pat;
Damian’s brother, Brendan;
Anna Hainey’s brother, Danny;
Eily May’s brothers, Tade & Jack, and her sister, Mary Philomena White;
Lisa Greer, daughter of Sue Rix;
Lorraine’s Mum, Mary;
Francis’ niece-in-law, Val McCartan
and Francis’ brother, Austin;
Kathleen Doran’s niece-in-law, Kerry;
The father of Sr Mary Ann (USA), who is unwell;
Mary Curtin’s niece, Breed;
Joanna Jackson, former sister & sister-in-law to Teresa Jackson;
Berney O’Grady, who is seriously ill;
Rosaleen’s cousin, Eileen Greene;
Julie Thompson & her daughter, Danielle;
Alex Kelly, Cecilia Wilkinson’s nephew.
Our Sisters:
Olcan Watt
Cephas Wearden
Evelyn Wilson
Brigid Mary Wright
Margaret Collins
Carmel Comerford
Mary Sloan
CORRECTION: Please pray for Cecilia Foley’s two brothers: Michael, who has been ill for
some time, and Tony, who has been admitted to hospital.
(My apologies to both Cecilia Foley & Cecilia Wilkinson for the confusion in last week’s Post—
Michael and Tony are brothers to Cecilia Foley and not Cecilia Wilkinson!)
Anne Taylor and Carmel Gorman were
part of the large crowd gathered at St
Gemma’s for the LIGHT UP A LIFE
Ceremony. Families gathered to light a
light in memory of those who had died
during the year. Lights were lit for Julie by
the Elmleigh Community, Julie’s London
cousins and Anne Taylor.
Wednesday 28th November was my last day of volunteering at the Destitution Project
Drop-In. Sister Barbara has been unable to attend for some time now. As many of you
will know, this is held in Victoria Hall, the Methodist Church in Bolton town centre.
Just before lunch, as everyone was gathering (asylum seekers and volunteers, about 100
in all), Rev Paul Martin, the Methodist Minister arrived. He was well able to project his
voice above the hubbub and get everyone’s attention. He explained that I was leaving
and he wanted to thank myself and Sister Barbara, in her absence, for all the help we
have given in so many ways to asylum seekers and refugees for the best part of 20
years. Not only had we been present with people needing help, but we had been able
to encourage support from others, both financial and otherwise, in aid of the Project.
Rev Paul stressed that our motivation was a sense of Mission, love of God and of all
God’s people, especially those on the margins of society.
I was then presented with gifts, in particular a framed photograph of all our volunteers
and a lovely watercolour of Rivington Pike, painted for me by Diane, who does art work
with all who want to join in.
However, although I was the one to receive gifts, Rev Paul’s words were a tribute of
appreciation not only for myself and Sister Barbara but for all our Sisters, individually
and corporately, who have supported and continue to support this project. So a BIG
THANK YOU to you all.
Sister Christine
Like St Paul of the Cross, Father Ignatius Spencer found that his noble lineage opened doors to
popes, prelates and princes. Hence, as he crossed Austria, pleading for prayers for the Conversion
of England, he could record in his Diary on 7 September 1856, ‘Saw Comte Stuart and family,
Pressburg’. On the following day he wrote, ‘After supper two hours with Comtesse Stuart’ and on 9
September he wrote, ‘From 9.30 two hours with the Stuart Ladies’. Who were these Stuart Ladies?
Bonnie Prince Charlie, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, had a son. When this son grew up, he had two
sons: the older, John Sobieski Stuart, and the younger, Charles Edward Stuart. This Charles Edward
Stuart married a young widow, Anne Gardiner, previously Anne
Beresford, daughter of the Rt Hon John de la Poer Beresford, brother of
the first Marquis of Waterford. In 1826, at the invitation of the Earl of
Moray, the two Stuart brothers with Charles Edward’s wife and family
went to live at Milton Brodie near Forres in the Highlands of Scotland. In
1829 they moved to Logie House, Forres.
Charles Edward and Anne already had three children, great-
grandchildren of Bonnie Prince
Charlie: Marie Stuart, Charles Edward
Stuart and Louisa Sobieski Stuart.
Their fourth, Clementina Stuart, was
born, according to our Records, in 1830 in Scotland, probably
therefore at Logie House.
In 1838 Lord Lovat gave them the beautiful Island of Eilean Aigas
near Beauly, on the River Beauly, where they built a wooden
lodge.
They were all
highly educated and attended Mass at the
Catholic church in Eskadale. Eventually, their
uncle and father were also buried here, as
indicated by the Celtic Memorial Cross, John
Sobieski Stuart in 1872 and Charles Edward
Stuart in 1880, after dying on a steamer while returning from a holiday in Biarritz.
They all remained at Eilean Aigas until 1845, when John Sobieski Stuart married. Then they went to
live in Austria, where the younger Charles Edward Stuart served in the Austrian Imperial Army and
it was in Austria that Father Ignatius Spencer met them in 1856.
