Work From Home Jobs Akron

Canticle of Welcome - Chapter 3

1917 - 1965Missions and Ministries

Chapter 3

Missions, ministries, activities of

1900 through 1965

Food and Fun, Song and Prayer,

and various Customs and Devotions

Health Care of our Sisters

Just after the turn of the century, in 1902, Buffalo hosted the Pan American Exposition. And our sisters became noticeably multi-ethnic both in ministry and membership and pan American as well. By mid-century we saw movement toward a more global vision.

Our sisters continued in many of the mostly German-speaking missions and went out to new ones as the need was made known. Additionally, our sisters ventured into more and more English speaking parishes, and parishes with large Polish and Italian populations mixed in with Irish and / or German neighborhoods. Brave pioneer sisters ventured by boat to Porto (as it was spelled in the early decades of the 20th century) Rico and responded to vocations with a novitiate there for a time. At St. John Maron parish school in Buffalo as well as Mary Keller Hospital in Scranton, our sisters came to know Slavic peoples and some women from those cultures joined us too.

Our membership enriched by our ministerial experiences and over time, a new sense of what it means to be American and Catholic as well as Franciscan and global brought our common heart and common mind to new understandings of the people of God.

This chapter brings us through the 1960s when the world-changing event of Vatican II ushered in a new wave of renewal.

Visitation of the BVM, Buffalo

The Sisters of St. Francis staffed this school from January 29, 1900, through July 31, 1954. At that time, the school was transferred to the Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The growth of railroads contributed greatly to the development of Buffalo's East Side. Population centers grew up along the terminals of the railways. By 1897, families living in the "rail surrounded Lovejoy community" were within the territorial boundaries of St. Agnes Parish at Benzinger and Ludington streets. This parish was using German at the time for services. A census conducted in the fall of 1897 indicated that there were enough English - speaking Catholics to form a parish, and so Visitation Parish came into being. Father Daniel O'Brien came as the pastor.

By Christmas 1899 a combination church-school building was ready for Mass and school began on January 29, 1900, with 130 pupils and three Sisters of St. Francis from Pine Street. These sisters lived at St. Agnes Convent until 1903, when the parish provided a convent of their own. In 1922, a new convent was built for the sisters.

When Sister Hilda died in March 1911, her funeral was held at Visitation Church.

In 1916, the four-room school held grades 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7, 8, and 9. In 1918, four sisters taught 180 pupils and received $200 each for the school year. In 1920, the 9th grade was dropped.

In March 1943, Mr. Murphy of Catholic University of America praised the upper grade teacher, Sister M. Good Counsel, and the first grade teacher, Sister M. Jean Baptiste, for the teaching of music. The Convent Chronicle tells that Mr. Murphy was "very well pleased with tonality and expression."

In 1937 during repairs, the church and school were closed from August to November. Masses were held in a tent on the church lawn. The sisters conducted school for the 230 children in the convent, in the rectory, and in the Dundon home at 227 Greene Street.

At the June 1943 graduation, the Chronicle states: "Many compliments received on beautiful singing of two-part hymns and other selections." The children's choir of this school sang on WEBR radio on October 28, 1945.

During the 1947 Eucharistic Congress in Buffalo, our sisters at Visitation led their students in grades 7 and 8 to take part in the Vespers at Civic Stadium and the children in grades 4 through 8 to the Children's Mass at the Stadium. In November 1947, the parish observed its 50th anniversary.

In the fall of 1951, our sisters set up religious instructions for the public school children.

In 1954, at the request of Bishop Burke, the Sisters of St. Francis left the school in the hands of the Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Our sisters left the convent on August 11, 1954. They left the convent furnished and the school supplied.

Around 1970, the parish registration began to decline, related to the declining use of railroads. Over time, the Irish moved out and the Polish moved in. In 1970, the school was closed. Some children transferred to nearby St. Agnes School. The Lovejoy Elderly and Youth, Inc. has rented the second floor of the church / school building since the early 1980s. The parish observed its centennial in 1998 at a special Mass on August 2 with Bishop Henry Mansell presiding.

Blocher Land / open to new possibilities

In our Motherhouse Chronicle, we read about the beginnings of Holy Family Home on Reist Street in Williamsville.

"During the month of January 1901, Mr. John Blocher offered to give our community one hundred acres of land in Williamsville, New York, with the condition that we construct a building to serve as a home for the aged. Although this offer was generous yet the execution of the condition was very difficult at this particular time as we were erecting the institution in Gardenville and were in need of all the funds we could receive.

"However, after praying for enlightenment, consultation with friends, much consideration and the promise of very material aid from respectable gentlemen in Williamsville, we made the resolution, January 27, 1901, to accept this gift trusting in the aid of Divine Providence and friends for the assistance we should need.

"Miss Emma Goehres of Buffalo, New York, gave the stones for the foundation of this building (Holy Family Home) and Mr. Schusler gave 13, 000 bricks for it and the hauling was gratis, too."

December 27, 1902

Perpetual Adoration

On December 27, Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament was established at Pine Street. In May 1902, two of our Sisters had traveled to Quebec to learn more about Perpetual Adoration.

We read in the Motherhouse Chronicle:

"November 3, 1902, Mother M. Juliana and Sr. M. Ignatia went to Quebec to visit the Franciscan Sisters because they too had Perpetual Adoration either by day or by night or both in Rome and in nearly all of their mission houses. They remained with the Sisters for one week to learn about this devotion after which they went to St. Anne de Beaupr, and received Holy Communion during the Mass of exposition. After remaining there one day they left for Toronto where they heard Mass in St. Patrick's Church after which they returned to Buffalo."

December 27, 1902

A Day - noted in our Annals with Gold Letters

We read in our Motherhouse Chronicle:

"December twenty-seventh nineteen hundred two, the feast of St. John the Evangelist was a memorable day for our community, a day of joy, honor and glory, a day which should be noted in our annals with gold letters. The day on which the Most Rev. James E. Quigley, Bishop of Buffalo, in the presence of many of the clergy of the diocese and the Sisters of our community solemnly and canonically established the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel of our Mother House, 337 Pine Street, Buffalo, N.Y.

"After the celebration of the Rt. Rev. Bishop, assisted by the vicar General, Rt. Rev. Connery and Father Biden invested four young ladies in the holy habit of the Sisters of St. Francis. Solemn High Mass was then celebrated by Rev. Albert Frank, CSSR, assisted by Rev. A. Bachmann, deacon, Rev. George Weber, sub-deacon, and Rev. John Schauss, master of ceremonies.

"After the High Mass the Rt. Rev. Bishop addressed a sermon to the assembled priests, Sisters and people explaining the great privilege that had been granted to our community by the establishing of Perpetual Adoration. After the sermon, the Rev. John Schauss read the document in the German and English languages the tenor of which is as follows:

"Approbation of the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament canonically established in the chapel of St. Francis Asylum, 337 Pine Street, Buffalo, N.Y., December 27, 1902."

A copy of this letter of Approbation was reprinted in our Centennial booklet of 1963.

This longtime and special devotion moved to Mill Street in 1928 when our sisters moved to their new motherhouse in Williamsville. The practice was adjusted to be a daytime only devotion in 1992. In 1999, with the move to 201 Reist Street, the day adoration was moved and continues to this day.

St. Mary of the Assumption Parish, Swormville

Crossroads of Hospitality

The program cover of the first Old Swormville Day of May 19, 1991, highlights this hamlet as the "Crossroads of Hospitality." The primeval forest of the area served as land of the Senecas (Nun-de-wag-ga) from which the name of Tonawanda derives.

In the 1820s and 30s, German farm families settled along the stretch of Transit Road north of the Canal Settlement at Pendleton on Tonawanda Creek. In 1839, these Catholic families built a log cabin chapel at Transit and Dodge, about a quarter mile from the present location.

St. John Neumann came to this area of Transit north of Millersport in the late 1830s and celebrated Mass for the farm families, sometimes at the Herberger home on Transit, and also at the log chapel. The Herberger table on which John Neumann prayed the Mass has been preserved and is in the Heritage Room of the Sisters of St. Francis.

A one-room stone building served as school from 1861 onwards with 120 pupils taught by the pastor.

By 1890, Leo Roy taught 130 pupils in the stone school. In 1901, the parishioners built a new and renovated the old rectory in a school on the first floor and a convent on the second.

The Sisters of St. Francis arrived on April 1, 1902. They kept the Convent Chronicle in German through April 1912 when it abruptly changes to English with no explanation. Also in 1912, the school fees were discontinued. School opened in September with 115 pupils. In 1912, the New York State of Regents approved a Junior Academic High School.

Entertainment by the school children was performed in June 1913 for the pastor's feast day and again for the closing of the school year. St. Mary's Academy held its own Regents exams.

Like most convent chronicles of the time, this one also mentions the Spanish Influenza of October and November 1918.

After World War I, new families moved into the area and the school enrollment went up. ON October 1, 1930, the cornerstone for a new school was put in place. Despite the worst year of the Great Depression - 1931, construction continued, and in November 1931, the new school welcomed 300 students in grades 1 to 8 as well as grades 9 & 10.

In 1922, the parish did a complete renovation of the convent which included stained glass windows for the chapel, screens for all the windows, and clothes lockers for the rooms. During the 1920s, school registration hovered around 150. When it climbed to 184 pupils in September 1928, the 10th grade was dropped to alleviate the crowding. Also, in September 1928, a parish meeting was called to abolish the troublesome trustee system.

Electricity was put in the convent in 1928 and in the same year, the dormitories were partially partitioned into cells. Because of the heating system, complete partitioning could not be done. The chronicler notes that in 1929, both during the week before Christmas and the week after, the convent had no electricity and thus no heat, no stove for cooking, and no lights, and that "this deprivation (was) high felt."

A four-room brick school with a second floor auditorium, built in 1908, was replaced by the second school in 1931. The 1908 building, used as storage for many years, was demolished in only recently. In January 1933, the first and second year of high school closed out when the sister teaching most of it became ill and there were no funds to hire a lay teacher.

The chronicler notes that in June 1935, the school held not entertainment and that the commencement exercises were held in church. By 1938, the school was back to its former entertainment and commencement in the school building.

Between 1936 and 1940, a tuition of $50 a year for each pupil was the only income the sisters received. In the 1940s and 50s, the registration hovered around 150. The chronicler notes that with new liturgical directives, the first evening Mass took place on March 11, 1953, and the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil Mass on April 9.

On May 30, 1952, the Swormville sisters invited the seven Dominican sisters from Maryvale (Mother of Diving Grace in Cheektowaga) out for the day. On June 6, Sister rose brought her 38 eighth graders from St. Bartholomew's out for a visit. In September 1952, the sisters of St. Bart's and Swormville picnicked together at Akron Park.

In the 1950s, the extra house sister for cooking and laundry was discontinued. The enrollment climbed into the 300s and by 1955 reached 375 pupils. For the first time in the history of the school, the chronicler notes, there were eight single grades and no combined grades.

On May 4, 1958, the sisters hosted an open house in their convent as a vocation project as well as a gratitude project to parishioners for continuing convent improvements.

In August 1979, Sister Sheila Anne Burke came to St. Mary's as school principal and she continues with this to the present day. In the 1980s, the school had all lay teachers with Sister Regis and Sister Marie Eugene assisting with reading, school library, testing, and other tasks. The school began to offer an early childhood program in 1986.

When Sister Mary Reichelderfer taught at Swormville, she was "known for her unique vocabulary in our awards gatherings, " Sister Sheila Anne noted, and also for the best school songs that her classes wrote."

Sister Fidelis Scalzo assisted with primary reading during her time at this school. The sisters remember her love of long walks to enjoy nature.

After her return from Chicago and during her time in community leadership as director of ministry, Sister Marian Rose resided at our Swormville convent.

Sister Suzanne Hitzges lived at this convent while she administered the school at Our Lady Help of Christians in Cheektowaga. In 1995, she decided to begin ministry in St. Mary's parish and continues to this day.

A parish center attached to the school was completed in 1992. A rapid increase of housing developments in the towns of Clarence and Amherst in the 1980s brought the parish families from 750 to over 1, 300. One unidentified news clipping (probably from the Amherst / Clarence Bee) in the Convent Chronicle uses the clever heading of "Swarming to Swormsville."

In April 1993, Sister Regis died. In July 1993, Sister Marie Eugene moved to our motherhouse.

By 1958, 36 women from this parish had entered our community from families that reached back several generations. Today, families reach back five and six generations.

The annual picnic still draws rave reviews for its clam chowder. After an outdoor tent Mass and blessing of the produce, our sisters pitch in with the parishioners to help peel and cut the veggies for the famous chowder.

Sister Sheila Anne continues to lead the parish education program with lay teachers and with enrollments around 300. The primary ministry of our sisters is the parish school, which has doubled in size in the last several years due to many housing developments in the area.

Sister Suzanne Hitzges coordinates the computer literacy programs in the school as well as the school gardening team, which recently made a Parish Peace Garden and continues its upkeep.

Both sisters work with the Elizabeth ministry, which offers support groups for women who have had similar experiences such as adoption, infertility, surgery, parenting, and the death of a loved one. Sister Sheila Anne helps with the Christ Renews His Parish, a retreat program, while Sister Suzanne works with the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) program in the parish.

In 2001 - 02, the parish and our sisters observed the 100th anniversary of our presence in the school and the parish. A letter at this time indicates that we have 21 living sisters who have served at this parish and well over 100 deceased sisters who served at this parish. After much deliberation, the old school was demolished in 2001. "The bronze cross from the top of the building was made into a lovely monument, Sister Sheila Anne said, "at the new East Wing which is dedicated to the memory of Father Raymond Bohm and all the former students.

St. Gerard, Buffalo, and Gerard Place - late 1990s

The parish history of St. Gerard's begins with a note dated March 8, 1902 from J.E.Q. (Bishop James E. Quigley. In this note, the bishop appointed Father William J. Schreck, an assistant at St. Mary of Sorrows Parish, as the new pastor of the new parish of St. Gerard's in a large, but largely unsettled section of northeast Buffalo, in the Bailey-Delevan area. The boundaries consisted of Genesee on the south, Kensington Avenue on the north, the Erie Railroad on the west, and the City Line on the east. In 1902, there were about 100 families. The first Mass was offered at 1191 Delevan Avenue in a hall / store, owned by the Gerhard Lang family.

School opened in the store at 1191 Delevan in the fall of 1902 with Sisters of St. Francis as teachers. Sister M. Robertine, Sister M. Agnes, and Sister M. James made up this first community of Franciscan sisters to be at St. Gerard's. In 1906, "a commodious convent, " as the 40th anniversary booklet puts it, was built for the sisters. The 75th anniversary booklet indicates that more than 50 sisters had taught in the school to date - 1977.

Through 1907, the Convent Chronicle was kept in German. In 1909, the chronicler lists the requests of the Mother Superior after her visitation to this convent. The sisters were to be in the convent by 6 p.m. and to go out only in pairs. On a sister's name day (feast day), there was to be recreation only at table and not for the whole day. Spiritual reading was scheduled for 8:10 to 8:25 in the evening, followed by night prayer in common at 8:30 and lights out at 9:30. Sisters were not permitted to attend weddings in their families - neither at the family home nor at the church, unless the wedding Mass was in the parish church; then, they were allowed to attend the church ceremony only. They were to avoid the parlor as much as possible. This is one of the few Chronicles that spells out all these rules of the early 20th century, but these rules were in place for all our convents and pretty much prevailed until the mid-1960s.

In 1914, the chronicler devotes two pages to a length description of the golden Jubilee of Sister Robertine (Johanna Bachmann). St. Gerard's Children's Choir with 80 singers sang the Missa Exultet for this occasion.

Multicultural enrichment came to St. Gerard's with settlements of Italian immigrants further out Delavan. In 1915, our sisters went out to this parish to sing for Mass at the time of the blessing of the bell. A mission of St. Gerard's, St. Lawrence became a parish in 1929.

In 1917, the school expanded to include Grade 9. During the 1918 Flu, school closed for a month. The chronicler makes clear that "Several of the Sisters went out nursing the sick in their homes." And she explains that some of the sisters did get sick with the Flu.

On May 26, 1927, Sister Consilia and Sister Jeanne celebrated their 25th jubilee at a solemn High Mass at the parish church with 75 of our sisters in attendance. In September of this same year, the school opened with an enrollment of 702 pupils.

The first book of the Convent Chronicle closes out in 1943 with an inventory that includes a zither and stand valued at $7, a small organ and stool valued at $52 and a piano and stool valued at $450.

Air raids along with the sale of war bonds and war stamps took up school time in the early 1940s. The sisters also spend time preparing children to sing at the annual Kleinhan's Children's concert and to be on the Catholic Schools at Work radio program. The upper grade students participated in singing Vespers at the cathedral in September 1946.

Most of our sisters, both as children in Catholic schools and later as teachers, remember the ransom of Pagan Babies. Sacrifices made brought pennies, and nickels and dimes, to the teacher who then sent it to the Pontifical Association of the Holy Child for distribution to children in mission areas. The sponsoring class chose a name for the Pagan Baby and proudly displayed the certificates with those names in their classroom. This brought the children into a multicultural awareness of children in other lands. And parents and teachers alike used the warning - "Eat your food; children in other lands are starving" - to get children to eat foods they didn't like.

In the 1950s, the school reached an enrollment of 775 pupils; in the 1970s, there were 530 pupils. The faculty roster for September 1970 includes two men as lay teachers. By and large in all our school up to this point, the lay teachers had been women. By 1974, student enrollment was about 370. Our sisters continued to staff the school along with several lay teachers until 1986.

From its early days, the parish held missions - preached by the German Jesuits associated with St. Michael's in Buffalo and Canisius College. Redemptorists, Passionists, Brown Franciscans, Black Franciscans, and Fathers of the Precious Blood also preached these missions over the years. It is likely that the Sisters working in the parish attended these missions. And it is worth noting that many of these same orders of priests preached the sisters annual retreats at the motherhouse.

The chronicler tells how a Franciscan priest came in March 1957 for visitation, spoke privately with each sister beginning with the youngest, and visited all the cells and inspected the chapel and tabernacle. In the summer of 1957, our sisters ran a summer school for children in grades 1 to 7 and this continued here for many summers. In May 1968, two of St. Gerard's sisters served on the newly formed parish council.

"In the fall of 1990, " the chronicler narrates, "St. Gerard's local community became a collegial community. During the year several meetings were held to provide the necessary input to help us form a collegial community." One sister served as the contact person for business and social matters. A member of the congregational council served as official superior of the house but did not reside in the local convent. Decisions made at the local level came from discussions and decisions agreed upon by the sisters. In June 1992, after several episodes of convent break-ins and damaged cars, the sisters chose to move on to other convents. St. Gerard's convent closed in June 1992.

Our connection to this parish remains in place as some of our sisters are involved with Gerard Place, an apartment complex for single parent families in need. This story is told in the final chapter of this book.

St. Cecilia's, Sheldon

St. Cecilia's, established as a parish in 1848 as the first Catholic parish in the western half of Wyoming was one of the oldest German Catholic parishes in the diocese. The school at Sheldon was started in the same year.

In 1902, four sisters of St. Francis came to staff the four-room schoolhouse with the convent in the same building. Under Father John Pfluger as pastor, the building was completed by 1906. Sister Borromeo served as the first superior and principal with Sister Agatha, Sister Evangelista, and Sister Pacifica assisting in the school and convent.

The Convent Chronicle for St. Cecilia's in Sheldon was kept in German from August 25, 1902, through December 1920. In 1921, the chronicler begins to write in English. She notes the deaths of sisters as they learn about them from the motherhouse, the First Communion of 17 children, the graduation of 8th graders, and the retreats that the sisters attended at the motherhouse. In 1922, the sisters purchased a piano. She notes in 1923, that there were 10 graduates and in 1925, only two, both boys.

In 1924, the sisters' dormitory was partitioned into cells. The sisters used the back part of the building, first and second floors. The front of the building contained the classrooms, two on first and two on second. The third floor was a large auditorium with a stage. The school remained a four-room schoolhouse into the 1960s. Sometime earlier, the third floor had been condemned as a firetrap and was not in use. A small bedroom was built in the front of the building as a quarantine room for sisters with tuberculosis.

In 1926, enrollment was up to 90, largely because of a Confirmation class for upper grades. On October 11, 1926, Bishop Turner came out and confirmed 56 children. He also held canonical visitation with the sisters. In October 1931, Bishop Turner came again to confirm 75.

In 1929, running water was put in for the first floor lavatory. Well water used for plumbing had a strong sulfur smell and the sisters had local farmers bring spring water for drinking and cooking. This water arrived in large milk cans.

School opened in the fall of 1929 with only 31 students. In the fall of 1930, 85 came, but only 39 came through the winter months. Over the years, Sister Joanna, Sister Priscilla, Sister Jeanne, and Sister Marie Louise conducted school visitations.

