RESPONSE FINAL_W_ 4_24_18-WEB

SPRING/SUMMER 2018 PAGE 13
An “unmet friend” is someone who although
you have never met, is a person you
“know’; a person whose story influences
your life though you don’t know him/her
personally.
Sr. Carol then wove the story of each of their
lives into the beginnings and development of
the Congregation in Europe and the United
States. As a priest in St. Jacques Parish in Douai
in northern France, Fr. Debrabant learned of four
needle workers who attended mass in the parish and
taught catechism and needle skills to neighborhood girls.
They were our first “Partners in Mission”. Fr. Debrabant
believed strongly in the need for Christian education and
established small schools staffed by women of his fledgling
religious congregation wherever he ministered.
Palmyre Daumerie was born in 1849 in a small town in
Belgium, near the French border. She attended the parish
school staffed by members of the new congregation of
Dames de la Sainte Union. At sixteen, she entered the
Congregation and probably received the habit and her
religious name, Marie Helena, from Fr. Debrabant.
FATHER JEAN BAPTISTE DEBRABANT
MOTHER MARIE HELENA, SUSC
In 1886 she was chosen to
lead a group of ten sisters
to Sacred Heart Parish,
Fall River, MA to teach
the children of Irish immigrants.
Before her death in
1937, Mother Helena established
schools in MA, RI, NY
and MD.
Sr. Carol concluded by asking her
audience if these ’persons of influence’,
Fr. Debrabant and the first group of needle workers
in Douai, the nine sisters who accompanied Mother Helena
to Fall River and all the women who have ever been Holy
Union Sisters, as well as their friends, benefactors, associates
and colleagues were not indeed “All persons of
influence and unmet friends” to one another? To which
those listening responded with a resounding “Yes”.
Glimpses from the Valentine Social.
Valentine
Social
The intent of the Valentine Social was to have a simple gathering around Valentine’s
Day when people might have wanted a break from the winter doldrums and enjoy
a gathering in the Holy Union spirit.
Individual donors, business sponsors, sisters, associates and friends combined energies
and generosity to provide an event that even a sultry, rainy day could not
keep people from enjoying. Judging from the above photos, all the goals of this
Holy Union gathering were met.