SMC Alumnae Benedictines: a Joyous Occasion

Recently in February two SMC alumnae advanced in the religious life as sisters of St. Joseph Monastery, a convent that is the “twin” of the Benedictine community of monks at Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery, both located in Silver City, NM.  During a solemn high Mass celebrated by Bishop Fellay on the Feast of St. Scholastica, February 10, Sr. Mary Agnes (Joanne Gallagher, SMC ’14), having completed a two-year novitiate, made her first vows and received the veil from the bishop.  After she and another former novice, Sr. Mary Magdalene, read and signed their temporary vows of Stability, Conversion of Life, and Obedience before the altar, a beautiful affirmation of their ardent commitment to their divine Spouse was read: “Behold that which I have desired, now I see; that which I have hoped for, now I hold; to Him I am joined in heaven Whom on earth I have esteemed and loved with all devotion".

The next day, on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, the community celebrated the investiture of Sr. Mary Lucy (Annabel King, SMC ‘18), who, having completed a six-month postulancy, begins the two-year novitiate.  Bishop Fellay celebrated the solemn high Mass during which she received the Benedictine habit and her religious name in a dramatic ceremony that emphasizes the novice’s divesture of self.  Dressed as a bride adorned for her wedding, the novice kneels before the bishop who takes her jewelry and cuts her hair.  She then leaves the sanctuary and returns dressed in the habit to receive the veil, belt, and scapular from the bishop.  Following the Mass, participants sang the Te Deum while processing to the monastery where Sr. Mary Lucy was received by the community into the cloister and solemnly entrusted by Bishop Fellay to the care of the superior, Sr. Mary Agnes. 

Other Benedictine Religious St. Marys College Alumnae are Sr. Mary Veronica (Moira Quain, SMC '17)  and Sr. Mary Catherine (Angela Maddeford, SMC '17)