In the spring of 1937, an epidemic of measles and whooping cough closed the school for a while. School closed again in September 1939 during an outbreak of Infantile Paralysis. In 1949, the 100th anniversary of the parish was observed.

In 1959, St. Cecilia Convent received a 1959 Chevrolet from St. Francis Hospital. Now, making transfers involved not only organists for the country parishes, but also drivers. In 1966, the convent received a new car and also a new clothes drier. The chronicler noted: "Our hanging days are over."

Among the sisters who played the organ at this country parish were Sister Alicia, Sister Marita, Sister Edna, Sister Nelson, and Sister Fran Gangloff. In 1967, when Sister Fran left Sheldon, a sister organist was no longer provided.

This Chronicle uses the term "superioress' for the sister in charge. Among the amusing incidents at this convent was the time one July 4 in the late 1960s. Sister Maurice noticed how hot the day was and she said a couple of times to the other sisters: "I wish Sister Superior would tell us we could have some ice cream." After about the third time, the other sisters said to her: "You are the superior, you know." And the three sisters had a great ice cream party and a good laugh each time they retold the story.

In May 1936, a busload of sisters from the motherhouse came out for a country picnic. The three convents in Wyoming County often got together for visits with prayer and meals. The sisters from Strykersville, North Java, and Sheldon visited each other and planned events for all three convents. In 1971, they celebrated "Wyoming Day" on Ascension Thursday. Many times, the sisters from city convents came out, especially in the summer, for rest and relaxation. Some stayed longer periods of time.

St. Cecilia Convent and School at 999 Centerline Road in Sheldon closed in 1971. The sisters left On August 6, 1971. The Chronicle notes this as "the close of another chapter." Indeed, each convent and school could be an entire chapter of a history book.

In 1973, the parish celebrated its 125th anniversary and in 1998, its 150th. In July 1998, for the 150th, a special Mass and dinner included a blessing of a new statue of St. John Neumann in a garden between the church and the rectory. Sheldon is one of the places that Father Neumann visited in his 1836 to 1840 stay in western New York.

Holy Family Home,

Reist Street, Williamsville

On a parcel of land of the 120 acres donated by Mr. K. Blocher, in memory of his deceased son John, the Sisters of St. Francis added an annex to the existing farmhouse to create a home for the aged in Williamsville. According to the Convent Chronicle for Holy Family Home, Mr. Blocher's land came "with the understanding that a home for the aged would be erected thereon." Our leadership of those days oversaw the construction of a new two-story frame building.

On April 28, 1902, "Rev. Mother Juliana and three sisters quietly opened this home by accepting two men." When the sisters discovered much needed water in a new well in January 1903, they named the well St. Anthony's well. On July 1, 1903, at 6 p.m., the Chronicle notes: "The Wind Mill was ready for use."

In June 1903, the sisters held the first Mass in their new convent chapel. At Holy Family Home's dedication, the sisters and residents sang Maria zu lieben - Mary, we love you as they processed around the house.

The chronicler writes of stables repaired and cows purchased in August 1903. She also tells that milk was delivered daily to the home and convent on Pine Street. In September, our sisters purchased Kuhn's farm, about 24 acres, adjacent to our property, and moved the buildings up near Holy Family Home. Workers attached Kuhn's farmhouse to the left wing of the home and this made room for eight more men. The chronicler indicates that "The Kuhn Mill was turned into a fine barn." On November 23, 1904, this barn was blessed and the cows and calves as well as the hay and straw were moved over from the old barn.

On October 19, 1904, workers drilled a new well and struck water at 65 feet. The sisters named this new well Holy Family Well.

When a sister died on April 10, 1905, her funeral was held at SS. Peter and Paul in the village. During the warm weather of 1905, farm workers built a new hen house as well as a new silo.

Among many others sisters present for the occasion, Sister M. Francis Bachmann attended the blessing of the new bell by Bishop Colton on January 26, 1906. This bell rang three times a day for the Angelus prayer, at 6 a.m. and at noon and at 6 p.m.

When Sister Gerturdis died in December 1907, "Sister M. Robertine presided at the organ, " and Sister M. Francis and Mother Juliana chanted the Requiem High Mass.

Our pioneer sisters, ever resourceful and creative, found ways to improve practical things. In August 1909, Sister Bernadette, then superior, devised a plan for a new bridge over Ellicott Creek and supervised the men in residence as they constructed the new bridge, which replaced a single plank used to get to and from the garden areas. In December 1910, our sisters signed a contract with Federal Telephone Frontier System and once installed, sent the first message to the Pine Street motherhouse. Electric lights were installed in 1913.

An Italian painter, Caeser Antozzi of Buffalo, did the decorative painting of the chapel in the home as well as the little outdoor votive chapel near the embankment, which was used in the summer months. The annual Corpus Christi procession took place outdoors with services at the outdoor chapel. In 2003, our sisters renovated this little chapel in the cemetery.

In 1912, work began on the addition of a new wing on the southeast side of the main house. In 1914, the north wing came to completion and village water was brought indoors to the home.

The St. Joseph statue was placed on Holy Family's front lawn in time for his feast day in March 1916.

Throughout this history, we have tried to stay mindful of Kunigunda / Sister M. Francis, and so we include the September 17, 1922, entry in the Chronicle: "Ven. Sister M. Francis came from Mother-house as Superioress of Holy Family Home." Less than a week later, she was dealing with plans for a new addition to the northeast side, an area that would enlarge the chapel and the sisters' convent area. When this came to completion, the sisters held an open house in April 1923, and 23 sisters came to the housewarming. In April 1925, the staff hosted a Mission and a Forty Hours Devotion for the residents and sisters. Sister M. Francis left Holy Family in 1925 to a post as superior of the Pine Street St. Francis Home.

During her years at Holy Family, Sister M. Francis was also a member of the general council of the congregation, a position she held in three-year terms from 1907 to 1910, and 1913 through 1925.

By 1936, serious concerns arose about keeping the home open. While the Chronicle gives no reasons for these concerns, we learn elsewhere that new state regulations for health and general fire safety regulations could not be met with wooden frame construction.

In January 1937, Holy Family residents moved to St. Francis Home in Gardenville to St. Francis Home on Pine Street, and to St. Mary of the Angels on Mill Street where the men occupied the first floor on the east side and the women the second and fourth floors, also on the east side. The 13 sisters were reassigned.

The Blocher Family

A monument at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo memorializes the early death of John Blocher. He fell in love with a servant girl and forbidden by his parents to marry her, he died in his 20s - of a broken heart, some say. The life-size monument depicts John on his deathbed with his parents at his side. An angel face, that of his beloved, they say, hovers above his head. The Blocher family also gave land on Evans Street where Blocher Home for the Elderly now sits.

1939 to 1965

As early as 1941, our sisters made plans to build a new Holy Family Home on the site of the former frame house on our Reist Street property, but these plans never materialized. We made a 1941 agreement with a gentleman to move the chicken house off our property and took other measures to get ready to build. Documents of the early 1940s include proposals and projected costs as well as letters of permission and intent.

When we learned in 1944 that Catholic Charities planned to build the new St. Francis Home on Reist Street, our plans for Holy Family went into limbo for a couple of decades.

The new Holy Family Home was constructed in the early 1960s and that story picks up later in the chronology of the 1960s decade.

St. Francis Home, Gardenville

When St. Francis Home observed its Centennial in 1962, it was observing its history in three separate locations: Pine Street in Buffalo, the annex in Gardenville, and the recent modern building on Reist Street in Williamsville.

A graphic titled, Das Eine Haus - Our First House, used in the centenary observance of St. Francis Home, refers to the little mid 19th century home on Pine Street where the first sisters took into their own home poor persons in need of care.

From those simple beginnings, a two-story frame building was completed in 1862 on Pine near Broadway in downtown Buffalo. In 1866, St. Francis Asylum was housed in a two-story brick building. A chapel was added later.

As many generous young women entered the community, more and more service could be given. In 1870, two more wings were added to St. Francis at a cost of $70, 000. Due to lack of money, the rooms used by the sisters were not plastered until five years later.

In 1882, a large four-story building was put up on the north side of Pine. In 1891 and in 1893 more additions were added to the building as funds made it possible. This complex of buildings housed the residents, some 330 of them, as well as the sisters and the novices in formation to become sisters.

At the turn of the century, space was running out and the sisters looked for more land. And when some came to them in the form of a gift, the sisters appealed to the general public for funds to build. In April 1902, a weeklong bazaar, endorsed by Bishop Quigley, was held in Convention Hall in Buffalo to raise the necessary funds.

May 1902

Dedication of St. Francis Home, Gardenville

We read in the Motherhouse Chronicle:

"May 29, 1902, The Rt. Rev. James E. Quigley blessed the chapel and institution in Gardenville, N.Y."

The Sisters of St. Francis built a home for the aged in Gardenville, on 83 acres of land donated by Regina Goetz, a sister of the deceased Sister Mary Walburga. The donated farm and house were located on Indian Church Road, West Seneca, less than two miles from the city line.

Major George J. Metzger served as architect for the new building that had a frontage of 278 feet. In his 1929 history of the Catholic institutions of the Buffalo Diocese, Father Donohue tells how the Home was built as an irregular parallelogram "so that every room has direct outside light and ventilation."

Some residents remained at Pine Street while others moved to the new location in Gardenville. Sisters supervised the work of the farm and novices did some of the work. It is interesting to note that Mother Colette Hilbert of the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph also directed a farm in Gardenville about this same time. For her community, as for ours, the area and the farm work proved to be a mixed blessing. The advantage of country air and food and milk for the city had to be balanced against having sisters to teach or to farm. The travel distance had to be factored in.

In 1902, the convent at 14 Holy Helpers was closed and the school sisters from there lived at the Home and commuted back and forth.

The Convent Chronicle begins and continues in German with typed pages of translation inserted through 1910. In 1902, the chronicler listed the donors and what their donation bought for the chapel, the convent, and the residential floors.

In 1903, the chronicler recorded the Three Kings procession that went through the house and marked with chalk the tops of doors with the initials of the kings:

19 + C + M + B + 03

"The remaining chalk was powered and fed to the cattle, " the chronicler wrote. She also describes the ceremonies for Candlemas Day and Holy Week.

Ellen O'Keefe, a woman in her mid-60s who wished to found her own congregation, came to Gardenville in March 1903 to make her novitiate with our novices. On December 15, 1903, she received the habit and the name of Sister Mary Zita. On the same day, "as foundress of the Congregation of Reparation of the Congregation of Mary, she became at once Rev. Mother Zita, " our chronicler noted.

In October 1903, our novices began the weekly recitation on Tuesdays of the Little Office of St. Francis - "to obtain a good religious spirit for all members of the community."

From the Chronicle for 1905, we learn that Sister Rita had charge of the farm and that Sister Isadore came to take charge of the farm. Sister Isadore's severe knee pain disappeared after a novena in honor of Blessed John Neumann. She made a novena of thanksgiving. In September 1905, Sister M. Francis (Bachmann) came to Gardenville to take charge of the novices. In October 1905, Sister Francis with Sister Robertine (Bachmann) and Mother Dionysia traveled to Philadelphia for the 50th anniversary of the Institute

April 19, 1908, death of Mother Bernadine

"On this day we received word that Ven. M. Bernadine died, " we read in the Gardenville Convent Chronicle. Mother Bernadine was Anna Dorn, the third founding member of the Institute. Sister Francis, Sister Robertine, and Sister Norberta, a cousin of Mother Bernadine, traveled to Syracuse for the funeral. Mother Bernadine had served as the first mother superior of the Syracuse Franciscan sisters.

In April 1909, a musical given at Convention Hall in Buffalo raised $5, 378 for the Home. In October, our sisters purchased the 43 acres with the house and barn on the opposite side of the street with the thought that they would cultivate the land and use the house for old folks. As it turned out, the buildings were converted into St. Joseph Hospital, an enterprise our sisters began without any cash on hand. Sister M. Francis and Sister Cherubim went to Pittsburgh in May 1910 to study hospital plans, more with St. Mary's in Niagara Falls in mind than St. Joseph's. By August 1910, Sister M. Francis was on her way to Porto Rico to set up a novitiate there for native women.

While much of the Chronicle deals with the comings and goings of all these sisters, it does from time to time give details on the buildings and the farming. In March 1911, for example, they bought a new team of horses for $460. A new boiler cost $600 when the old one had cost only $30. In May, they put up a new barn at a cost of $6, 500. And in September, the new addition to the hen house was a scratcher for the chickens. Once the new barn was blessed, the horses and cows were moved to the new barn. In October, "the men" - meaning both the hired help and some of the residents - built a new house for the pigs from the lumber saved from the old barn.

On July 24, 1912, "The new pig pen was blessed and pigs were put into it. The old pig pen was torn down and the lumber used for an ice house."

"While on her morning rounds in one of the barns, " on May 24, 1919, Sister Joseph collapsed and died. This must be what they mean when they say - dying with your boots on. A full spectrum of life and its seasons emerges from this Convent Chronicle of Gardenville. The spectrum includes deaths and funerals of the elderly sisters and residents, the spiritual and social events for the residents, the sisters, the workers, the teachers going out to schools, the youthful novices, the farm work and house work including bakery and laundry, the institutional work including sisters who served as night watchman

The old folks home and the convent received electrical wiring in 1916; the rest of the buildings in 1921. Also in October 1921, they moved the old St. Joseph Hospital, renovated it and reopened it as a convent for the sisters. Late in 1923, the town of West Seneca assigned house numbers to these places. The Home was at 1153 and the building called the cottage at 1156.

Creative and resourceful as farm folks are wont to be, our sisters solved a situation in which a new laundry tumbler was too large to fit in the laundry room by switching places with the vegetable cellar. When they converted the hospital into a convent, they had the outside covered with stucco; this saved the cost of repainting, and made the building cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

The September 1925 roster of sisters names 32 with various duties. When a young sister died at age 32, the chronicle devoted almost three tightly written pages to her. "Doing all things for God, it followed that all things had to be done well, and from this came her marvelous neatness, " the Chronicle for March 26, 1927, indicates. The young sister knowing that her health was failing prepared her own clothing for her funeral. Her name was Sister Providentia.

In September 1930, another sister had surgery for a malignancy and was told that her death was only a matter of time. Sister Sebastian kept going. "Through the month remaining of her life, " the chronicler writes, "she was most considerate of those who waited on her, anxious to give as little trouble as possible, and grateful for all that was done for her. When the bell was rung, the sisters gathered in the infirmary and recited the prayers for the dying. So the entire community was present when she died." The community consisted of 28 sisters at the time. The chronicler also noted that during the summer her sister, Sister Fabian, and her cousin, Sister Romana, had taken turns sitting with her. Her funeral was held at the Gardenville Home.

"All the cows were disposed of as the pasturage is worthless" a September 1931 entry indicated, "and there is no natural water the cows can get." Back in December 1929, a chronicle entry tells us that: "During the year the pigs were gotten rid of. It had been necessary to send to Buffalo daily for food for them and while they kept us supplied with lard and drippings, the odor from the pig house was very offensive and by the superior's order, we went out of the pig business." The sisters had bad luck with the chickens too. When they received 400 chicks in June 1934 from Geiger Hatchery of Ohio, they baby chicks were three days in transit without food or water; 110 of them died.

In January 1936, they purchased 500 chicks; in February 1200. The chronicler stated that "Chickens purchased last June (1935) are an elegant lot." The average egg count per day held at 186. "During 1937, " we read in the Chronicle, "our hennery brought 105, 660 eggs valued at $2, 641. The year end summary for 1939 mentions 800 laying chickens, 28 hogs, and 125 little pigs

Harvest on the farm offers some big numbers to consider. On August 9, 1934, they thrashed 160 bushels of oats, 80 of wheat, and 11 of rye. The canning season of 1935 yielded 2, 560 gallons of canned goods. The 1939 canning season yielded 3, 497 gallons of canned food.

The summer canning list of 1937 spells out the amounts in detail in gallons: "tomatoes 1558 gallons, peaches 876, pears 258, cherries 404, raspberries 594, rhubarb 122, strawberries 102, strawberry jam 102, prunes 69, applesauce 237, apple butter 185, wax beans 330, carrots, 354, grape jelly 78, cauliflower 28. Some motherhouse sisters came to help and they took some of these canned gallons of good things home with them.

When the sisters received some money from an estate, they invested it in drilling for a gas well.

"In the vicinity of our new institution in Gardenville, gas veins were discovered. In the hope of finding enough gas to supply our requirements, we consented to allow a company to drill for gas. After having drilled 300 feet the hook was lost and they were obliged to make a new attempt. According to the contract, 1250 feet had to be drilled but this was also without result. So 150 more feet were drilled and still no gas was found. We decided God did not will it and had the work of drilling discontinued." The chronicler sums it up succinctly: "Gas well a failure, dry as clay."

Beginning in 1924, the involvement of Catholic Charities brought greater financial security to the whole operation. Entries in the Convent Chronicle refer to the Catholic Charities goal each spring and the allotment that came to St. Francis Home for the Aged.

In March 1936, we read in the Chronicle: "Quota was reached; home to receive same am't as last year. Deo Gratias." The annual charity appeal brought the home about $31, 000 a year.

In 1928, the sisters and novices moved to their new motherhouse at 400 Mill Street in Williamsville. Their rooms at Pine Street were used for residents. In 1937, when the Reist Street Holy Family Home closed, 38 of those residents relocated to Gardenville. The Home received a favorable report on the general inspection held in May 1937.

In 1940, the sisters at Gardenville began a study hour. "The Sunday Evening Study Hour was held for the first time, " we read in the October 29 entry. "The object is to become better acquainted with the life of our Holy Father Francis."

Wartime meant rationing of sugar and coffee at first and then also meat, butter, cheese, and canned goods. Also people were limited to three pair of shoes per year. Despite the war and its related hardships, the chronicler noted on Christmas Day 1943 that: "As usual, Christmas was a happy day for our residents, spiritually and socially."

As time rolled on, tighter building codes and state restrictions made it harder to maintain appropriate residential space, especially at Pine Street.

In 1954, ground was broken at the Reist Street location and $1, 100.000 was used to build the modern home with the name of St. Francis. This strand of the story will be picked up again when the text reaches the 1950s.

On March 12, 1956, there were 95 residents and 12 sisters to care for them who moved from Pine Street to St. Francis on Reist. Street. The outdated building on Pine Street was closed in 1960.

In 1956, at Gardenville, the old convent and three barns were razed. The sisters had moved into the third floor of the main building as the number of residents decreased. Six sisters taught at 14 Holy Helpers school and five at the newly formed parish of Queen of Heaven. Both groups had station wagons to drive to and from school.

By 1957, Catholic Charities announced that it would build a new home in Lancaster. As things began to wind down, a farewell dinner and Mass took place in late summer and early fall of 1959. In September, the sisters began moving things to St. Elizabeth Home.

The sisters and 78 residents of the Gardenville building moved to St. Elizabeth's in Lancaster on October 5. The Ladies of Charity and others supplied transportation by car. A few residents were moved by ambulance. The Chronicle tells us that the residents settled in by 4 in the afternoon. The dedication and blessing of St. Elizabeth's Home took place on October 7.

The cottage on the creekside of Indian Church Road in Gardenville was renovated for the 14 Holy Helper sisters. St. Francis Home for the Aged building closed on October 18 and the furnishings and fixtures went up for auction on October 23rd to 25th.

The stories of St. Francis on Reist Street, St. Elizabeth in Lancaster, and Holy Family on Mill Street are told in the decades of the 1950s and 1960s, later in Chapter 4.

Our Lady of Czestochowa, North Tonawanda

Early settlers of North Tonawanda included mostly Germans from Alsace as the history of St. Francis of Assisi Parish indicates. By the 1880s, a good number of residents of Tonawanda were Polish immigrants. Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish was set up for them. On January 10, 1905, two teaching Sisters of St. Francis (Buffalo / Williamsville) went there for the school. The author of Faith for the Journey, a history of the Felician Sisters, makes this observation: "Records do not indicate any reason for his (Rev. John Pitass) choice of an English-speaking congregation to staff a Polish school."

Within a few years, the Franciscan Sisters were asked to leave so that Felician Sisters could take over the school.

Blessed Sacrament School

at the New Cathedral, Buffalo - 1904

The first parish school was founded personally by Bishop Charles Colton in 1904. Sister M. Ambrose with three other sisters - Sister M. Fidelis, Sister M. Agnes, and Sister M. Lourdes - traveled to and from the 100-pupil school "by our own conveyance" according to a line in our motherhouse chronicle of that year. According to information from the school office, the sisters traveled by trolley (streetcar) from their convent at Broadway and Pine Streets to the school. Most likely, both were utilized.

In August 1916, Sister M. DeSales came from Strykersville to take charge of New Cathedral School.

In 1920, the school was transferred to the Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Nardins) who operated nearby Nardin Academy.

Catholic Academy of West Buffalo - 1990s

In recent years, Sister Beth N worked at this parish for a time doing development projects. Sister Jean Marie Klaus also worked as bookkeeper at this parish.