Their friendship continued, for on 13 July 1863 Marie Stuart wrote to Father Ignatius:
My sister and I have been thinking again, lately, of the subject on which I once wrote to you
before, of a convent life. My dear father is averse to our trying it at present, and we wish to take
only your advice, leaving everything in God’s hands….. I shall never forget, my dear Father, the
impression it made on me, when first I heard of your Order, when first I saw the Sacred Heart on
your robe….. Pray recommend us to the prayers of the dear Sisters of the Holy Family [future Cross
Why did St Paul of the Cross pray for England? Watch this space!
PART 12: FATHER IGNATIUS SPENCER & MARIE & CLEMENTINA STUART
Logie House, Forres, probable birthplace of Sr
Ignatius Stuart
The house is the white building. There is a No Trespassing sign
at the top of the lane leading to it.
and Passion Sisters]. I long to hear again of them. When you have time to spare, dear Father, do
send us one of the little ‘Memorials’ for the Conversion of England.
According to his Diary, Father Ignatius Spencer wrote a long letter to Marie Stuart on 6 August 1864,
only two months before he died on 1 October 1864.
Clementina entered the novitiate at Holy Cross Convent, Sutton, St Helens on 1 June 1865. She
received the Habit there from Father Bernardine Carosi CP on 21 November 1865 with the name,
Sister Mary Ignatius and she made her Vows, taking the devotion of Jesus Crucified, before Bishop
William Turner of Salford, in Pilkington Street Convent, Bolton, Lancashire on 21 November 1867.
By then Father Ignatius Paoli CP was looking after the Sisters’ affairs, especially in Rome where their
Rule was being scrutinised for final approval. In 1870, however, he was appointed Bishop of
Nicopolis in Bulgaria. He immediately told Rev Mother Mary Margaret Chambers that he wished to
take the Sisters there, too. In 1872 he wrote to say he was founding a college and a cathedral and
the Sisters appointed to join him should learn French, Italian and German. Such a request
guaranteed that Sister Ignatius Stuart would be one of them! On 4 September 1873 she, the
American Sister Anne Joachim Flanagan and the Irish Sister Agatha Kenny went to pray at the grave
of their Foundress, Mother Mary Joseph (Elizabeth Prout) and then left for Bulgaria via France and
Austria. Marie Stuart, who never married, had died at Beaumanoir on the Loire on 22 August 1873,
only thirteen days before Sister Ignatius Stuart left England.
The Sisters arrived in Routschouk, now Ruse, by 14 January 1874 and were soon teaching in the
school and doing parish visitation. Two years later, however, the Turkish War broke out, during
which the Bulgarian Atrocities against Christians forced the Sisters to flee. They went to Bucharest
(nowadays the capital of Romania), where Bishop Ignatius Paoli and Brother Alphonsus Zeegers CP
built the Cathedral, and then he transferred them to Craiova. They were doing extremely well there
with a school for more than a hundred poor children and numbers of postulants and novices, some
of whom were already teachers. Sister Anne Joachim died in 1883, however, and in the next year or
so their numbers were divided between Craiova and Braila and a return to Roustschouk.
Nevertheless, when Sister Ignatius returned to England in 1885 to give a report to the General
Chapter it was received with joy and approval and when she returned to Eastern Europe she took
four postulants with her. Towards the end of the Chapter, however, the capitulars had received
word that Archbishop Ignatius Paoli had died. When Sister Ignatius arrived in Braila she discovered
that the archdiocese had been subdivided and the new bishop there was ordering the Sisters to
leave Braila. Other insurmountable difficulties followed, including the death of Sister Angela Kenny
in 1887, until finally in 1890 the last Sisters were recalled.
Sister Ignatius Stuart had returned in 1887 and been sent to teach in Kilcullen, where her language
and art classes were highly successful. It must have been the only school in Ireland where the pupils
could learn Hungarian!
In 1893, however, Sister Ignatius became unwell and returned to Sutton, St Helens, where she died
of bronchitis on 9 January 1894. Her Requiem Mass was sung by the Passionist Fathers and
Brothers and then she was buried beside the Foundress, Mother Mary Joseph (Elizabeth Prout) in St
Anne’s cemetery beside the Passionist church and monastery.
Her grave is in the far corner
beyond the white stone which
marks where Mother Mary
Joseph (Elizabeth Prout) was
buried before her remains were
exhumed and transferred to the
Shrine of Blessed Dominic Barberi CP, Sutton.
In her subsequent annual letter to the Congregation Rev
Mother Josephine Magee referred to her as dear, revered
and distinguished Sister M Ignatius (Stuart d’Albanie).
Sister M Ignatius’ distinction in the world is well known to
the seniors of the Congregation, she wrote. Her religious
life was one of exemplary piety, zeal and love of God,
beloved by all the Sisters whose happy privilege it was to
have known and, still more, to have lived with her.
What a wonderful response her life had been to the prayers of both St Paul of the Cross and Father
Ignatius Spencer! Sr Dominic Savio CP
The inscription on the lower part of the headstone over the grave