She explains that, for her, "Ministry is a mission of growth in one's love of God, the sharing of His peace and the joy of being one with each other.

"My ministry as a bookkeeper and secretary is to assist others regarding questions of concern and responding to request of the principal. It means at all times being pleasant and warm."

Sacred Heart, Bennington Center

In 1872, 33 families gathered with Bishop Stephen Ryan presiding, to dedicate Sacred Heart Church on Clinton near Route 77. By 1880, there were 87 families. In 1873, two laymen taught 50 pupils in the parish school.

In 1905, our sisters came from Pine Street in Buffalo to staff the school. The parish purchased a little house to serve as a convent. The Convent Chronicle begins on September 1, 1905, with the arrival of Sister Alma and Sister Teresa. Sister Emiliana came out on September 5th and soon thereafter, Mother Dionysia came out for visitation.

When Bishop Colton came for Confirmation on October 30, 1906, the chronicler notes that "His Lordship called at the Convent in the Afternoon and spent about half an hour with the Sisters." Even though the Chronicle is written in English, the German use of capitals for nouns prevails.

In June 1907, ground was broken for a new school that was completed by November. School opened in September by holding classes in the church. The chronicler repeats that remark made by Rev. Gibbons to the people that the old school "made a better looking barn than a school."

Typical of the rural convents once school was out in June, the sisters closed up the house and all went to the motherhouse for the summer. They made their annual weeklong retreat and helped out with work so other sisters could make retreat in a later week. The sisters returned and reopened their convent in early September 1908 in time to open school. Mother Dionysia came for the annual visitation from September 24 to 26, and left on the morning train on Saturday, the Chronicle explains.

From October 18th to the 26th, 1908, Rev. Wissel, CSSR, came to the parish and preached a mission for German-speaking people and then for English-speaking people. It is likely that the sisters attended some or all of these services and sermons.

During 1909, the parish had no resident priest for several weeks. Lazarist fathers came for Saturday evening confessions and Sunday Mass. The Chronicle mentions that some Polish people were joining the parish. In 1910, Bishop Colton came for Confirmation and again paid the sisters a visit.

The Chronicle entries for 1911 note the change of pastors and the changes of the sisters. Sister Teresa signed her name to the entries of 1911. In 1911, it was Mother Juliana who came for visitation. At this time, the sisters who taught in the school received a $50 stipend for the year. No sister played the organ so that $50 went to a lay woman who did play the organ. In December of 1911, the school was closed due to "smallpox in a light form" and the sisters closed up the convent and went to the motherhouse. They returned on January 12, 1912, and school resumed on January 24.

In September 1912, Sister M. Leontine took care of the organ playing and this added to the sisters' income. By 1916, Sister Christina was playing the organ.

The day after school was out in 1913, the sisters at Bennington had the sisters from North Java, Sheldon, and Strykersville come for dinner. A total of 14 sisters enjoyed dinner that June 25th.

On March 19, 1917, Sister Christina celebrated her silver (25th) jubilee in the parish. The chronicler tells that she wore a silver wreath at the high Mass celebrated by Rev. A. Bruder, the pastor.

"As the people had never seen this before, they were much edified, and spoke of it long after, " the chronicler writes. At the end of the school year, the parish celebration of the pastor's 25th anniversary included a procession with the school children.

Sister Geralda signed her name to the 1917 entries in the Chronicle. Sister Mary Concepta signed her name for 1918. In most of the Chronicles of other convents, the chronicler remains anonymous.

For many of the years, the chronicler gives the dates for the opening and closing of the school year, the First Communion and Confirmation classes, graduation, and not much else.

"Owing to the great need of Sisters, Mother Dionysia recalled the Sisters from Bennington, " the chronicler explains. "On July 5th (1918) we closed the little convent and came to Buffalo with our belongings."

This Chronicle contains a photo of the 43 students of May 1910. In the back of the small notebook that served as Chronicle, the sisters made a list of the items in the house that belonged to the community. Most of the furnishings had been provided by the parish and remained there. The community list included: statues, crucifixes, clocks, dishes and cooking utensils, sewing machine, curtains, and "all the pails".

The Depression of 1929 and the 1930s forced the closing of the school. It reopened in the 1950s, this time with Felician sisters. In 1970, Sacred Heart School consolidated with St. Vincent School in Attica.

St. John the Baptist, West Valley

The school at this parish opened in 1906 when our sisters came from Pine Street came to staff it. Sister Antoinette served as principal and upper grade teacher and Sister M. Consilio taught the lower grades. For the first 20 years, our sisters made their home in part of the school. In the mid-1920s, the parish purchased a house and moved it onto the parish property. Then they renovated it for a convent for the sisters and the sisters moved in on January 23, 1926.

The chronicler made note of the entertainment given by the children at the close of each school year, and of the opening enrollment of students. In 1911, there were 26 pupils, in 1913, only 17. In 1932, there were 26 pupils, and in 1940, 54 pupils. Some years, there were no students in grade 8 and thus no graduates.

In 1950, the West Valley sisters had their Thanksgiving dinner with the sisters at Springville. Also in 1950, Sister Good Counsel came out to get information on the history of the parish and the school for her thesis. In 1951, a teaching sister received $400 per year. In the 1954 - 55 school year, only two sisters taught in the school. In 1955, with enrollment at 65 children, there were four sisters. This same year, they obtained for the school a typewriter and a ditto (copying) machine for the school.

Among the gradual improvements to the convent, the chronicler noted the change from coal furnace to gas in 1953, and hot water in 1954. In 1956, the sisters received a television as a gift purchased at Farm Supply Store in West Valley. In 1958, the convent first had a private phone line. They had previously shared a party line with the rectory.

A November 1955 fire in the convent kitchen resulted in no injuries but with some damage that needed repair. Later, in 1967, the kitchen was renovated.

A new school with a gym opened in time for school in the fall of 1961. By 1965, the enrollment was at 86 pupils. After the parish added new classrooms to the new school, they demolished the old school.

At the end of May 1963, the West Valley sisters hosted a picnic for the sisters from Hamburg and Springville.

Fire destroyed the rectory in December 1968 and a new one was built in 1969. By 1969, the enrollment had dropped to 51 and the sisters made preparations to close the school and convent. Many letters from concerned parents convinced our sisters to keep it open one more year. The school closed on June 18, 1970 with only 44 pupils. The convent closed on July 31, 1970.

The Chronicle closes with a postscript: "All for the honor and glory of God."

West Valley

Nuclear Waste Removal Project

Since the 1990s, Sister Alice Gilbert has worked at West Valley Nuclear Waste removal project in the Franciscan spirit of care for the earth. Sister Alice resided at the Springville Convent during her time with this project. Her story appears in Chapter 4.

Mt. St. Mary Hospital and

Mt. St. Mary School of Nursing, Niagara Falls

On July 16, 1907, when Bishop Colton came for the dedication and blessing of the new hospital, the Convent Chronicle tells us that he " took occasion to praise the energy and spirit of the Sisters of St. Francis" who would staff the facility. Father Aloysius Bachmann numbered among the priests who attended the Mass and dinner. Four sisters were stationed there in July and three more came out in the fall. Mt. St. Mary's Hospital officially opened on August 28 and the first patient arrived on August 29.

Our sisters opened a Nurses Training School in September. The Chronicle notes that the sisters lived in extreme poverty and there were very few Christmas presents in 1907. "Each sister received one pair of shoestrings, " the chronicler reported.

In 1946, the affiliation of the Nurses' School with Niagara University took place.

In our Motherhouse Chronicle, we read:

"The little House on the Corner" became the early appellation for this 30-bed hospital located on the corner of Sixth Street and Ferry Avenue in Niagara Falls. At the request of Bishop Colton, our sisters went in 1907 to Niagara Falls "to provide Niagara County residents with quality care in a person manner with total regard for the individual human dignity."

On January 13, 1908, the hospital was vested by the Niagara Falls mayor who expressed in the words of the Chronicle for that day: " appreciation that all patients regardless of race, creed, or color were admitted and cared for." In May 1908, a bazaar planned by the Advisory Board of Mt. St. Mary's and held at Convention Hall raised $4, 000 toward hospital expenses. In 1909-'10, several of our sisters entered the Nurses Training School program. In December 1910, the first graduates of the School included four sisters and three lay women.

By 1911, the staff and board made plans for a new building and the related fundraising. Twelve sisters were now stationed at the hospital. On September 12, 1911, the Chronicle explains, "Mother Superior (Juliana) and Mother Assistant (Sister M. Francis) came here to meet Mr. Ginther, the architect of Akron, Ohio, concerning plans for the new hospital."

In 1912, our sisters began a building program for a new hospital on Sixth Street, next to the Little House. Excavation began on June 6. On September 29, the bishop and priests from many of the surrounding parishes came for the cornerstone laying. Both Sister M. Robertine Bachmann and Sister M. Francis were in attendance. This red brick building served as the site for expanding medical services for 50 years.

Meanwhile, still in the old hospital, in January 1912, a patient brought in with typhoid also developed diphtheria. Immediate testing showed that seven other persons were infected with this highly contagious disease. They were all quarantined on the third floor with two sisters and three nurses to care for them. The chronicler declares that the many prayers at our motherhouse and at our orphanage brought everyone to a cure and in 10 days everything was OK.

The ledger in which Mt. St. Mary's Chronicle was kept is in very fragile condition and a gap in the keeping of the Chronicle is explained by the very serious illness of Sister Helena, superior and supervisor. She would have been the one to keep the Chronicle. Some information was filled in for the months of September 1911 through July 1913 from a small notebook that Sister Helena kept.

When Sister Helena (Donahue) observed her 25th jubilee in 1912, she was in the middle of a long-term illness. In December 1912, she was transported to the Pine Street motherhouse where she received the last sacraments on December 24 and died at 6:30 a.m. on Christmas Day. The sister who picked up the role of chronicler, probably Sister Cherubim who served as the next superior and supervisor, wrote: "From early morning until the angel of Death claimed Sister's pure soul, the Sisters were almost continually praying at her bed side. Sister (Helena) was conscious to the last and realized that she was soon to meet her divine Spouse, whom she had so faithfully served."

Copied by hand from the Catholic Union and Times, we read in the Chronicle:

" as Christmas angels and other angel hosts, accompanying the angel of death, entered the household of the Franciscan Sisters in Pine Street and breathed a message of love from the Christ-child to Sister Helena, invited her to the eternal Christmas in the great beyond." The staff of the Catholic paper of the diocese right to the present day, writes and publishes the obits of all of our sisters as well as all sisters of the diocese, as they leave us one by one.

"All will be welcome"

On November 11, 1914, Bishop Colton assisted by Father Baker came to dedicate the new hospital. About 100 other priests and of course many of our sisters came to the event. Bishop Colton in his sermon declared that "God is kind to the sick. These religious women, Sisters as we call them, have consecrated their work to God, and in this spirit this hospital is opened. A Catholic hospital is a blessing to any community."

Bishop Colton insisted that no one is to be turned away - the hospital is for poor as well as rich - "for all God's human beings. For God is the God of all and all will be welcome. Everyone who is ill or injured, regardless of creed or color. They will all be welcome. Those seeking care will find a welcome in this hospital and receive all care that human hands can give, at the hands of these humble religious women." The chronicler took the time to copy two full pages of the text of that sermon.

Sister Cherubim, who had served as the first superior from 1907 to 1910, resumed the role and attended the planning of the fund raising campaign at a meeting at the Cataract House in September 1915. A.J. Porter, president of Shredded Wheat, a company with a large factory in Niagara Falls, chaired the meeting. The committee organized 8 teams of women and 29 teams of men to canvass the Cataract City for donations. In October 1915, people made $55, 000 in pledges with $35, 000 given in up front cash. On the last Sunday of September 1915, all the local parishes took up a special collection for Hospital Sunday.

When Bishop Dougherty came on October 4, 1916, to consecrate the high altar, he spoke of our sisters as the daughters of St. Francis and praised their work as well as the work of sisterhoods across the country and the world. Bishop Dougherty also addressed the five graduate nurses who received their diplomas at the ceremony.

In November 1915, Sister Irene and Sister Carmelita were transferred from Niagara Falls to our hospital in Charleston and continued the tradition of many transfers among our three hospitals, which included St. Joseph's in Gardenville. Later, The hospital in Scranton became part of the transfer assignments of our sisters.

During the Influenza epidemic of 1918, our sisters and the hospital staff treated many patients. Only two died - a student nurse and the hospital engineer.

As we read the pages of this Chronicle we learn of the many trips the sisters took to Catholic Hospital Conventions, and as visitors to observe other hospitals in operation. We learn that our sisters came as patients to the hospital. We read that 13 sisters were on duty in 1917 and 16 sisters in 1919. We notice that Sister M. Francis came as a patient during the months of February and March 1921. She would have been heading toward her 70th birthday. Dr. Frank Carr performed many of the surgeries needed by our sisters.

The chronicler lists a resum of each year of the improvements and purchases required to keep the hospital going well. This resume recurs through 1932. The chronicler also tells how they had to borrow $8, 000 in the winter of 1920-'21 to pay for coal when prices soared.

By September 1921, there were 21 sisters on duty and three in training. It was their custom to hold a holy hour every Thursday evening. In December, they held a retreat for the nurses. In October 1922, a graduate nurse was baptized and made her First Communion in the convent chapel.

In June 1923, our sisters began a novena to the Little Flower (St. Therese of Lisieux) to liquidate the debt on the hospital. The sisters hired a company to run the campaign. When the intensive campaign took place in late September and early October, people had pledged over $200, 000 in two and five-year payment plans. Also, in 1923, an Outpatient Clinic and Advisory Board were put in place to care for the poor of the city and surrounding villages. This Clinic had been part of the campaign promises.

At a diocesan meeting in May 1925, seven of our sisters joined three Sisters of Charity, four Sisters of Mercy, and two Sisters of St. Joseph for discussion on hospital services. In June, Mt. St. Mary's Hospital entered a float depicting the history of nursing in the City Parade. Msgr. Nelson Baker came to the hospital in February 1926 and stayed several days for a rest. When two of the hospital sisters went to Chicago in June 1926 for the Catholic Hospital Convention, they also attended the Eucharistic Congress there.

Sister M. Francis, along with Mother Anselma and Mother de Pazzi, came to Niagara Falls in August 1927 to consider bids on construction for a Nurses Home. In May 1928, they decided that they would use the old Nurses Home for a convent. The formal opening of the new Nurses Home took place in June with Mass. In August, the sisters held a housewarming for the convent.

An entry in the Chronicle for October 30, 1928, describes the meeting of "diocesan hospitals" though what is really meant is that in the diocese there are several hospitals sponsored by women religious. The Chronicle also contains summaries of the Hospital Advisory Board meetings.

In September 1930, the chronicler notes the lack of patients. Times were hard and some were laid off. Wages and allowances were reduced.

In April 1933, the Felician Sisters asked that four of their sisters be allowed to enter the Nurses Training School. A piece of history bit the dust in July 1935, when the little house on the corner required demolition.

Another stretch of hard times occurred in 1936, when Sister Modesta, superior of the convent and superintendent of the hospital, died after 10 months of illness.

The new Children's Ward was opened in February 1941. The sisters were always in a learning mode as they attended conventions, institutes, and courses.

Sister M. Priscilla had been serving as superior since 1942 when she was elected as mother assistant in July 1943. The August 1943 class of 23 student nurses included Sister Thomas Marie, whom we remember as Sister Vivian Pace.

This Convent Chronicle holds a gap as do some others. From 1943 through the mid 1960s, there are no entries.

In the mid-1960s, our sisters realized that yet a larger facility was needed. They set about building a new seven-story Mount St. Mary's Hospital on Military Road in Lewiston on a 28-acre campus with excellent access to a major transportation routes of the Niagara Thruway and the Robert Moses Parkway. On February 14, 1965, the hospital was relocated to Lewiston.

The Sisters' convent located on the seventh floor provided easy access to the hospital and privacy for the sisters when off duty. Many of our contemporary sisters recall the days of Saturday clinic on that seventh floor and the kind care of Sister Vivian Pace and Sister Margaret Therese along with the doctors.

Over the later decades of the 20th century, additions were made. A two-story Medical Arts Building linked to the hospital by a covered walkway. The Child Care Center opened in 1988.

In 1996, the Hospital expanded its Neighborhood Family Health Care Center at the Niagara Housing Authority Family Resource Building at 3003 Ninth Street in the city of Niagara Falls.

After many avenues of discussion, we sold the hospital to the Daughters of Charity. In1998, the sale of the hospital and related facilities to the Daughters of Charity relieved our congregation of the sponsorship and burden.

Recent developments

Sister Maureen Huet, following Sister Marie Ella's time of ministry there, continues to serve the hospital patients as a pastoral minister there. Sister Patricia Marie Hartley continues to work in the office of public relations.

College of Nursing

Niagara College of Nursing observed its 50th anniversary in 1996. In 1946, our Sister Helen Calvey (Sister Eucharista) founded the program as a baccalaureate degree program at a time when most nursing education programs in the country were two or three-year training programs connected to a hospital. Sister Helen with our community leaders worked out the details with the Vincentian Fathers to put in place the new program. Of great significance was the opening of Niagara University to female students and of Mount St. Mary's Hospital agreeing to discontinue its three-year program at the hospital.

A Motherhouse Chronicle entry for September 28, 1996, informs us that "The College of Nursing has enjoyed a prestigious reputation over these fifty years and its graduates have gone on to nursing careers all over the United States." Some of those who returned for the anniversary celebration included: Dorothy Behringer (formerly our Sister Olive Marie and second dean of the college-, Mary Ruth Baumler (our former Sister Patricia Ann). Also, several of our sisters who had served as former faculty members received public recognition. These included: Sister M. Cyril, Sister M. Jerome, Sister Maralyn, Sister Maureen (Denise) McGinnis, Sister Gabriel, Sister Lillian Schwartz, Sister Cordia, Sister Olive Marie, Sister Patricia Ann, and Sister Mary Balthasar (formerly know as Sister Margaret John).

We can add to "nursing careers all over the United States" the fact that several of our sisters associated with the College of Nursing have gone on to worldwide recognition. Sister Cyril during her time as missionary in Kenya was chosen to be on the National Council of Nursing (in Kenya) and immersed herself in the study of current issues affecting nurses and helped to implement changes in the nursing schools. She fit in immediately at the Hospital in Nkubu, Kenya, served as dean of that Nursing School and held the place until a replacement came.

Sister Mary Balthasar, after her retirement from the College of Nursing, took up missionary work at the health clinic at Timau Mission in Kenya.

Sister Vivian Pace, long associated with Mount St. Mary's Hospital, went as missionary to Timau, Kenya. Sister Joanne Gangloff recalls that Vivian realized her missionary call through contemplation at a 30-day retreat and her time at our community House of Prayer at Our Lady of the Lake in Derby. Vivian's untimely death from cancer led the sisters of the Timau Mission to build a residence named Vivian House for lay volunteers. A plaque on the building indicates this dedication to the memory of Sister Vivian.

St. Bernard Parish, Buffalo

In 1908, a church / school combination building was completed at St. Bernard's Parish on Clinton Street. Sister Fidelis and Sister Amabilis came from Pine Street in February 1908 and began school with 60 students. Later, Sister Wilhelmina came to the school. All three sisters commuted from the Pine Street motherhouse. The Sisters of St. Francis opened the September 1908 school year with 75 pupils. They took up residence in a convent created for them by the purchase of a house in the parish.

In 1910, the sisters took up residence on the second floor of the church building. In 1920, the parish purchased a nearby house for use as a convent. In 1928, the convent was enlarged and a chapel was added.

By September 1921, the enrollment stood at 300 pupils. In September 1931, school opened with 302 pupils. Also, in September, Sister Priscilla came for school visitation and Mother Seraphica for visitation of the sisters. Many of the years chronicled indicate that three or four of the eight sisters there were changed, usually in late August for the opening of school. By 1934, lay teachers were taking care of third and fourth grade students. By 1939, it was Mother Charles Marie who came for visitation of the sisters and Sister Cherubim for visitation of the school.

During 1943, we learn from the Convent Chronicle that from February 23rd to 26th, "St. Bernard's School was used as a Rationing Center. The faculty of St. Casimir's, Our Lady of Czestochowa, Visitation, and St. Bernard's worked on the Rationing Board, filling 3, 650 Rationing Books." The Chronicle notes that this process was repeated in October, from the 21st to the 26th. From a booklet on the history of St. Bernard's parish, we learn that St. Bernard's was used during the Blizzard of 1977 as a distribution center for food stamps.

In February 1949, students in Grades 4 through 6 participated on WEBR radio Quiz Down and won over St. Stanislaus School. In November 1950, Grades 4 through 6 won over St. Patrick's School.

When a new church was built in 1953 through 1955, the old church was renovated into much-needed classrooms. From the parish history booklet, we learn that from 1906 to 1973, our sisters had provided 17 principals and a total of 114 sisters stationed at St. Bernard's.

A typed memo in the Chronicle of this convent summarizes house assembly meetings on March 11, 1971, on poverty and on March 24, on prayer.

By 1970 the parishioners were largely Polish and the Felician Sisters came to staff the school in 1973 and our sisters left.

St. Mary, Queen of the Rosary Parish, Strykersville

In the 1830s, German settlers came to this valley of Buffalo Creek. The Catholics went up the hill on Centerline Road to St. Cecilia church in Sheldon. Later, Catholics settled in the Valley, and while many were German, they soon favored the use of the English language.

On November 8, 1885, the first Mass in Strykersville was held in the new town hall. The 100-year anniversary book tells how the German Catholic people sang hymns - Maria Wir Dic Grssen, Maria Hilf, and Grosser Gott at the end of Mass - "with tears in their eyes."

While the parish at Sheldon continued to use the German language for sermons and instructions, the parish at Strykersville used English with the hope of keeping the young people interested and involved in sacramental and parish life.

In 1908, Father A. F. Veit came as pastor with instruction from the bishop to build a parochial school. The Convent Chronicle kept by one of our pioneer sisters there proclaims: " it pleased Divine Providence to send a very zealous priest Father Anthony Veit." The Convent Chronicle continues: "Mother Superior (Dionysia), with her consultors, decided, after due consideration, that it must be providential and agreed to send four sisters."

On November 2, 1908, 23 years after the founding of the parish, a school opened in two rooms of a local home. Four Sisters - two for school and two for the house - came out to operate the school and used the rest of the home as a convent, according to the agreement of November 29, 1909, as explained in the Centenary Book. The sisters arrived at 11 a.m. and opened school with 46 pupils at 1:30 p.m.

During their first week there, our sisters prepared the children for confession and taught them hymns for the upcoming Forty Hours and Mission, which took place the following week. The chronicler noted that the procession during Forty Hours with the children singing the newly learned hymns impressed the parishioners.

When an increase of pupils required the use of a third room in the house which came to the parish via a will, the sisters managed with one room serving as kitchen, dining room, and community room. The chronicler mentions that the sisters just lived with the "difficulties, hardships, and inconveniences."

In December of that first year of the convent, a dispute arose over the contents of the house and all the furnishings were auctioned off. The pastor supplied new beds, a stove, and more. Parishioners gave the sisters a table and chairs and other items. On December 14, these pioneer sisters set up a chapel.

Students who took Regents in January 1909 and also in June did very well.

The new school opened in early January 1910 and the sisters moved into their new convent later the same month. On February 26, the sisters from Sheldon and Bennington came for a visit and to see the new convent. To close out the school year in June 1910, the Dramatic Circle put on an entertainment.

In September 1910, the enrollment stood at 56 with 26 in primary grades, 20 in grammar grades, and 10 in high school. In 1911, one of our sisters taught first year German. Also in 1911, the organist, who was Sister Mary Paul, was given $50 for the year. In 1912, the pastor began giving the sisters an extra $10 for making altar breads. The amount of $500 paid the teaching sisters for the school year.

In 1910 and in 1911, the chronicler noted that our motherhouse sister came to beg for the needs of St. Francis Home. The 1911 entry for October 14: "Sr M Chrysostom came through town collecting."

In May 1911, the Albany inspector visited and felt satisfied with the school. Pupils from North Java and Sheldon came to Strykersville to take the June Regents exams.

With parish women serving as librarians, the school opened its library to the public in February 1912. In May, New York State approved the first two years of high school. Also in May, the chronicler noted that a heavy snowstorm and bitter cold forced them to start up the furnace again. In June 1912, when Mother Juliana came for visitation, she brought with her Sister M. Canisia who had just returned from Puerto Rico. We can easily imagine the interest of the sisters in hearing about the Puerto Rican mission. Also in June, the children of grade six down to grade two made their First Communion at two ceremonies. Another group of children made theirs at Christmas.

From July 1 through August 16, the convent was closed while the sisters were at the motherhouse for their retreat times and other matters. When school opened in September 1912, two Protestant girls attended classes. At midnight Mass for Christmas, a violin and two cornets accompanied the organ music.

The sisters in out three Wyoming County convents - Sheldon, North Java, and Strykersville - gathered in July 1916 to elect one delegate to the General Chapter.

When school opened in the fall of 1916, there were 88 pupils; 37 of them in the high school. In September 1917, two sisters were assigned to the high school and two for the elementary grades. In June and November 1919, New York State admitted St. Mary's Academy as middle, then as senior grade with approval for all four years of high school.

Our Sisters operated St. Mary's Academy from 1919 (according to the Centenary Book, page 19) until 1935. The closing of the high school in June 1935 was considered "one of the casualties of the Depression years"

September 1925 brought 85 pupils, 44 of them for high school. September 1927, a hundred pupils, with 44 in the high school. In February 1928, the full four-year high school charter was granted by the New York State Board of Regents. In June 1933, the pastor asked the bishop to close the high school, but the bishop decided that the high school would remain open for two more years. In February 1935, with only 24 in the high school, the state inspectors noted the lack of students as well as the lack of equipment and financial support. The State took away the high school charter. In June 1935, the 16th annual commencement saw six high school graduates and four 8th grade graduates. In September 1935, only 43 children came for the elementary grades. In October 1935, the Chronicle relates that Sister Priscilla came and "took for the motherhouse all usable materials from the high school."

In 1936, the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) religion instruction program began at the parish. Throughout the 1940s, the enrollment hovered around 50 pupils. In the 1950s, the enrollment climbed into the 60s, 70s, and 80s. In 1957, it reached 97 and in 1958, 100. Also in September 1959, the enrollment stood at 100 with three sisters and a lay teacher, each with two grades.

In February 1956, an anonymous donor gave the sisters a car with insurance and registration paid and 100 gallons of prepaid gasoline. The chronicler rightly prays: "God bless this good friend, whoever he is."

In October 1958, Archbishop Damiano from Africa came for Confirmation. In October 1961, Bishop Holmes-Seidle from Africa came for Confirmation.

Work began in November 1961 to convert Mrs. Delinger's house located next to the church into a convent. Our sisters moved out of the school building and into their new convent on June 19, 1962. In December 1964, the sisters started a discussion group for girls in Grade 8 and high school. One of these girls entered our congregation in 1967 but did not remain.

School enrollment in the 1960s remained above 100, but with only 12 students in grades 7 and 8 in June 1969, a decision was made to drop these grades. In September 1969, school opened with 97 children in grades 1 to 6.

In the same year, most of the sisters began using their baptismal names, with some confusing and amusing moments as to who was who. The closing pages of this Convent Chronicle makes note of the "culinary art" of Sister Bernadette (Lavocat) and of the June 1971 spring musical titled Music Around the World.

The school was closed in June 1971 and the convent in July 1971. In 1971, the Sisters of St. Mary of Namur served in parish ministry.

Sister Mary Jane Reisdorf served as pastoral associate in the 1970s while residing at St. Vincent Convent in Springbrook. Mary Jane entered from Strykersville, her home parish, in 1960.

When the parish observed its centenary in 1985, a list of the 60 sisters who had been stationed there over the years was compiled. Of those 60, 17 who were still living were invited to the centennial.

And there's a final note of interest from a May 16, 1934 letter to Sister Jeannette. The letter spells out the specifics for an altar for St. Mary's Academy. A note attached indicates that this altar was later moved to the motherhouse oratory at Mill Street.

Missions in Puerto Rico

In the Motherhouse Chronicle we read:

"Aug. 26, 1909, Mother M. Dionysia and Mother M. Juliana accompanied Sr. M. Vincent, Sr. M. Canisia and Sr. M. Angelica to New York where the last three Sisters mentioned were to sail for Porto (spelling used in the early decades of the 20th century) Rico on Aug. 28, 1909, where they were to undertake a new field of labor. They were to open and take charge of a school in St. Felipe Parish, Aricebo, P.R.

"This new mission was taken through the persuasion and most earnest request of the Rt. Rev. Bishop W.A. Jones of Porto Rico, formerly of the Church Extension Society. Bishop Jones being a very personal friend of our own bishop Colton, made know to him the very urgent necessity of securing our Sisters for his schools."

In August 1958, our sisters returned to Puerto Rico and resumed mission work at Caparra Heights near San Juan and later at Ponce.

The full story of our Puerto Rican missions is told in Chapter 5.

St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Buffalo

Around 1900 a settlement of Italian immigrants sprang up in East Buffalo around the railroad yards and the shops. They attended St. Agnes Parish. Father R. Barsottie was appointed in the summer of 1908 to look after these Italian Catholics. In the fall, Father J. Tommei came and in 1909 he started work on a combination church / school.

In September 1909, our sisters came from Pine Street to staff the school and remained until 1988 at which time the school closed and the students transferred to St. Andrew School in Sloan. From 1909 through 1952, our sisters commuted to this school from the Pine Street motherhouse.

A new convent for them opened at 171 Schiller Street on August 20, 1952. The local families generously provided the sisters with food and supplies at annual pantry showers. And in many other ways, the parishioners helped the sisters.

Vocations came from this parish too. Among them, Sister M. Paschal and Sister M. Remigia (Mary Magdalen) celebrated their 50th jubilee with a festive Mass at their home parish.

The Convent Chronicle notes that in 1962, the Consolata Fathers, also largely an Italian group, came to give monthly conferences to the sisters.

In October 1967, the parish held a St. Francis Day, a "tremendous celebration" with Mass, and a movie on the life of St. Francis. The Chronicle entry for this day asserts: "The people certainly love the Sisters! They were invited to all the events of the day."

In November 1967, St. Francis Convent hosted Thanksgiving dinner with the sisters from Archbishop Carroll and St. Bartholomew's convents attending.

During the summer of 1969, some of our sisters and ten high school girls lived at St. Francis Convent for a week while they took part in Project Concern, a spiritual program for teens. A similar event took place at St. Bartholomew's convent.

By fall of 1969, when the sisters hired a cook for the main meal and school enrollment declined, they were accepting the reality of fewer sisters and less students and changing neighborhoods. Many of the Italian families moved to suburbs.

More and more, our sisters used the English language and took assignments in parishes that were not specifically German speaking. Some were largely Polish or Italian settlements; others more Irish; still others had significant groups of two or even three of these ethnic groups. The use of English continued to increase as you will observe in the stories of the next decade.

Over the next few years, enrollment declined, fewer sisters were in the school, and some sisters took other ministries or resided at the convent while their ministries took them elsewhere. By September 1985, the upper grades were doubled into two rooms, grades 5 & 6 and grades 7 & 8. Rumors about the school closing began to be heard. During 1986 - 87, an in-depth study of the possibility of St. Francis and St. Agnes as a regional school did not come to realization.

During the 1986 - 87 school year some of our sisters, who had previously worked in Puerto Rico, lived at this convent while preparing for new ministries. One studied in a hospital chaplaincy program; another took a sabbatical to renew herself. A certain bonding among these women facing drastic changes buoyed up their spirits and increased their awareness and openness to other cultures and persons.

"The month of July 1987 was spent in much sadness as we proceeded to take a part a home so carefully put together since 1952, " the chronicler notes. She says that on August 2, we left "in pouring rain" which was "testimony of how we felt."

1910 to 1917

Mother M. Juliana began her second term in office in 1910, a time of new endeavors and of some closings, an era of expanding diversity of languages and cultures, and the closing of the time in which German language and culture dominated the parishes as well as our congregation. The time was ripe for being more American with broader horizons. We had sisters serving in Puerto Rico during this decade and we increasingly took on ministries in English-speaking areas.

St. Joseph Hospital, Gardenville

On July 5, 1910, Bishop Colton came to Gardenville to dedicated St. Joseph Hospital located on 40 acres of land near Buffalo Creek on Indian Church Road near the Gardenville yards of the New York Central railway. Our sisters bought this farm located directly across the street from St. Francis Home for the Aged. The Ebeneezer Railyard bordered the back part of the Home for the Aged.

In part, the Convent Chronicle tells us, upon hearing rumors that the Salvation Army was going to buy it and establish themselves there, the sisters bought it to prevent this. During the spring months, the sisters converted the very spacious house and the large barn on the property into a hospital. On July 4, the day before Bishop Colton came out, they held a picnic to defray the expenses of renovation.

Four sisters opened the hospital on September 17. The first two patients were victims of auto crashes. In those days, before St. Francis Hospital, many of our sisters were sent there for care. The Chronicle of 1911 indicates that several sisters spent time here as patients under the care of various physicians. In August, a lawn fete helped to bring in needed revenue and in October, a card party at nearby 14 Holy Helpers did the same.

The chronicler noted in March 1913 that a non-Catholic woman was baptized and that a public novena was held to honor St. Joseph. The name of St. Joseph for the hospital was drawn by lot before the hospital opened. Also, in 1913, a carnival at Moors Park benefited the hospital.

Some sister-patients died at St. Joseph Hospital and also the pastor of a Dunkirk parish died while at this hospital. The Chronicle entries for 1913, 1914, and 1915 indicate that 14 sisters came to this hospital for treatment. In October 1915, the surgical equipment was moved to St. Mary's Hospital in Niagara Falls. In September 1919, a decision was made to close the hospital because "services were not needed in this area, " a list of missions opened and closed tells us. The building was put on the market for sale.

We learn from the Convent Chronicles of St. Francis Home in Gardenville, that the building never sold. After some time, it was converted into a convent for the use of the sisters working at St. Francis Home.

Nativity of Our Lord Parish, Orchard Park

Four of our sisters came out from the Pine Street motherhouse by train to the Orchard Park depot on January 3, 1910, "a bitter cold and stormy day, " according to the chronicler for this convent. The sisters left Buffalo on the 2 0' clock train and were met at the station by two men of the parish with a bob sleigh. In a history of the parish authored by Brother Christian George, FSC, an uncle of Sister Dolores Wittmann, "The church bell was rung as a welcome."

As the four sisters - Sister Serafine as superior, Sister Agnes for the high class, Sister Anne Marie for the lower class, and Sister Hortense for cuisine and sacristy - arrived, Brother Christian says that "the church-bell pealed forth and the people cheered. They knew the school would be in good hands."

According to the Convent Chronicle, "Mother Superior and Sister M. Francis accompanied the four sisters to be stationed there and left of the seven o' clock train" for their return trip to Buffalo.

The 1907 census surfaced 62 names of Catholic people in Orchard Park. In the summer of 1908, Bishop Colton sent Father Nelson Baker to a meeting in Orchard Park at which 30 people made pledges of $420 toward the beginning of a new parish. John Wittmann, grandfather of our Sister Dolores Wittmann, built an altar 8 feet wide by 38 inches high. Mr. Wittmann also made the kneelers. John Petrie Jr. built a tabernacle. These two men also served as the first trustees.

About 20 Catholic families grouped together in 1908 to organize a parish. With the permission of Bishop Charles Colton, the first Mass was celebrated on New Year's Day 1909 at Cook's Undertaking Parlor on West Quaker Street. For this first Mass, two of our sisters from the Hamburg convent came out and about 55 parishioners. Our Hamburg sisters also donated a set of vestments to help the new parish get started. Bishop Colton appointed Father George Crimmen as pastor.

In October 1909, Bishop Colton came out to dedicate the church these families constructed. Father Nelson Baker, vicar general at the time, made the suggestion of the name of the parish - Nativity of Our Lord - and for a long time, this was the only parish in North America with this name.

Father Crimmen and his sister taught school in the dining room and parlor of Grandma (Emily) Green whose house was across the street from the church. When the sisters arrived, about 40 pupils attended the school, which was now on the first floor of the new church. Living quarters for the sisters adjoined the classrooms.

In 1910, from the contracts on file, we learn that each sister who taught (usually two sisters) received $200 a year and the sister who played the organ received an additional $50 per year. The sisters who did the sacristan work, the religious education program for public school children, and the collection counting on Sundays received nothing extra for their labors. In the 1920s, the teaching stipend went to $300 and in the 1930's to $350.

The Chronicle mentions special entertainments given by the children for the pastor's feast day and for the end of the school year. The year end school picnics were held at nearby Green Lake or Chestnut Ridge Park at the outskirts of town. First Communions and Confirmations are noted as well as the children and sisters' participation in 40 Hours devotions.

School was in a two-room school with two teachers and an average of 45 students. In the 1920's, the graduating students who took and passed Regents exams received a Regents certificate. Some received a preliminary or diocesan certificate.

The chronicler tells that the sisters received a Victrola (record player) in 1926 and a radio in 1929. In 1934, a Frigidaire was installed in the convent and in 1937 linoleum was installed on the kitchen floor. In January 1942, the sisters received a Magi Chef stove. The telephone came to this convent in December 1945 and an electric mangle (ironing machine for flat items) in 1946. In 1949, the electric sewing machine arrived. And in 1950, a new washing machine. In 1951, a modern bathtub was put in place in the sisters' bathroom. In 1955, the sisters obtained a portable Smith Corona typewriter and in the summer of 1958, the sisters purchased a Hi-Fi (record player). In January 1959, an anonymous parishioner gave the sisters a 49 Olds. Sisters in the rural convents began to learn to drive and obtain their licenses. These specific notations in this house chronicle give a timeline of how conveniences came to the convents and gradually changed household chores from the old-fashioned ways to more modern means.

In June 1937, the convent was looted while the sisters were at Mass. A typewriter and $50 were taken. The Orchard Park police recovered and returned the typewriter. The parish held a card party to replace the funds for the sisters.

We learn from the Chronicle that Sister Cherubim taught the Cum Jubilo Mass to the school children in January 1938 and in September 1939 she taught them the Missa de Angelis.

The two classrooms were painted and new floors were laid in the summer of 1942. In 1943, a new classroom was made in the basement for Grades 1 and 2. By 1947, the school held 150 pupils in three classrooms. In the fall of 1948, the school accepted pupils for Grades 1 to 6 only.

In 1944, the sisters abandoned their previous practice of receiving Holy Communion before Mass and began receiving Communion within the 8 0' clock morning Mass.

Over the years, we read in this Chronicle of many visitors to the convent, including: our sisters who served as supervisors of education and of music; the diocesan supervisor (superintendent) of education; visiting priests when the pastors were on trips or ill. Also, the priests who came weekly as ordinary confessors for confession (sacrament of penance / reconciliation) and quarterly as extraordinary confessors; and bishops for Confirmation.

A new church was built in 1948 and offered the parishioners a place for evening activities away from the convent/school complex. On August 27, 1950, the first Mass was celebrated in the new church. The chronicler notes: "The entire Nativity Convent of Sisters were as busy as beavers moving into the beautiful new church."

The old church was converted into more classrooms to accommodate the growing enrollment. In September 1951, school opened with 220 pupils and two lay teachers in addition to the sisters.

A new school was built in 1958 and opened in the fall of 1959 with 400 students, five sisters, and six lay teachers. During that school year, a television, a record player, and a tape recorder increased the media experiences of the students. In 1961, the teachers began departmental teaching. In 1962, the enrollment came to 522 pupils using 15 classrooms with seven sisters and eight lay teachers.

The chronicler makes mention of the change in veil for the sisters with the motherhouse Chapter of 1961. The starched white inner veil was no longer worn and lighter material and color were OK for summer wear.

A convent was built on Argyle Place in 1962. Its basement contained a fallout shelter, a popular idea in those years of fear of nuclear war. In July, with help from the Knights of Columbus in the parish, the sisters moved out of the old convent in the old church/school complex into their new quarters. When the Chapel was blessed, it was named Our Lady of the Nativity. In the late 1960's, when the sisters of Queen of Heaven in West Seneca were planning with a committee of the parish for a new convent, they came to study the lovely convent at Orchard Park.

The Convent Chronicle contains many news clippings, including one on the Centennial Concert with its 80-voice chorus, the deaths of Father Ott and the arrival of Msgr. Holbel, and the several new buildings. The inventory of convent belongings mentions all the furniture and dishes that belonged to the sisters as well as the Basil Hymn Book and the National Song Book.

In 1967, the chronicler began a second book for the Orchard Park Chronicle. Beginning in August 1970, the chronicler takes a more creative approach by characterizing each sister with comments on her personality and the several areas of her ministry. For example: she serves the school by, the parish by, the community by .

In June 1974, some of the sisters there became Eucharistic Ministers. In 1980, the convent chapel was renovated and used by the parish for baptisms and penance services.

Nativity of our Lord school became the second parochial elementary school in the Buffalo Diocese to be accredited by the Middle States Association while our sisters served as principals and teachers.

In May 1988, the pastor felt that the convent could be put to better use by the parish and he invited the sisters to leave.

The chronicler noted: "As the trees were bringing forth new life, we struggled with the death of a convent our community called home'." (Chronicle, page 86)

Closing the convent meant sorting, cleaning, packing, distributing. Some things went to the sisters' vacation home. Some to Little Portion. Some to the Jesuit missions in the Philippines. On July 30th, a closing Mass was held.

When the chronicler closed the chronicle in July 1988, she noted that four sisters had come out to Orchard Park in 1910 and now " the four of us went about the process of closing the convent." (Chronicle, page 88)

For the 1988 - 89 school year, Sister Kathleen Murphy, principal there for eight years, remained on for a transitional year while residing at another convent.

The school remains open with good enrollment of students under the principalship of Ruth Frost, a former member of our congregation. The former convent, renamed the Monsignor Holbel Center, houses parish offices. The Chronicle states: " the torch is passed over to the laity."

St. Vincent Parish, Springbrook

A spring along the Aurora Buffalo Plank Road, later called Seneca Street, gave the village of Springbrook its name.

The 1853 church was quite primitive; no seating, no sealing between the logs. Between 1850 and 1926, the Springbrook parish had 29 different priests. From 1894 to 1919, St. Vincent was considered a mission of East Aurora.

In 1908, the mission church, named SS. Peter & Paul, in Marilla was moved to Springbrook and this building became the first school Father Donohue writes that the school opened in 1908 and was held in the choir loft of the church. Sister Helena and Sister Patricia, along with two novices, Sister Jeanette and Sister Gertrudis, went out to Springbrook in September 1910 to staff the school of 34 pupils. By June 1911, there were 55 pupils who gave an entertainment at the close of school

These four Sisters of St. Francis came as teachers to 34 students at St. Vincent's when it was a mission parish and the sisters have been there ever since. At first they commuted from Gardenville. Then the McGivern home was at first leased and later purchased as a convent for the sisters. Our early sisters moved in during December 1911 and by this time they were also responsible for the church work of the altar and sanctuary.

In October 1912, the house sister took ill. Our motherhouse sent out two candidates (postulants) to do the cooking, laundry, and housework through Christmastime. In October 1914, our sisters were asked to give up the convent for the use as a rectory for a priest who had been staying with parishioners. And so, our sisters moved back to our Gardenville Home and gave away the chapel items to Silver Creek convent and the beds and bedding to St. Francis Home, Gardenville. They commuted back and forth to teach school. In 1915, the priest at Elma became responsible for Springbrook mission and our sisters got their convent back. On January 1, 1916, the Blessed Sacrament was brought to the convent chapel. Since the sisters had given away everything, they had to start over.

In February 1916, the parish bought new desks for the classrooms from Sears & Roebuck's of Chicago. While the Convent Chronicle doesn't say how many desks, it does say that there were about 30 pupils at this time.

St. Vincent became an independent parish in 1919 with a resident pastor. The sisters' convent was moved to the rear of the lot. In July 1921, the convent was renovated. It was a very small house and when a fourth sisters was sent out in September 1933, there was hardly enough room. The Chronicle indicates that she did not stay long "because of the smallness of the house."

When Sister Stanislaus, stationed at St. Vincent's, observed her 25th jubilee in June 1921, the parish held a solemn high Mass for her.

In September 1934, there were 65 pupils and in September 1935, 75 pupils. By September 1938, only 45 pupils came to school. Area school districts reconfigured their bus transportation arrangements and some children did not get bus service to this school.

In most of the summers of the 1940s, the convent closed for 6 to 8 weeks. In September 1947, a fourth cell (bedroom) was added to the convent, and for the opening of school in September 1948, a fourth sister was sent. The school now held 99 pupils. In the 1950s and 60s, enrollment continued to rise, from 110 children to 171 in September 1966. In 1971, the parish built a new school and in 1973 the school added a kindergarten.

On Holy Thursday 1974, two of the sisters were installed as Eucharistic ministers. In the late 1970s, both Sister Juliana Deinhart and Sister Jean Marie Klaus were transferred to Springbrook; these two sisters remain there into the 21st century. For a time, they worked in the school and later in other ministries. In 1985, a banner hung on the school announcing the 75th anniversary of the Sisters of St. Francis at St. Vincent's School. In July 1991, a lay principal took charge of the school

In 1974, the church was remodeled for the 125th anniversary of the parish. In 1988, the parish built a new church with an attached rectory. The sisters moved into the old rectory and made it their convent.

In 1994, Sister Juliana began working at the motherhouse infirmary. Sister Jean Marie began working at Cathedral Parish. By June 1995, we no longer had any sister in the school at Springbrook.

A dog named Lady that the sisters had for 15 years died in February 1995. The chronicler notes that she "went to live with St. Francis." Almost immediately, the sisters got Tramp from the SPCA. When Tramp died in September 1998, the sisters got Sydney.

In 2000, St. Vincent Parish celebrated its 150th anniversary.

The deaths of two sisters receive special remembrance in this Convent Chronicle: Sister Jeanette who taught there as a novice in 1910; and Sister Marie Christine who died there in the 1980s after surgeries for a brain tumor.

In her own words

"In viewing the history of the parish, I have always been struck by the way they went around moving buildings. The original church was sold and moved to Blossom Road. After that a small, new church was built. Then they moved another church from Marilla and used it as a first school This was done in 1908. Then they raised the church up and put a basement under it."

- Sister Mary Zaenglein,

a vocation to our community from this parish

"The Sisters of St. Francis came to St. Vincent's in 1910. With them came the sense of stability and purpose.

"...the Sisters came and they stayed - and aren't we glad!"

"Their early efforts to organize a school, staff it, and teach the love of God as well as the 3 Rs in the pristine conditions evidence a pioneer spirit.

"And don't all of us have many memories of that precious relationship between Sister and Child? Mom was mom but "Sister" had an aura that was at once loving and spiritual, dependable, quietly authoritarian and when "Sister said, " there was no dispute.

- by a parishioner in tribute to Sister Juliana Deinhart

St. John Maron Parish, Buffalo

This parish was founded in 1904 for about 400 Lebanese settlers, Syrian Catholics who had emigrated to Buffalo. Located at 454 Seneca Street, the parish became the "mother" Maronite church of Niagara Falls, Olean, Dunkirk, Fredonia, Lackawanna, and several other communities of Lebanon / Syrian people. St. John Maron Parish, the fourth Maronite Rite parish in the United States, offered this eastern rite of Catholicism in our area. In 1919, the church relocated to 41 Cedar Street at the corner of South Division in downtown Buffalo.

The sisters who staffed the school at St. John Maron Syrian Parish lived at the Pine Street motherhouse, the GRC Orphanage or at another city convent near the parish. Because they had no convent of their own, there is no Chronicle for this convent. A few references are made in the Chronicles of the just mentioned convents. Our sisters began work at the school in ---- and remained until 1948.

In 1960, when the Ellicott Urban Development Project claimed the Cedar Street location, the parish moved to temporary quarters on Main Street in Williamsville at the former Lange estate. Later, they built a new church at 2040 Wehrle Drive in Williamsville, next to the north campus of Erie Community College. Since then, the built a parish center and rectory, a shrine honoring St. Sharbel Makhlouf, and an education center. In 1966, the Maronite Exharchate was established in the United States with its own bishop.

Many ethnic groups have intermingled with the Maronites through marriage and the diversity of this parish whose home lies in the same village as our motherhouse.

Our sisters honor the presence of this eastern rite and Syrian people in our midst and deeply appreciate the beauty of their Divine Liturgy which uses both Arabic and English.

Annunciation Parish, Elma

In the mid-1800s, the several German Catholic families in the Elma area went to St. Mary in Lancaster for Mass and Sacraments. In 1854, a small white wooden chapel was built in Elma, near the intersection of Clinton and Girdle roads, as a place for Mother Freiburger to say her prayers. The tiny chapel was only 10 by 14 feet and 8 feet high.

Stories are told too of an early religious school taught by lay Catholics in a schoolhouse and catechetical center built in 1866 in the vicinity of Clinton and Schwartz Road. This school was considered a branch of St. Mary's in Lancaster.

The parish was established in 1905. At first the schoolhouse served as church, rectory, as well as school. By year's end, the eager parishioners had built a colonial style church that sat 300 people. At this time, the rooms above the school became the convent.

And three sisters came out from Pine Street on September 16, 1912. The Convent chronicler writes creatively when she says: "fifty-three pairs of eyes open wide - to see how the sisters looked." By November 1, the sisters also took charge of the organ and choir.

In September 1915, the school held 55 pupils who received enrollment in the scapular, attended 40 Hours devotions, earned Palmer certificates in handwriting, and brought their lunches in tin pails.

In those early days, the sisters brought in pails of water from a well and also collected rain water in a cistern in the basement.

Sisters do love a picnic in the country and on October 12, 1931, Sister Gonzaga brought 25 professed novices (as sisters in temporary vows were called in those days) to Elma for the day. In May 1938, a large number of motherhouse sisters came for an outing.

An undated church bulletin made a tribute to Sister Lucille Marie Leising. "As Sacristan, the first in Annunciation Church, she enters parish history as a revered and beloved figure." In the same bulletin, Sister Lucille Marie responded: "I'll always have a piece of Annunciation Parish in my heart."

In 1943, Father Michael Weber, then chaplain at St. Mary of the Angels motherhouse in Williamsville, rededicated the tiny white chapel after it was restored. The chapel now sits near Clinton Street across from the new church.

School enrollment climbed into near 100 pupils as families moved into the area. For September 1941, the parishioners made new classrooms in the old horse sheds. School opened late this year, at the end of October, because of a polio epidemic. By 1949, more classrooms were created out of the sheds, and the convent expanded to the downstairs area where classrooms had been.

By September 1943, almost 150 students were overflowing the school in the sheds and the parish broke ground for a new school in February of 1955. When the school opened in 1956, four sisters and two lay teachers conducted school for almost 200 students. By 1962, over 300 children came for school.

In November 1969, two of our novices spent a week at Elma for a taste of local convent living. Also, that same month, the parish broke ground for the new church. The chronicler makes an October 1970 note about the first folk Mass with guitar for the school children. And she makes observations about the great Blizzard of 77.

In September 1977, Sister Marie McTarnaghan moved to Annunciation Convent in Elma with two novices who would spend their canonical novitiate year in prayer and attending classes at Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora. This lasted just one year and the novitiate moved back to the motherhouse.

While Sister Vita lived at Elma she became very active in the local senior citizens event. In January 1982, she celebrated her 90th birthday while still active in a mission house. Sisters in other ministries resided at the Elma convent. When the sister resigned the principalship at the close of school in June 1983, there was no other sister to take her place.

In November 1982, in correspondence with the pastor, Sister Margaret Therese, then general minister, wrote: "The letting go' is both painful and difficult for us as a Community. We are, however, confident that leadership among the laity will be forthcoming and that the school will continue to be a strong self-renewing Christian communities in the Franciscan tradition.

There are some other letters that reveal painful misunderstandings over the issues of sisters discontinuing church work, organ playing, and the training of altar boys. As teaching became more demanding and fewer sisters were available, some of the tasks needed to be handed over to others. These changes did not always set well in parishes.

The parishioners got busy with a search committee and hired Margaret Clonan, our former Sister Jane Marie, and she has remained as principal into the 21st century. The convent closed in August 1983 and the building was used for parish needs. A sister working as a pastoral assistant in Annunciation Parish and a sister serving as director of religious education through 1993 resided in other convents.

The 1866 building was moved in October 1992 down Girdle Street to a foundation near Buffalo Creek. It too can be seen from the roadway.

Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish,

Darien Center

Families from Sandridge, Corfu, Bennington, and Attica gathered to begin this parish in 1911. On May 3, 1911, Bishop Colton came to dedicate their first church. The parishioners opened a school in the rectory in 1912 with one lay teacher. Father Anstett, third pastor, arranged for three Pine Street Franciscans to come for the school.

In 1913, three of our sisters came out from Pine Street on the Erie Railroad, which had a station in Darien Center and operated a two-room school while they resided in part of the school. One sister taught Grades 1 to 5, another grades 6 to 9. The third, as house sister, cooked, cleaned, did laundry, tended the door, and more besides.

By Christmas, the sisters' chapel was set up in a nook of the schoolhouse and the Blessed Sacrament was brought to stay. Funds raised at card parties, socials, and bazaars helped to fund improvements for the convent and school.

In September 1914, school opened with 40 pupils; in 1916 with 60. For Regents exams, the students went to Lancaster or to Attica.

Because this convent was on the train route, they often had overnight visitors of sisters from Pine Street or our other convents. Sometimes they came on begging tours to several of the railroad towns. Other times, some of our sisters came to this and other country missions for a little rest and relaxation.

One of the visitors our sisters received, as mentioned in the Convent Chronicle, brought them his experience of another culture. He was Father Biglin, a substitute in 1917 when the pastor was away for military service. Father Biglin had served as a missionary in the faraway Northwest near Vancouver, B.C.,

"He paid us several visits and told us about his life among the Indians. It certainly was a life of great sacrifice."

As in most histories of 1918, this one too tells how school was closed because of the Spanish Influenza. And in this decade too, in 1919, the sisters at Darien Center marveled when several sisters came out for the day by auto.

In 1925, wiring in the convent and school provided electric lights for the first time for them. Also in this same year, card parties raised money to take care of the cistern, sanitary indoor toilet, and an oil stove. Later, in this decade, the sisters received a Vecto heater in the convent, a sewing machine, and a radio. The annual fruit and vegetable pantry shower kept them in good food supply.

In the 1930s and 40s, the parishioners continued their good care of the sisters. When the sisters were away for retreat, the parish folks would paint and paper the rooms for them.

In September 1940, the priest who came out for confessions "found us picking prunes, " the chronicler noted, "but ere long we were in church." Among the organists named in this Chronicle are Sister Alicia, Sister Miriam, Sister John Aloysius (Sister Noreen Sturm), and Sister Edna.

In the old convent, there was a tiny door, child-sized, between the school and the convent. Some amusing moments ensued when adults tried to go through this door.

A new school / convent complex was completed in 1950. The sisters moved in August 1950 and the chronicler wrote an entire page of details. About 40 sisters came out for the dedication of the new convent and school on September 10, 1950. In 1958, school opened with 50 children; in 1960 with 62.

In November 1963, the house sister took ill, suffered a stroke and died in mid December. This left only two sisters at the convent. We read in the Chronicle that before the school year ended in June, one of these sisters grieved the death of her mother and the other her niece and entire family who "were wiped out in a fire that destroyed their home." We can only marvel at the bonds of community that provided strength for these sisters who endured such a hard year.

In 1966, the parish renovated the convent and the rectory. In 1967, the enrollment dropped to 43 pupils. By 1969, the key year in many similar situations of low enrollment, a decision was made to close the convent when the school consolidated with St. Vincent's in Attica.

Most Holy Redeemer Parish, Cheektowaga

As German settlers came into Western New York they moved to the Cold Springs, Humboldt Park, and Kensington sections of the City of Buffalo. The also spread out along Genesee Street from St. Mary of Sorrows Parish to Cheektowaga and Bowmansville.

In 1913, Most Holy Redeemer Parish was established near Genesee at the city line east border with Cheektowaga, the area commonly called Pine Hill, not far from Pine Ridge Cemeteries. In 1914, a combination church / school building was built.

On September 5, 1915, school opened and the 1963 50th anniversary booklet says:" ... the parish had the good fortune of having it staffed by the sisters of the 3rd Order of St. Francis whose motherhouse is in Williamsville."

On December 30, 1965, four of our sisters went to Most Holy Redeemer Parish. From monies in Rev. Stegmeirer's will, $500, 000 was designated for the construction of a convent and school in the parish that he had once pastored.

When the sisters moved into their brand new convent, they began their "routine roundelay of duties, " as the chronicler puts it. School had opened in September 1965 with four sisters and nine lay teachers. The sisters commuted from the Mill Street motherhouse for those three months.

The Convent Chronicle gives the yearly statistics of enrollment and sacraments, generally about one page per school year. The total Chronicle holds only 21 pages for the 27 years we were there. A significant entry in August 1967 tells of the impact of Vatican II and we will reference this again as we open Chapter 4 of this book.

When the parish council was established in January 1967, two sisters were among the 26 members. In 1971, some of the sisters made the Better World retreat at Grace House in Alden. In the 1973 -74 school year, two sisters resided at this convent while tending to the school at Our Lady Help of Christians further out Genesee at Union Road in Cheektowaga.

For the next several years, the chronicler lists only the names of the sisters and their duties. Throughout the 1980s, many of the sisters who resided at this convent went out to ministries beyond this parish. It was during the early 1980s that Father Joe Bisonnette came for Penance services and sisters in the surrounding convents were invited over for the evening. In August 1992, the sisters closed this convent with a final liturgy in the convent chapel.

A long list provides an inventory of items belonging to the convent. This list includes records and books, dishes, kitchen utensils, and cooking pans and pots, table linens and towels, plants and lamps, blankets and bed linens, ironing board and iron, and an electric broom. The chronicler noted that the car belonged to the parish. It has been our custom for chroniclers to keep a running list of what belongs to the parish, to the school, and to the convent and community.

The parish, founded in 1913, observed its 75th anniversary in 1988. In June 1990, with graduation, the school consolidated with nearby St. John Gualbert and St. John Kanty parish schools.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Silver Creek

Our Lady of Mount Carmel began as a mission station of Angola in 1871. In 1882, with a frame church covered with white clapboards, a parish was established. This little, white church on rollers was drawn by horses in 1914 from Monroe and Porter streets across land and across the two creeks, Walnut and Silver, at their junctures to a new location on Central Avenue. The move took six weeks, and Mass was held in the church, including the time the church was over the waters of the creeks.

At the turn of the century there was an influx of immigrants and Msgr. O'Connor, pastor from 1912 to 1959, oversaw the construction of a stone church.

In 1914, the school opened with 199 pupils in the historic red brick Swift mansion. Three of our sisters arrived in Silver creek on September 7 and opened school on September 8. When Mother Juliana came for visitation in October, she brought Beatrice Schraeder, a postulant, and left her there to teach for three months. School closed in June with 189 pupils.

Visitation brought Mother Dionysia out in 1916, Mother Gabriel in 1918, and Mother DePazzi in 1920. This means that four mother superiors had visited Silver Creek in the first six years our sisters were there.

During the 1920s, the Chronicle shows, there were frequent transfers of school sisters and house sisters. In the 1930s, there were less than 100 children in the school. In 1935, less than 70. In 1941, two sisters were teaching four grades apiece, with 50 children, all told. For several years in the 1940s, when children were needed to do fall farm work, school opened late by a few weeks to accommodate this need. In 1946, only 38 pupils came to school.

When Mother Charles Marie came out for visitation, she also visited the Columban Sisters who were nearby at Columban on the Lake. Passionist fathers and Columban fathers, both with places on Lake Erie, came to our Silver Creek convent for confessions over the years.

In September 1950 the school was up to 85 pupils and a third sister to teach. In December 1950, the new school opened with great promise for the future. The school opened a kindergarten in September 1951 with a lay teacher. By the fall of 1952, there were 111 pupils. A hot lunch program began in October.

By 1955, with 211 students, an addition was added to the school staffed by four sisters and three lay teachers.

In November 1959, Msgr. Edmund O'Connor, pastor of 47 years, died.

The chronicler notes with relief that in September 1962, "We were relieved of counting the Sunday Collection."

By March 1963, the bishop requested of our congregation that we give Mt. Carmel school to the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph of Hamburg who were looking for more schools in their area. In June 1963, Mother Leona of the FSSJ community came for a visit.

On July 14, 1963, a farewell dinner marked the end of our 55 years there. The chronicler notes that leave taking on July 15 was "most solemn, sacred and tear- rendering." The Chronicle contains a long list of what our sisters left in place for use by the sisters coming in.

When the FSSJ community had to withdraw in 1972, the pastor and parish had such good memories of our sisters that they invited us to return. But we did not have the personnel to do so.

The Sisters of the Sacred Heart ran the school until declining enrollment forced it to close in 1982.

St. Francis Hospital, Charleston, West Virginia

Three sisters left the motherhouse on December 16, 1913, and traveled by train to Charleston, West Virginia. People there met the sisters at the train depot and took them by horse and carriage to the hospital location. Rev. Lewis Centner, "through whose efforts the sisters came to Charleston" (Charleston Chronicle) was on hand to greet them. Supper was served to the sisters in the kitchen, this Chronicle informs us, as there was no dining room. The sisters walked to the church at Sacred Heart Parish every morning for Mass, as the house had no chapel either.

Evergreens and a crib were brought to the sisters on December 24. And right after Christmas, Mother Juliana and her assistant, Sister M. Francis (Bachmann) came for visitation. They remained from December 27 through January 5. They brought with them a fourth sister who stayed. On February 17, 1914, Sister M. Bernice penned a letter to Mother Juliana, thanking her for her letter sent to them and detailing for the mother superior on four typed pages the details of the hospital's activities.

When opening day for St. Francis Hospital came on January 15, 1914, more than a thousand visitors came to see the place. The first Mass at the hospital took place on January 16 and by January 21, the new chapel was ready. On January 23, the Stations of the Cross were blessed. The chronicle of this convent does not tell how the hospital got built, but we are told that it had a bed capacity of 28 patients.

St. Francis was the only hospital in Charleston at this time. People had to go to Parkersburg or Cincinnati for other hospitals. St. Francis, located in the heart of the city of Charleston, sat only 10 minutes from the C & O depot, 7 minutes from the K & M depot, and 5 minutes from the K & WVa depot.

The sisters took care of orphans and charity patients as well as paying patients. The Chronicle mentions some baptisms that took place with orphans in danger of death. The hospital included a training school for nurses.

On March 18, Bishop Patrick James Donahue, bishop of the Wheeling Diocese, visited the sisters and he came again on June 18. In the summer, the motherhouse sent additional sisters to work at the hospital. In August, the St. Francis Hospital Guild looking for "ways and means for raising funds" (Charleston Chronicle) planned a Donation Day for October 5, the day after the feast of St. Francis of Assisi.

In November 1914, the hospital bought property at 335 Laidly Street to use as a convent home for the sisters. When Bishop Donahue again visited the sisters in 1915, he was "pleased with everything" (Chronicle) and eager to build an addition to the hospital, offered a loan of $40, 000. In 1915, the Annual Donation Day was held on October 4, and brought in about $1, 500. On March 13, 1916, the sisters held groundbreaking for the new hospital. The cornerstone laying took place on June 14.

Typical of the times, the sisters traveled by train to Buffalo each summer for their annual retreats and returned to Charleston by train.

A gap in the Chronicle with pages 37 to 60 missing brings us to 1920. The chronicler writes on January 12, 1920: "Bishop Donahue called; was well pleased with hospital report." In March, the sisters rented a house at 325 Laidly for the nurses. After the nurses graduated, the sisters moved into the house.

From a postcard, we learn that the new $60, 000 addition opened in January 1917 and included a children's ward.

Our sisters left in February 1921 after seven years of service. The only reason given in a Thank You letter: "pressing need of their service at home." Another letter indicates some outstanding loans still owed to 337 Pine Street. The Sisters of St. Joseph took charge of the hospital. Our sisters were opening our Niagara Falls Hospital about this same time.

Sister Charles Vincent came from Charleston.

St. Bartholomew Parish, Buffalo

This parish began in 1912, under the leadership of Father Thomas O'Hern, on Grider near Kensington where the trolley line made its stops. German Catholic families had settled on the largely undeveloped farmland. Carving a new parish from St. Matthew's on East Ferry, Blessed Trinity on LeRoy and St. Gerard's at Bailey and Delevan, these parishioners built in 1914 a combination church - school building, as did many other fledgling German - speaking parishes in Western New York. Our sisters opened school in September 1915 and commuted from St. Nicholas convent.

The convent building created by rolling a house and attaching it to the old rectory gave the sisters a home in 1923. The Convent Chronicle begins on September 1, 1923, with an account of the monthly income and expenses. On occasion, the sisters needed to ask the pastor for an advance on their meager stipend of $100 per month for five sisters ($200 per year paid monthly for the 10 months of the school year) in order to buy necessities. In one month, for example, milk cost $12.15, meat $31.58, and other groceries $36.72, coming to $80.45 out of that $100. Ice for the icebox cost $3.15 and other expenses included streetcar fare and medicines.

By 1935, the school enrollment was 381 pupils. In 1956, 397 pupils and in 1958, 412.

In November 1942, to accommodate more sisters, the chapel was converted to a community room and vice versa. Other rearrangement of rooms and space witness the creativity and resourcefulness of the sisters to meet changing needs. In 1953, they made a new refectory (dining room) from the cook's cell and the pantry.

November 1961 hit this convent community of sisters with double sadness. Their pastor died on November 1st. And Mother Priscilla died on November 30th.

This Convent Chronicle, as most, mention the 1st and 2nd councilors and the bursar (treasurer) selected from among the sisters in the house. St. Bart's often welcomed summer residents who were attending college classes in the city of Buffalo.

A 1963 photo in the 75th Anniversary Book shows Sister John Paul, principal, as she rings a school bell to call the children in. In 1966, the school put in a new science lab and a new library. The faculty began departmental teaching. In April 1968, the school hosted its first science fair, which became an annual event.

The parish history indicates that Raymond J. Balduf served as organist from Easter Sunday of 1917 until Easter Sunday of 1968. Sisters served as organists in many of the early parishes, but not in this one. Our sisters, however, participated in parish affairs like liturgy planning, educational boards, and the parish council.

"The ethnic groups in our parish, " the chronicle tells, " are gradually changing. As the white neighbors move we expect more and more Negroes to move in." The registration at the school remained about the same for the time being.

Relating the time of Confirmation in 1968, the wise and witty chronicler notes that "We (meaning the students) didn't wear robes, but we sure recommend calling Catholic Enterprise for the next Confirmation in three years." This entry leaves it open to our imagination as to what those students wore for dress-up clothes for their Confirmation.

During July 1968, the chronicler writes with sadness: "We witnessed the leaving of eight sisters from our community." And in September 1968: "Now we have only five sisters in our convent home." Also, adding to the note of discouragement: Family after family moves from our parish."

Death also brought sadness. On March 8, 1969, the chronicler devotes almost two pages to the unexpected death of Sister Amadea. She had prayed Vespers with the sisters and shortly thereafter felt unwell and died. She was 72. A year and a half later, on September 17, 1970, Sister Benedict died in the arms of Sister Eileen at the convent.

The 1960s and 70s held much discouragement for local convents where sisters could be numbered on one hand rather than in the dozen or more of earlier times.

In July 1969, St. Bart's hosted a session of Project Concern with six high school girls and three sisters residing for a week at the convent. Their presence and their activities "made a deep impression on all our parishioners, " the chronicler notes.

School opened in 1969 with 240 pupils. In November, vandals did more than $8, 000 damage to the school. For the 1972 - 73 school year, the faculty initiated ungraded primary for Grades 1, 2, and 3 with two teachers. Down to two sisters in 1973, the convent closed and the two sisters resided at St. Gerard's convent and commuted to St. Bart's school.

In February of 1987, Father Joseph Bisonnette was brutally murdered in the rectory of this parish and a Peace Park sits in a courtyard created by the various buildings as a memorial to him. A few days later, Msgr. David Herlihy was murdered at St. Matthew's rectory. Later, the names of these two martyrs became the names of the two campuses of regionalized schools for this area of Buffalo.

In 1993, the parish closed and parishioners transferred to nearby Blessed Trinity Parish.

Keller Memorial Hospital, Scranton, Pa.

Mary Keller of Scranton, Pa., in her last will and testament of February 27, 1923, left a good sum of money for the hospital which bore her husband's family name. The hospital, founded on November 10, 1915, was built with money donated by Mary Keller in memory of her recently deceased husband George, who long cherished the idea of a Catholic hospital in his city. Letters back and forth between our Mother Juliana and Father Peter Christ, pastor of St. Mary's German Church in Scranton and also vicar general of the Scranton Diocese, reveal the appeal for sisters to come from Pine Street to staff this hospital.

On Wednesday, Nov. 10, 1915, four of our sisters arrived in Scranton on the afternoon train and set about ordering equipment and setting up the hospital. They attended Mass and services at St. Mary's parish church and, the Chronicle notes, "breakfasted with Sisters of Christian Charity." A month later, a fifth sister arrived to help. On December 30, 1915, Father Christ blessed the convent chapel and on New Year's Day 1916, he celebrated the first Mass at the new hospital.

On January 25, 1916, the formal dedication of the hospital, "dedicated to suffering humanity, " took place. The public came to an open house on the following day. And on January 27, the first patient arrived. Our sisters carried on the work of the hospital and of convent living with the usual ups and downs of concerns and joys.

On a site provided by Mary Keller, a Nurses' Home opened in September 1925. And with a $62, 000 gift from Mrs. Keller, an additional wing and a third floor were added in 1925.

When Mary Keller became ill, the sisters gave her nursing care in her home because her condition was considered to risky to move her to the hospital. Our sisters were at her bedside with prayer when she died on December 18, 1927. From her will, $80, 000 came to the sisters for the purpose of building an addition to the hospital.

A handwritten note with news clippings about her death tells of the esteem our sisters held for her. " and may her shining virtue be always in the memory of the Sisters of St. Francis."

Sister Mary Paul and Sister Mary Berardus had served as superiors of the convent and administrators of the hospital over several years. In 1935, they were both too ill to take on these responsibilities, and no sister was ready to replace them.

In March 1935, Mother Seraphica wrote to the bishop of Scranton asking his permission to withdraw our sisters as we did not have enough sisters trained in hospital work. She mentioned to the bishop that in the past year the community had suffered 10 deaths of sisters, all holding prominent positions.

And so, the hospital was transferred with its debt and its nurses' home to the Sisters of Mercy of the Province of Scranton. They changed the name to St. Mary's - Mother of Mercy (Mater Misericordia).

In their own words

In 1989, Sister Ruth Wangler made an audio tape of Sister St. Methodius, who talked about her experience working at Mary Keller Hospital (MKH).

Ruth:

Sister, how did you become acquainted with Mary Keller Hospital?

St. Methodius:

I lost a good paying job during the depression of 1931. There were no good jobs to be had. Our pastor gave me a letter of recommendation to the administrator of Mary Keller Hospital. At that time it was Sister Berardus who hired me at $7 a week with board and room. The sisters of our community who were there at that time were: Sisters Paul, Canisia, Loyola, Pauline, Irene, Josepha, Marie John, Dulcina, Claudia, ____ ( a name that cannot be made out on the tape), Gerald, Gerard, Berardus, Jane, Henrica, Constance, Leonard, and Emmanuel.

R:That's quite a number. I'm surprised. What sisters are here who came from Scranton?

M:Sisters Helen Calvey, Reginald, Bernita, Martha, St. Methodius, Lorraine, Cyril, Thomas, and Solana.

(Some years later, Sister Ann Marie Gavin from Scranton entered our congregation.)

R:Scranton really increased our numbers.

M: Yes, it did.

R:Do you think your work at Mary Keller influenced your vocation?

M:Yes, it did. I intended to enter the SS. Cyril and Methodius Community. But when I came to know the sisters at MKH I changed my mind and wanted to be a Franciscan which I am today.

R:We are certainly glad that you changed your mind because we are glad to have you with us. Is there anything else you would like to tell us about your life?

M:After five and a half years at this hospital came a shock for all Scrantonians. The mother general and her council at SMA (St. Mary of the Angels) decided to withdraw the sisters and the Sisters of Mercy took over the hospital.

I stayed with the Mercy Sisters for a year and decided to take a step toward my going to the convent. During the past five and a half years I corresponded with Mother Seraphica. On her advice I left home which I did on May 5, 1937, and came to Niagara Falls and a few months later entered the community.

I celebrated my golden jubilee October 1987 and can truthfully say I had a beautiful religious life ready to go when the Master of my life calls me.

When I left home I had $10 in my purse which I borrowed. When I reached St. Mary's Hospital I had $1.

R:Thank you, Sister.

1915 - 1940

Black migration from southern states

to Buffalo's Fruit Belt

From 1915 through the 1940s, Blacks migrated north looking for work and places to live. The peak of Black migration found people coming to the Fruit Belt section of Buffalo, once a German stronghold, but now vacated by 2nd and 3rd generation Germans who moved to the suburbs. As the Central City grew in Black population, the Sisters of St. Francis adjusted their ministry efforts to provide education for these children too. This becomes more evident in the ministries our sisters took up in the 1950s and 1960s.

All Souls, Buffalo

(renamed as St. Agatha)

parish - 1910

school - 1910

Sisters of St. Francis -

September 1, 1916 to 1921

transferred to Sisters of Mercy

In 1910, Italians in South Buffalo received Father Anthony Clemente who organized a parish named All Souls (Holy Souls) for them. At first the School Sisters of Notre Dame staffed the small brick school. In 1916, the Sisters of St. Francis from Pine Street joined the staff and the two communities worked together to run the school until 1921. At that time the Sisters of Mercy took over and staffed the school until June 1994 when a lay principal (Delores Oakes, a good friend of Sister Bea Leising) was hired.

In 1917, Bishop Dougherty transferred some streets from Holy Family Parish in South Buffalo to All Souls - and this met with resistance from those who had long belonged to Holy Family Parish.

During a Confirmation in 1919, the large crowd caused the floor of the church to partly give way and it was decided to close this church and find a new site for a new one. Later they returned to the same site and fixed the old church. The parish was given a new name, that of St. Agatha.

Registration of foreigners

We read in the Motherhouse Chronicle:

"June 17 - 26, 1918 - During these days a request was made by public authority that all foreigners of the feminine sex should be registered. The registration blanks requested the filling in according to certain formula. Fingerprints and photographs were requested. It was prescribed that head and neck should be uncovered in the photograph and that it should be complete. The registration was to take place in public which circumstances increased the anxiety of the Sisters on account of the taking up of the photographs and they these should be taken without the religious garb for head dress.

"An appeal was sent to the Judicial Department at Washington, D.C. and the response exempted religious from this duty with certain modifications as to method of fulfilling of this duty. In regard to the photographs those were accepted which the religious had taken in her religious garb complete and the Department also stipulated that the registration take place in the convent in presence of a Notary acting as an official. June 25, 1918, the First Registration was held in 337 Pine Street, Buffalo. Several Sisters of the various communities came to our Motherhouse for the purpose of registering.

"July 2, 1918, the second Registration was held. Many sisters, natives from Ireland, Canada and Germany, were present to register."

St. James, Buffalo

On its 2003 website, St. James Parish identifies itself as "a small, friendly, multicultural community." The information continues with; "The assembly is known for its open and welcoming spirit. We invite you to join us and experience the blessings of St. James Parish, Buffalo."

The first Mass for this parish was celebrated on December 24, 1916. St. James Parish began in the Kensington District (Kensington / Bailey neighborhood) in 1916 with Msgr. Joseph Hoernschemeyer in a pastorate that lasted 51 years. He died in 1967. A combination church / school, typical of many German parishes, was built in 1917.

On September 1, 1918, Sister Mercedes opened the school with 60 students. For many years, our sisters commuted back and forth from Pine Street and later from Mill Street while teaching at St. James School.

This parish had the usual card parties and bowling allies like many of the German parishes. The Knights of St. John, Commandery #292 operated out of this parish.

Our sisters came on a bus, named the Black Moriah, to teach and minister at this school. In 1956 a house was purchased and converted into a convent for the sisters. Ten sisters moved in on August 27, 1957. On September 15, the chapel was blessed and the first Mass celebrated. The parishioners completely furnished the convent.

During that first year of sisters in residence, Sister Joanna and Sister Marie Louise came for school visits and Mother Priscilla for convent visitation.

In 1960, Sister Marie Gerard, school moderator for the Catholic Union and Echo contest, won a trip to St. Anne de Beaupr. In 1962, the moderator of that year, Sister Immaculate, won a trip to Washington, D.C.

It came in 1965 as a great help to the sisters when school mothers offered to watch the children during the lunch hour.

By 1971, the sisters here as in all our convents held house meetings in which all the sisters had a voice. In March 1971, St. James' community of sisters decided on changes in the times of recreation, which meant freedom to talk rather than a time of silence. They began talking at breakfast, during a recreation hour from 4 to 5 in the afternoon, and at supper. The sisters also decided on freedom to watch television in the evening as desired "as long as consideration (was) shown for those sleeping."

Also, in 1971, two sisters who were teachers at DEC (Diocesan Educational Campus - a central school, located ad the site of the former GRC Orphanage, for all inner city students with a faculty drawn from several religious communities) resided at St. James.

In the 1970', several sisters from this convent returned to secular life and with many sisters leaving and almost no women entering the community, the places were not filled. By 1975, St. James school and convent was down to three sisters. Later, some sisters in other ministries resided at this convent. In September 1979, St. James school shifted from a parish school to more of a central school as students came from five surrounding parishes.

"While the Kensington-Bailey area (is) classified as a changing neighborhood', " the chronicler noted in a 1979 entry, "and the influx of non-parishioners and the hard work of the principal and faculty, our school has become a model of a quality, integrated school."

In November 1988, the school was consolidated into a regional school and the building here was known as Father Bisonnette campus of Catholic Central School, with Msgr. Herlihy Campus located at St. Ann's parish on Broadway. When the sisters of St. Francis left St. James in 1988, the Oblate Sisters of Divine Providence came in to run the regionalized campus.

Our sisters left the convent on August 1, 1988. Some relocated their residences to Queen of Heaven Convent in West Seneca. Among the convent belongings, the sisters had a San Damiano crucifix and a Madonna icon, signs of a growing awareness of the spiritual richness of other cultures.

The Convent Chronicle closes with; "We have been enriched by the spirituality of the people, the inspiring liturgies, and the bonding of the parish community." It seems that we shared our Franciscan charism with this "small, friendly and multicultural community" with lasting effects on them and on ourselves.

In May of 1999, St. James Parish invited current and former parishioners to a May 25th Eucharistic celebration of the feast of Pentecost and many of our sisters with connections to the parish attended.

General History: German - Catholic parishes in Diocese of Buffalo

In her research on the German-Catholic parishes, Sister Regina Murphy, SSMN, director of Research and Planning for the Diocese of Buffalo, listed St. James in 1917 as the last parish established for the German - speaking Catholics of the area. After that time, English was more and more the language of the people and the need for German-speaking priests and religious shifted to English-speaking, with the exception of more recently arrived Polish-speaking, Slavic-speaking, and Italian-speaking people.

German Catholic newspapers

Because our early sisters would have read the German-Catholic newspapers, we include the following outline of such papers in the Diocese of Buffalo. Also, the Christlische Woche and its sister paper The Echo were published at our GRC Orphanage, giving our sisters of those decades an increased interest in the newspaper. During the 1980s and 1990s, several of our sisters worked at the Western New York Catholic, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Buffalo.

1853

Die Aurora (The Dawn)

German language Catholic weekly

Christian Wreckmann served as editor

later published every two or three weeks

Catholic Union of Buffalo

1872

Catholic Times of Rochester

1873

Christlische Woche (the Christian Week)

published by German Roman Catholic Orphanage

raised awareness of orphanage

and helped secure finances to run the orphanage

1881

Catholic Union and Times

published German and also Polish sections

1900

Aurora und Christlische Woche

owned and edited by Father Joseph Sorg

1915

The Echo

Second, third generation Catholics spoke English

no longer needed German language newspaper

also, anti-German feeling out of WWI

edited by Charles A. Zenger

managed by Father George Weber

in name of GRC orphanage's Board of Directors

August 24, 1939

The Echo merged with Catholic Union

as Catholic Union and Echo

held this name through 1963

when it was called Magnificat

and then other names

1981

Western New York Catholic

and is known by this name into the 21st century.

1920s

Our sisters left Sacred Heart in Bennington in 1918 and over the next decade, we had to leave or close several other missions. Mother de Pazzi, a longtime teacher at St. Mary's High School in Lancaster, served as mother superior from 1919 through 1925.

In 1920, our sisters left New Cathedral School, Buffalo. In 1921, St. Francis Hospital in Charleston was closed and our sisters returned to our motherhouse. In 1921, our sisters left St. Agatha's, (formerly called All Souls), Buffalo. And in 1924, our missions in Puerto Rico were closed.

St. Benedict's, Eggertsville

Our sisters started the school at this parish in 1921 with two sisters and 34 students. The first school classes were held in a remodeled Brunner's Tavern. Over these first ten years, ten sisters served there from September 1921 to June 1930. There was no convent and the sisters commuted from Pine Street and later from Mill Street.

The school was transferred to the Sisters of St. Francis of Christian Charity and Penance (Stella Niagara Sisters) at their request because of its proximity to their Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart.

During the 1980s and 90s and into the 21st century, one of our sisters does work in this parish. Sister Virginia Judge has served as director of religious education since 1988 and she continues to do so while residing at Queen of Peace Convent in Buffalo.

Early 1920s

In 1922, the St. Francis Aid Society was established to assist the sisters in fund raising and with social events.

By 1923, our sisters begin to realize the need for a new motherhouse and novitiate.

Sacred Heart Parish, Bowmansville

German Catholic families were scattered on farms in the Genesee - Transit Area of the town of Lancaster. A parish was established at Bowmansville near the crossing of Ellicott Creek under Genesee Street in 1917 with Father Scherer from Our Lady Help of Christians at Forks (Cheektowaga) as the first pastor. A small church was built in 1919 - 1920.

The school opened on September 23, 1924, with our sisters staffing it. Mother Mary de Pazzi assigned Sister Romana as superior with Sister M. Joseph and Sister M. Julietta as teachers. During that first year, the sisters lived at St. Mary's in Lancaster and Father Ott, the pastor, drove them back and forth each school day. The bungalow style convent of 1925 is pictured in the anniversary booklet.

The outdoor shrine was completed in 1927 and is pictured in the anniversary book with a group of children standing in front of it. At this time, Father Edward Ott, uncle of Father Roman Ott, was the pastor and Sisters Seraphia, Romana, and Xavier staffed the school. Sister Seraphia, the cook, was often called to the motherhouse to help with the cooking for special events.

In 1929, the school and convent closed. Some of the children enrolled at St. Mary's in Lancaster.

School was reopened in 1950 our returned as commuters from the Williamsville, Mill Street, motherhouse. A new church went up in 1958-59. In 1964-65, the school was converted into a parish and religious education center.

Sister Margaret Ann Connors often speaks of our return to this parish as she returned for her second term as principal there. In the early 1970s, Sister Julia Hamilton as principal introduced departmental teaching for the upper grades and team teaching for grades 4 and 5.

In the early 1970s, Sister Patricia Griffin taught grades 1 and 2 at this school in her home parish. Sister Patricia is the vocation from this parish, and was among the honored guests at the diamond jubilee events on September 17, 1995.

Another vocation from this parish, Joan Davern who became Sister Marian Francis, died unexpectedly at a very young age in 1966

Sister Noreen Sturm served as the last principal at the school and for some years as the only sister on the staff in the late 1970s. Sister Noreen took part in the several meetings that worked toward consolidation with SS. Peter and Paul School in Depew holding grades K to 4 and Sacred Heart holding grades 5 to 8. With enrollments less than 100 at each location, Sister Noreen served as principal at Bowmansville. The Chronicle notes the Blizzard of 1977 as well as the sub 0 weather of January 1982.

The school officially closed in June 1983 with all equipment and also the children shifted to SS. Peter and Paul in Depew. Notes in the Chronicle and the printout of the diocesan policy for the consolidation of schools and the several letters written during the process tell the story of this closing. On June 9, 1983, the Lancaster Enterprise and Journal ran an editorial of Farewell saying " what makes a community. It is the people and their unique spirit. Shine on."

Sister Stella Marie Alessi served as classroom teacher from 1963 to 1972 and continued as religious education teacher until 1991.

Story of clock from Sacred Heart Convent

When Sister Fran was in Sheldon in the mid 1960s, there was a clock in the dining room and the clock chimed the quarter hour - every quarter hour - day and night. It was bothersome to some of the sisters to hear this and Sister Janet, superior at the time, decided to get rid of it. Sister Fran took it to her grandfather, Edward Bookmiller, who loved to tinker with old clocks. He and his wife Irene, parents of Sister Fran's Mom, had the clock in their home until 1974.

After they had both died, the clock came to George and Judy Gangloff, brother and sister - in - law of Sister Fran. When it did not work any longer, Judy had it repaired and when the clock repair shop opened it they found a note inside indicating that it had once belonged to Sacred Heart Convent in Bowmansville.

Our best guess is that when the Bowmansville convent closed in 1939, the clock was given to the sisters in Sheldon. After the clock was repaired, Judy decided that the sisters should have it back and Sister Fran brought it to the motherhouse. The clock was on display for a time in the sisters' dining room and then it went to the Heritage Room.

New motherhouse - St. Mary of the Angels, 400 Mill Street, Williamsville

In the 1920s, Mother Anselma had the vision to begin thinking about building a new motherhouse and novitiate. She called together the consultors for a discussion. A decision was reached in favor of construction on the Williamsville property, given to the Sisters by the Blocher family.

In the fall 1925, the St. Francis Aid society increased membership and revenues for the building fund for the motherhouse. In May 1926, a pamphlet was published to explain the history and work of the Sisters and the need for the new motherhouse. A Luncheon at Lafayette Hotel kicked off the opening of the campaign for funds.

On October 25, 1926, the ground-breaking ceremony took place at 400 Mill Street, Williamsville. The cornerstone was laid In March 1927, with Bishop William Turner presiding. Board meetings were held with the consultors of the community to advance plans and contracts for architects, loans, elevators, plumbing, mortgages, interest, and more.

On October 21, 1928, the blessing of the bell at the new motherhouse took place.

St. Mary of the Angels motherhouse was dedicated on October 28, 1928, the feast of Christ the King. Perpetual Adoration was canonically transferred from our Pine Street motherhouse to Mill Street motherhouse, which was officially called St. Mary of the Angels Convent of Perpetual Adoration.

The novices and postulants moved from Pine Street to the Mill Street motherhouse on October 28. The professed sisters remained in the city through November 6, went to the polls to do their civic duty of voting on November 6, and then moved to Mill Street. Some of them tell how they took bedsheets, put all their belongings in the middle of it, and tied it up and used it as their suitcase.

Some recall their amazement over all the sinks with running water in the new place.

Sister Aquinas recalled in 1981 that in 1931 the motherhouse yard had no trees.

1930s

In 1930, our sisters left St. Benedict School and closed out the Business School at St. Aloysius in Springville. During her 1931-37 term of office, Mother M. Seraphica opened no new missions, largely because of the Great Depression. In 1935, at St. Mary's in Strykersville, the high school closed due to the Great Depression. And in 1936, our sisters transferred Keller Memorial Hospital, Pa., to the Sisters of Mercy.

In 1937, our Old Holy Family Home on Reist Street was closed and razed; its foundation could still be viewed hidden under weeds and overgrowth at the end of the 20th century. The residents moved to St. Francis Home in Gardenville or to the Mill Street motherhouse where the men occupied the first floor and the women the second and fourth floors of the northwest wing. The appellation of that northwest door as "the Men's Entrance" lingered long after the menfolk had moved from this wing.

Gethsemane Cemetery

Gethsemane Cemetery, located off of Reist Street down stream from Glen Avenues was dedicated in 1939. Our leadership carried on lengthy negotiations with the Pine Ridge Cemetery where our sisters were buried over many years. By 1940, burials took place at this new cemetery and this continues to the present day. Chapter 13 tells more completely the story of the final resting places of our sisters.

St. Francis Hospital, Buffalo

This hospital had its beginning on February 1, 1943, when our sisters bought Central Park Clinic in Buffalo and renamed it St. Francis Hospital. Dr. Joseph Burke founded the Clinic in ----. At that time, the house that was later used as the convent was moved back from Main Street.

This Convent Chronicle jumps from the 1940s to the 1960s with no entries in between.

Sister Mary of Perpetual Help, considered one of the pioneers of this hospital, came in January 1943 as bookkeeper and stayed for 25 years until her death in January 1968.

The Chronicle of St. Francis Hospital tells of very ill sisters arriving by ambulance, of the spiritual and physical care they received, of their recoveries, and sometimes of their deaths. An entry for January 18, 1960, narrates the story of the car crash and the injuries sustained by our sisters from St. Elizabeth's Home in Lancaster.

Many references detail the institutes, conventions, courses, and workshops that the sisters attended to improve their knowledge and skills.

Though the chronicler records more of the ministry than of the convent, we do learn that Franciscan fathers from Timon High School came to give the sisters monthly conferences in the 1960s.

As early as January 1961, the hospital administration under the leadership of Mother M. Carmen Cullen made specific plans for expansion. Increasing the bed count to 100, the related fund drive brought in "$234, 582 in July 1961. Additional loans in November 1961 covered the costs of bringing the construction to completion. By February 1962, the new third floor was ready for occupancy and a new coffee shot opened in the basement. The old house, known as Lyons Tea Room, which had served as a coffee shop, was demolished in May 1962. In July 1962, work began on the Main Street wing. A year later, union workers on strike staged a work stoppage and set up picket lines.

In November 1963, the sisters held a blessing for the new third floor chapel and the new wing, called Bishop Neumann Hall. And on December 14, 1963, the sisters vacated the 100-year-old house that had served as their convent and moved to new quarters on the fourth floor. In March 1964, the old convent was demolished and the area was turned into parking spaces.

In June 1963, St. Francis Hospital received approval for three years from the Joint Commission for Accreditation. And, in May 1964, during National Hospital Week, St. Francis held an open house for the general public.

In August 1963, Sister Irene (Anne Hoyer) came to the hospital to work with Sister Marcia Klawon in the X-ray Department.

Annually, the St. Francis Guild held its installation of officers during a Mass and Communion breakfast, a membership tea, and other events to assist the sisters in the needs of the hospital.

When the sisters went to the Catholic Hospital Convention in New York City in June 1964, they also toured the World's Fair in progress and deemed it "Excellent, educational, and inspirational." We catch a glimpse of the sisters' openness to other cultures as we read in the Chronicle about their visit in early January 1965 to the Christmas Crib at the Consolata Fathers in Williamsville and their attendance at the funeral of a doctor at an Episcopal church.

The fire alarm sounded on February 10, 1965, and the sisters found "thick black smoke" in the EKG therapy room. Caused by a careless smoker, a foam rubber mattress had caught fire. Damage was limited to the EKG room. As 1965 moved forward, the hospital staff held a Civil Defense meeting to make arrangements for a fallout shelter, a disaster storage area, and plans for evacuation in case of an emergency. Even though new efforts at fire prevention were put in place, a small fire happened in a linen closet in June 1965.

When the New York State inspector came, she did a very minute inspection of the hospital from top to bottom. She expressed her admiration for the cleanliness of every department and as recorded in the Chronicle of March 1965, she praised "the lovely spirit of friendliness and contentment among nurses and employees."

Before 1965 closed out, a massive blackout on November 9 throughout of all of the northeastern United States put the hospital into darkness; the emergency generator kicked in.

At any given time, five to ten sisters might be at the hospital for various kinds of care; the Chronicle mentions cancer, stroke, and heart problems.

The sisters stationed at St. Francis enjoyed summer picnics on the roof patio and looked forward to their monthly day of retreat on the first Sunday of each new month. In 1966, the chronicler points out that the sisters began to pray the Divine Office in common in English.

In February 1968, the hospital observed its 25th anniversary. In 1969, Sister Maureen Ann left for Mount St. Mary's Hospital in Lewiston, and Sister Paschal took up the administration of St. Francis.

Another gap in the Chronicle brings us to the 1990s.

SFG&HCS, Inc.

A building program in the early 1990s created a new building named St. Francis Geriatrics and Health Care Services as a 120 bed skilled nursing facility with an additional 24 bed adult care home and provision for adult day care. In January 1990, 30 beds were transferred to temporary skilled nursing as part of the transition process. De-certification of 30 hospital beds in February 1992 continued the conversion from acute care. The former hospital building became a diagnostic and treatment center with an Immediate Care Outpatient Department.

Back in 1982, the Health System Agency of Western New York had suggested that St. Francis Hospital be closed as their excess of beds was not needed in the area. In 1987, the New York State Health Department also recommended closing the hospital with their explanation that acute care beds in small hospitals could not be cost-effective.

Hoping to preserve the hospitality and tradition of excellent care, the hospital leadership resisted this closing until 1988 when the State Health Department threatened legal proceedings to force the closure. When a survey of the needs of North Buffalo was completed, the need that surfaced was that of long term care beds for the aging population who needed nursing care.

During this transition, Sister Jeanne Weisbeck served as administrator (1986 to 2001) and continued in the same role when the facilities were transferred to the sponsorship of the Daughters of Charity in 1997. A discussion of the transfer of sponsorship and sale of St. Francis buildings began in 1996, along with the same focus on Mount St. Mary's Hospital in Lewiston and its related Child Care and Long Term Care facilities. The official transfer took place on June 30, 1997.

On June 19, 1997, SFG&HCS held a ceremony to bless and dedicate a small chapel located near the bridge walkway.

In 1999, the front building, which had served as hospital and as clinic, was converted into 40 units known as St. Clare Apartments for senior citizens. The diagnostic and treatment center fell short of its expectations as an outpatient clinic and was closed in October 1994. A HUD (Housing and Urban Development) grant of $2.96 million made the renovation possible. An additional $1.2 million from HUD provides rental assistance over several years. A dedication ceremony on July 8, 1999, marked the opening of St. Clare Apartments. Dorothy Hupp, mother of our Sister Joan, became the first resident of St. Clare's.

In May 2001, just about the time that she was elected to the general council of the congregation, Sister Jeanne took part in a reflection ceremony on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of St. Francis Geriatrics.

St. Francis Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation established in the 1990s, continues to provide philanthropic support for SFG&HCS. When the hospital closed, the administration made arrangements for the old sonogram machine to go to the Buffalo Zoo and for the old wooden pharmacy cabinets to go to the University of Buffalo Pharmacy Museum.

Pastoral care at SFG&HCS

In 1993, Sister Eileen Pinkel provided pastoral care at St. Francis. When Sister Michael Ann was a patient there, she brought much joy to the staff and residents. In 1995, Sister Julia Hamilton began her work as director of pastoral care, a service she continues to bring to the staff and residents. Sister Nelson Harlach as an auxiliary staff member at SFG&HCSS visits patients and prays with them.

"Our ministry takes many forms, " Sister Julia explained in the November 1995 issue of the Western New York Catholic. " from pastoral visits, to passing out trays, searching for a resident's lost sneaker, distributing Holy Communion, being with the dying resident and his / her family, to listening to a staff member who has family concerns.

"In the sacredness of a pastoral visit, in the quiet stillness of holding a hand and just being there in love and prayer, Jesus of Nazareth can once again move among the sick."

Episcopal Residence, Buffalo - 1945 to 1963

Our sisters, invited by Bishop Burke, went to live and work at the Episcopal Residence in 1945. They did domestic work in general as cook and housekeeper. Though this was a separate convent, there does not seem to be a Chronicle.

The General Council Minutes of March 16, 1963, indicate that this convent was closed on March. Bishop McNulty brought his own staff from Paterson. Sister Leonore was transferred to Holy Family Home, Sister Emmanuel to St. Francis Home, and Sister Lucille Marie to Our Lady Help of Christians.

Infant of Prague Parish, Cheektowaga

The Sisters of St. Francis began their education ministry here on February 3, 1947.

Msgr. Linus Henesey, founding pastor of Infant of Prague Parish, was the brother of Sister Marciana Henesey of the Sisters of St. Francis. On Pentecost Sunday, June 9, 1946, the First Mass for the parish was held in a tent on the grounds on Cleveland Drive. Sister Marciana was a longtime kindergarten teacher at Infant of Prague. The first school, reconstructed from government surplus buildings in Niagara Falls, served until the new school was ready in 1950.

In early 1947, the school opened with 44 students in kindergarten and grades 1 and 2 with two sisters teaching. Sister M. Regina Leising served as the first principal. They added a grade each year. During 1948-49, a combination church / school building was constructed. In September 1949, the school had an enrollment of 200 students. In 1955, the school had 895 students. In 1957, 12 sisters and 13 lay teachers educated 1, 033 students. In the early 1960s, the enrollment peaked at 1100 students. Henesey Hall was dedicated in 1954.

A 1996 Golden Anniversary Booklet for Infant of Prague lists the principals who served at the school and the teachers, both sisters and lay. The booklet also has several pictures with sisters in them including one of the new car for the sisters when Sister Melania was principal there. At the time of this booklet, the parishioners had in mind to build a convent for the sisters who commuted to the school.

For many novices in the 1950s and the 1960s, this school's religious education (CCD / Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) program served as their first experience of teaching. Novices came in station wagons to Infant of Prague on Monday afternoons to meet their release time classes for religion.

Sister Maurice and Sister Michael Ann were the last two sisters to work in the school. In 1991, these two sisters were invited back for a reunion and a picture of this event is in the 1996 booklet. In the year 2000, an All Years School Reunion brought many back to renew acquaintances. The program for this event lists 35 deceased sisters and 30 living sisters associated with this parish and school.

1947 - Centennial Eucharistic Congress in Buffalo

In 1947, the Diocese of Buffalo observed its 100th anniversary, its centennial. The Buffalo Centennial Eucharistic Congress, held September 22 to 25, served as the key and focal event.

Early in 1948, the Union and Echo published a hardcover book of 14 chapters containing the official records and this of this Eucharistic Congress.

On September 24, some 40, 000 Catholic school children with their teachers and principals attended the second Pontifical Mass of the Congress, this one held at Civic / War Memorial Stadium at Best and Jefferson. Mass was at 10 a.m. on a cool, sunny day. After the Mass all the children were given a serving of milk and two doughnuts, for the old rule of fasting from midnight was still in effect then.

On the same day, some 3, 000 sisters attended a holy hour at St. Stanislaus church in Buffalo as well as a sectional meeting designated for sisters. Msgr. Patrick McCormick, rector of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., spoke on The Apostolate of the Nun.

Msgr. Joseph Nelson, vicar for religious in the New York Archdiocese, gave a second address titled "Via, Veritas, Vita - Way, Truth, Life." Bishop Ralph Hubert Degnin of Saulte St. Marie, delivered the holy hour homily to the sisters on the theme of "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." - John 6, 69.

Late 1940s

In 1948, our sisters left St. John Maron School, Buffalo. In 1952, St. Nicholas high school in Buffalo moves to Bishop O'Hern High School on Main Street at Riley in Buffalo.

St. Leo the Great Parish, Amherst - 1953

Our sisters served at St. Leo's from the beginning of the parish and school in 1953 through 1987.

A combination school / church building served the parish for nearly two decades. The new church was completed in 1971.

At one point, a fire in the library area of the school caused smoke damage. For a time when things were crowded, a makeshift classroom in the lobby served as a 7th grade classroom. Sister Paulette and Sister Marie Anthony served as early principals. For many years, the several sisters working at St. Leo's received rides in taxis sent for them. The younger sisters got to know Sister Maxilia, who came from Ontario in Canada, as they waited morning and afternoon for the rides to arrive.

Over the years our sisters have served as director of religious education (DRE), librarian, and pastoral assistant.

Sister Marie Simon left in June 1996, after 11 years of service there. Sister Judith Beiswinger currently serves as DRE.

In April 2003, St. Leo's Parish held a 50th jubilee and a 50-year class reunion of all the graduates from 1955 through 2002. The committee planned a Mass, a visit through the school, a display of memorabilia from the past 50 years and a dinner. The planning committee welcomed the parents of alumni, as well as the 50-year roster of principals, teachers, and staff, including our sisters.

Currently, Sister Judith Beiswinger serves as DRE for the parish.

Other key events in the mid 50s

In 1954, our sisters left Visitation School, Buffalo.

Sister M. Francis Bachmann died on June 3, 1955.

St. Christopher Parish, Tonawanda

On September 26, 1988, a fire in the church at St. Christopher's burned everything beyond recognition, except a statue of St. Christopher, which was charred but recognizable. This statue became the focal point, the rallying point, for the grieving of the loss and for the rebuilding of a new church that was completed in 1990.

In May 1928, the parish located on Niagara Falls Boulevard got its start on a lot which once held a cemetery of the dead of 100 French families associated with St. John de la Salle Parish of Niagara Falls. For a time, St. Christopher's was a mission of St. John de la Salle. In May and the summer of 1928, Masses were held outdoors in a tent. By July 1929, a new church held 180 people.

The school opened with the Sisters of St. Francis in 1955 with 120 children and with Sister Margaret Ann Connors as the first principal.

Sister Mary Mark served as principal from 1969 through 1985, and later as a pastoral assistant in parish work. During her 16 years as principal, Sister Mary Mark built up the library, the cafeteria program, the physical education program, the reading programs, and in the 1970s, the computer program. In March 1970, a fire destroyed part of the parish buildings.

A lay principal took charge in 1985, and Sister Mary Mark continued as pastoral assistant and religion teacher. She visited the sick of the parish and continued to help with the computer learning both in the school and in the parish offices.

In 1985, Msgr. Francis Weldgen came as pastor and saw the parishioners through the 1988 fire and building of a new parish church. In the 1990s, Sister Peggy Wetzel served as pastoral minister at St. Christopher Parish.

Our Lady of Peace, Clarence

In 1955, Father Haley asked if our sisters could come out to teach religion classes. Parishioners came to the motherhouse to drive two sisters out on Sunday mornings and after the classes drove them back again. In 1963, with a change of pastors, Father O'Malley asked if the sisters would continue and we did. And again, in 1970, when Msgr. Leo Hammerl became pastor, we continued with the practice of teaching religion at this parish.

The most recent history shows that Sister Lucille Marie and Sister Maurice McNamara taught in the 1970s and that Sister Mary Mark Quinlan continued teaching into the 1990s.

When the Msgr. Leo Hammerl Parish Center was dedicated on June 17, 2001, several of our sisters attended.

Sister Marie Simon George headed up the outreach to the elderly program of the parish through 2002.

St. Francis Home, Williamsville

As conditions at St. Francis Home on Pine Street grew more crowded and limited by building codes, our sisters in cooperation with Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Buffalo made plans to build a new home. Groundbreaking took place on May 10, 1954, at a location on Reist Street north of Glen Avenue in Williamsville. A year later, the cornerstone laying took place on May 29, 1955. And less than a year later, in February 1956, Mother Carmen and the sisters and helpers unpacked new furniture and set up the rooms.

The Chronicle for the convent at St. Francis Home, Williamsville, noted March 12, 1956, as a "Memorable Day" on which 95 aged residents were moved to the new home; six by ambulance and the rest by auto. Eight sisters from Pine Street plus three more sisters moved into the new convent on the second floor. Mother Carmen came as superior and Sister Huberta as organist. The Blessing of the House took place on March 20 and Holy Week services began on March 25. Our sisters staffed St. Francis Home under the sponsorship of Catholic Charities.

The LaVerna Guild assisted the sisters with financial and social events for the benefit of the residents. The newsletter, Gleaners, provided news of the homes where our sisters worked. The residents enjoyed bus rides and picnics, entertainments and hobbies.

On September 25, the St. Francis statue was put in place. The sisters brought a picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help from Pine Street to place in the new chapel.

This convent Chronicle notes the deaths of our sisters as well as of residents. On July 2, 1957, the funeral for Sister M. Eusebia was held at St. Francis Home because of Reception and Profession Day at the motherhouse chapel.

Also, in the summer of 1957, the sisters at this convent took vacations at our new place in Derby. They also enjoyed picnics on the roof patio and garden of their convent. Each year, the Chronicle notes that numerous groups came in to provide Christmas entertainments for the residents.

On March 20, 1958, the outdoor statue of St. Francis with the wolf a Gubbio, an original creation from Italy, was placed in the circle in front of the entrance of the home.

Over the years, this Chronicle tells more about the residents and the building than it does about the sisters and the convent. In August 1959, Mother Carmen went to St. Francis Hospital as administrator and superior and Sister Virgilia came to St. Francis Home. The fall hobby show in 1959 was held at Lafayette Hotel in Buffalo with crafts made by St. Francis residents on sale. The hobby show, an annual event, took place at various area locations.

In January 1961, Catholic Charities paid $900 as salary for each sister; Catholic Charities also set aside $900 for each sisters for graduate studies in geriatrics.

By February 1962, one hall was changed into a licensed unit for the chronically ill. And plans got underway for the centenary of St. Francis Home. An outdoor Mass in a tent took place on September 16. Sister Vincent prepared the dinner and the LaVerna Guild members served it to the guests. An Open House all week included an Afternoon Tea for civic officials. At the Tea, Sister Corona received a Scroll of Appreciation for her 57 years of service at St. Francis, most of them at Pine Street. A brochure for the 100th anniversary features the highlights of the 100 years since our sisters began their ministry to the elderly in their home on Pine Street.

In August 1963, the state granted the license for nursing the chronically ill. Also in 1963, and following years, the hobby fair was held at the Boulevard Mall, closer to home for the residents.

Sister Virgilia moved to the new St. Mary's Manor located in the former Mount St. Mary's Hosptial in Niagara Falls. Sister Paschal came as administrator and superior to St. Francis Home on Reist.

In 1969, Sister Paschal moved to St. Francis Hospital and Sister Lillian Schwarz came to St. Francis Home on Reist as administrator. Sister Lillian first took care of her classes and graduation and disposal of property at Mount St. Mary's School of Nursing, which closed at this time.

By December 1971, the home held 48 nursing home beds and 48 health related beds. It was the custom to hold semi-annual Anointing of the Sick for the residents.

In the summer of 1971, the sisters set aside a bedroom and converted it into a small, private prayer chapel. By the fall of 1971 ten sisters resided in the convent. In August 1975, Sister Norbert Stang came as superior and Sister Lillian remained as the administrator. Both of these sisters became extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist in November 1975.

Sister Frances Joseph Piazza assumed the responsibility of administrator In August 1978 with the supervisory mentorship of Sister Leona Marx. Sister Eileen Pinkel served as pastoral associate for the home and superior for the convent.

Some of the social events were held in conjunction with the residents of St. Elizabeth's in Lancaster and St. Anthony's in Hamburg. Our sisters staffed St. Elizabeth's, a Catholic Charities sponsored institution. The Franciscan Sisters of St Joseph of Hamburg staffed St. Anthony's.

In 1979, we come to the transition to lay leadership with Daniel Kenny taking on the administration of the home in December. In January 1980, Mr. Kenny organized a volunteer program. Meanwhile, Sister Eileen, and also some other sisters, took courses and worked toward becoming a certified pastoral assistant. As an emerging ministry, this role of chaplain and pastoral care in hospitals and homes remains one of our ministries in the 21st century.

By November 1981, we had four sisters in residence at St. Francis and two others working at the home while they resided elsewhere. Due to a growing need for space for the home, six bedrooms and the hall, about one third of the convent, was converted to offices. In February 1982, Sister Norbert Stang took up pastoral care and supervision of volunteers.

With a September 1983 approval for two new wings for the home to bring it to 142 beds, ground was broken on October 4. In November, convent renovations left only five bedrooms. Some concerns about the role of our sisters in the future of the home arose in the early 1980s. By 1986, we still had four sisters in residence there. A terse Chronicle entry for 1986 states simply: "4 sisters remain."

In 1984, Real to Reel, the Catholic television program of the diocese, aired a piece on St. Francis Home that included our Sister Josephine Pepe as the assistant administrator. The chronicler notes that on January 7, 1985, Sister Marie Jude died. She had been doing the Troubador newsletter for the home.

During 1988, Sister Elise Finnegan worked part time as director of activities. During 1989, Sister Dominic Marie, FMDC, also worked part time in activities.

In 1989, when SS. Peter & Paul convent in Hamburg closed, Sister Bea Venditti came to St. Francis Home and took on pastoral care and the volunteer program. She continues in this role into the 21st century.

A gap in the Chronicle for the years 1990 to 1996 beings us to the closing of the convent in 1996. At her retirement in 1996, Sister M. George wrote a brief letter to the administrator saying that it was "time to move on."

The chroniclers for this convent do not mention the birds, but many of us remember the bird sanctuary in the lower level of the home.

Nativity of BVM, Harris Hill (Clarence)

Harris Hill in the town of Clarence became home to this new parish carved from Sacred Heart in Bowmansville, SS. Peter & Paul in Williamsville, St. Mary in Swormville, and Our Lady of Peace in Clarence. For four months in the summer of 1954, Mass was held in a tent. In the fall, about 215 families came for Mass at a hall at Sacred Heart in Bowmansville. By December 1955, the combination church / school at Nativity was ready for use.

In September 1955, the Sisters of St. Francis, with Sister M. Claude as the first principal, opened and staffed the school of 120 pupils. By the early 1960s, there were 500 + students.

The new red brick church was completed in November 1965 and the old church was converted into a gymnasium for the school. Our sisters commuted from the motherhouse, a few miles away, and so a convent was never built at this parish. Sister John Paul, Sister Beatrice Leising, and Sister Jeanne Weisbeck served as principals over the years.

Our sisters remained at this school until 1985.

Other events of the 1950s

In 1956, our sisters left St. Francis of Assisi, Buffalo. In 1956, our German Roman Catholic Orphanage closed its doors.

Queen of Heaven Parish, West Seneca

The beginnings of the parish took place with early Masses held in a tent in 1955. The families came from various ethnic backgrounds.

Our sisters began teaching at Queen of Heaven in 1957 and for several years they resided at St. Francis Home in Gardenville. The church and school built of red brick in colonial style obtained their altar, pews, and stations of the cross from our recently closed St. Francis Home on Pine Street. School opened in the fall of 1957 with Sister Agnes Marie overseeing 15 classrooms.

In 1960, when the Gardenville home was closing, Queen of Heaven parish converted a small, nearby home into a convent for six or seven sisters. Living quarters were small and tight.

In 1968 while Sister Marie McTarnaghan was principal, the parish board invited the sisters to help make plans for a new convent. By visiting other new convents, including Orchard Park and 14 Holy Helpers in Gardenville, our sisters gathered ideas and gave input into the design of the new building. Our sisters were quite pleased with the new convent when they moved into it.

During the 1968-'69 school year, the sisters at Queen of Heaven, as well as all the convents of the community, began small group sharing as requested by our leadership The newness of this communication process proved hard for everyone, but we kept at it.

Sister Nelson Harlach served as principal for 11 years, 1977 through 1988. In 1978, the parish completed its new church in the same red brick colonial style that matched the rest of the buildings.

In August 1991, our house of formation located itself here for a few years. In 1994, our sisters left this convent. Six sisters of St. Mary of Namur moved in after their motherhouse closed. In 1998, the new parish center was completed. Sisters associated with Queen of Heaven received invitations to attend the ceremonies.

Our Lady of the Lake, Derby

Vacation House / House of Prayer

When we opened our vacation house in 1957 at Our Lady of the Lake at 6970 Lakeshore Road in Derby, we were still wearing the traditional habit. Some pictures from this time show Sister Hyacinth and Sister Francis Clare standing near the main house. The Daughters of St. Paul had previously set up their printing ministry in the several buildings of this estate, once the summer home of a wealthy woman. We bought the property from the Daughters of St. Paul when they moved out.

Donor gifts paid for Our Lady of the Lake, a lakeside property that Mother Priscilla and her advisers found conducive to summer vacations for the sisters. Our leadership members at that time took care of the various aspects such as water safety with the Erie County sheriff, the insurance, groceries purchased from E.M. Beiter Co., groundskeeping, and more. The Piarist fathers came for daily Mass. At first, the sisters prayed community prayers in common; later, they prayed privately. At first, they wore the full habit; later, they wore appropriate attire.

From 1978 through 1984, the facility doubled as our community House of Prayer. As sisters began to take vacations and retreats elsewhere and also to spend vacation times with their families, they made less use of Our Lady of the Lake. Still, sisters did have vacation times here through the summer of 1985.

Our leadership made a decision to sell the property and closed on the sale in January 1986. Our community established a new vacation place on North Ellicott Road in Amherst. Our sisters continue to enjoy the outdoor pool in summer and to use the house year round for rest, retreat, and meetings. Often, our associates meet at this location.

Bemus Point on Chautauqua Lake

During the summer of 1957, six of our sisters took up residence at Notre Dame du Lac at Bemus Point to do the cooking and laundry at the diocesan summer house of study for young seminarians.

Years later, Sister Marie Therese Whissel often shared her fond memories of this place with us. She loved the rustic chapel there. She also wrote letters back to the motherhouse and these letters give us a sense of what life was like there.

In her July 8, 1957 letter, she writes: "The Convent at Notre Dame du Lac is a converted tool shed and is most cozy.

"Last evening as we were at night prayer in our little rustic chapel, the stillness of the summer night was suddenly broken by the serenade of the Seminarians to their lady' - O Clemens, O Dulcis, O Pia Virgo Maria.'" This is the same Marian anthem that we sang after night prayer for decades. When we hear it today, as we sometimes do at religious gatherings, our memories are nostalgic with its beauty.

Sister Marie Therese also mentioned in her letter the singing and accordion playing of a group of Polish seminarians. She told how the Bona (St. Bonaventure University) lads decorated the dining room with brown and gold for the feast of St. Bonaventure. And, how the Niagara lads, not to be outdone, decorated with purple and gold for the feast of St. Vincent de Paul.

From all oral accounts, the sisters enjoyed the summer there as much as the seminarians. They loved the meals and appreciated the clean clothes; the sisters enjoyed their youthful enthusiasm and spirit of adventure.

St. Clare Junior College

Mill Street, Williamsville

Our leadership opened a junior college for the education of our sisters in the fall of 1958. The New York State Education Department at the University of the State of New York at Albany registered the curriculum of the college. Our college, which was affiliated with the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., offered courses for fall, spring, and summer sessions.

The board of directors and officers of administration included Sister Marie Louise Thompson as dean and registrar, Sister Maris Stella as librarian, and a faculty of eight sisters with appropriate degrees. A faculty committee involved more than 20 of our sisters.

College catalogs for 1957 - '58 and 1960 - '62 provide the philosophy and purpose as well as specific objectives for St. Clare College. Additionally, the catalog spells out admission requirements, credits and honor points, and requirements for graduation. Two programs of learning, liberal arts and elementary teaching, met the needs of our sisters in that decade of the 1960s.

Our sisters and some priests taught courses in philosophy, theology, humanities, languages - including Latin, French, German, and Spanish, social studies, natural sciences, mathematics, education, fine arts - including music, singing, Gregorian chant, and liturgical singing, and Christian art. Later, Sister Dorothy Behringer (Sister Olive Marie) served as dean of the college.

During the 1960s, in cooperation with the Education Department of the Diocese of Buffalo, our college facilities and teachers provided lay teacher training programs for teachers working toward a diocesan teaching certificate. The college closed in 1971.

In subsequent years, our sisters used the classrooms and science lab for Montessori summer school, remedial summer school programs, Workshop Way sessions, and a resource room for Women of Other Cultures and for Peace and Justice. Our refugees also received instruction in these classrooms.

Puerto Rico

In the fall of 1958, three of our sisters - Sister Borromeo, Sister Audrey, and Sister Mary Paul - traveled to Puerto Rico to reopen our missions there. These included Madre Cabrini in Caparra Heights, St. Mary of the Angels, also in Caparra Heights, and a little later, San Luis Rey in Ponce.

Chapter 5 tells more completely the story of our Puerto Rican missions.

St. Gregory the Great Parish, Amherst

St. Gregory Parish, founded on June 2, 1958 held their Sunday Masses at our Mill Street motherhouse chapel during the first years of their existence. Mother Priscilla generously welcomed the fledgling parish to use our chapel on Sunday mornings. These Masses at 8:15, 9:30, 10:45 a.m. and at noon attracted about 300 families that formed the parish. This new parish, carved out of SS. Peter and Paul in Williamsville, St. Mary's in Swormville, and St. Leo in Amherst, all parishes where our sisters staffed the school, held boundaries based on the old farm lots numbering system. The parish conducted a house-to-house census in the summer of 1958 and in November 1958, launched a fund drive for new buildings.

In 1958, the parish bought the Klein homestead, a 23-acre site off of Maple Road, which was then a two-lane country road in an area where Father John Neumann had once walked. Father Bucheit, founding pastor, used the farmhouse as his rectory for two years. For Christmas Midnight Mass in 1958, St. Greg's held theirs in the Mill Street auditorium while the sisters held theirs in the chapel.

The first First Communion was held on June 7, 1959, the first anniversary of the parish, On July 26, 1959, the parish held an outdoor Mass in the fields with the altar on a flatbed truck. In 1960, on June 5, Pentecost Sunday, 58 children made their First Communion in the sisters' chapel at Mill Street. Most likely, this is the only class of first communicants to receive their First Communion in any of our convent chapels.

In 1960, the new school opened with Sister Madeleva as the principal, and Sister Maureen Ann Muller and Sister Marie McTarnaghan as teachers. Other principals included Sister Gloria Tachok, Sister Roslyn Braun, and Sister Marie Gerard Hoffman. By 1968, the school had 900 pupils and the religious education program 1, 200. The school received accreditation from the Middle States Association.

In March 1973, the diocesan newspaper, then called The Magnificat, ran a two-page spread on the high interest mini-courses for the eighth graders. Taught by staff teachers, the mini-courses included cooking, photography, chess, and much more.

Sister Fran Gangloff taught and later served as assistant principal through 1981. She was the last of our sisters involved in the school program there.

By the 25th anniversary of the parish, 3, 500 families made it one of the largest in the diocese. In 1998 at its 40th anniversary, the parish had 5, 000 families with 15, 000 parishioners. The rapid expansion of the parish parallels the rapid growth of the Town of Amherst.

In 1988, Sister Margaret Kranz, FMDC, came to St. Greg's to serve as pastoral minister and provide services to the sick of the parish. Over time, she developed a program of grief counseling and bereavement ministry in the parish.

Also in 1998, a history committee took up the work of archiving important documents and preparing the booklet titled 40 Years of Faith, authored by Dr. Joseph A. Grande, a member of the parish. Conrad Muller, brother of Sister Maureen Ann, serves as leader of the committee and welcomes visitors to the parish archives.

Our Lady of Pompeii Parish, Lancaster

In the 1930s, children from the Lancaster Italian mission of Our Lady of Pompeii came over to St. Mary's school where our sisters prepared them for First Holy Communion. In 1932 and thereafter, the children made their first Communion in the new church at Pompeii. The parish on Laverack Avenue dates from 1909.

In the early 1940s, four of our sisters stationed at St. Mary's in Lancaster went over to Our Lady of Pompeii Parish, perhaps a mile on the other side of the railroad tracks, and taught religion to the children of the parish on Monday afternoons. This continued for many years.

On August 22, 1960, three of our sisters moved into a brand new convent and made ready to staff a brand new school at Pompeii. In December, a Franciscan priest came to bless the Stations of the Cross and the Christmas Crib, both for the sisters' chapel. When the sisters hosted an open house on April 23, 1961, about a hundred of our sisters came to see the new school and convent. In June 1961 the sisters received a car.

In 1969, the 60th anniversary of Our Lady of Pompeii was observed. Bishop Benincasa came for the April event and in May the school children presented a play depicting the parish history.

The school registration for September 1971 stood at 253 pupils in K through eighth grade; five lay teachers and four sisters staffed the school. The principal, Sister Margaret Mary Drumgoole, taught for a half-day and had a half-day for administration. In 1977, two sisters worked in school and one sister in the house. In 1980, only one sister worked in school; one did pastoral work in the parish, while another worked in the house, and a fourth resided at Pompeii but worked elsewhere. Again in 1981, only one sister worked in the school.

By May 1983, plans were made for closing the convent. In June 1983, all the sisters ever stationed at Our Lady of Pompeii and those who had taught religion before the school opened were invited to a farewell dinner. On June 30, the sisters left the convent. The Salvatorian Fathers on staff at St. Mary's High School directly across the street took up residence in the building as their staff house.

St. Elizabeth Home, Lancaster

For the first High Mass at St. Elizabeth Home on December 9, 1959, Joan Sticht, a student at St. Mary's High School in Lancaster, played the organ. Joan later entered our community, was known as Sister Seraphica, and later departed from our community. As three sisters of St. Elizabeth traveled that December, they were in a winter car crash on slippery roads and suffered minor injuries.

The Convent Chronicle for St. Elizabeth's makes the notation that on December 15, 1961, we began to observe the Franciscan feast of Mary, Queen of the Seraphic Order.

Frequent references occur in the Chronicle to board meetings and Catholic Charity conventions with Mother Carmen and Sister Virgilia in attendance. St. Elizabeth's, sponsored by Catholic Charities, received funds from that annual collection.

When Mother Carmen heard rumblings in April 1966 about a union among the employees, she asked one worker about the cause. This employee said: "Catholic Charities did it (caused it) by its starvation wages." Mother Carmen wondered about such an attitude and replied to the worker: "You are biting the hand that feeds you." In time, the home hired a union company to take care of maintenance and it no longer fell to the sister in administration to tend to all the details of this aspect of running a home.

By 1967, St. Elizabeth Guild was in place planning social events for the residents. When the state inspectors came in 1967, they commended the home for the activities program and the monthly newsletter.

In June 1972, a special Mass with Bishop McNulty presiding and a dinner honored Sister Eunice for her outstanding work as the Inner City Coordinator. Sister Eunice had left the city and come to St. Elizabeth's in 1969 to do bookkeeping. The story of her work for the Inner City is told in the history of Sacred Heart Parish, Buffalo. Sister Eunice died in August 1972.

In September 1977, two of the sisters became Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist. In August 1979, the staff did a simulated disaster drill as part of their training.

For their 25th anniversary in 1984, St. Elizabeth's Home ran a rummage sale to raise funds. That rummage sale became an annual event. Of that whole anniversary week, October 7 to 11, the Convent Chronicle states: "It was a gala week remembering all who had been or who are here now."

In April 1985, Sister Eymard and Sister Donna Marie Dorochak came to St. Elizabeth's. When the convent closed in the mid-1990s, Sister Rita Casey continued for a time as pastoral minister.

Closings in the 1960s

In 1960, St. Francis Home, Gardenville, closed and in 1961 our sisters left St. Nicholas School, Buffalo. In 1963, with the arrival of Bishop Edward Head, our sisters left their posts of domestic service at the epsicopal residence.

Archbishop Carroll High School, Buffalo

In July 1961, our sisters handed over the keys of O'Hern convent and school to the sisters of St. Joseph and on the same day opened Archbishop Carroll High School and convent. Twelve sisters came from Our Lady of Fatima Convent at O'Hern to ABC and three were stationed elsewhere. On July 19, Father Bill Stanton, now Msgr., blessed the convent and chapel, which was named St. Clare. The first convent Mass took place on July 20. After the opening of school, the sisters set up and held an open house on November 15. The 13 sisters in residence welcomed 86 of our sisters as guests that day.

In the summer of 1962 and for most summers, the sisters at Carroll welcomed summer residents who were studying at the local colleges. Many of the high school sisters studied out of town. A severe August rainstorm caused basement and first floor flooding. Several sisters lost the contents of their trunks, which were stored in the basement. Sister St. Edward, chronist, as she puts it, at the time, tells about the flood in great detail.

In the fall of 1962, three of the high schools sisters also taught at St. Clare College at our motherhouse.

In December 1983, work began on the combination of Turner and Carroll high schools. These two high schools held a joint graduation in June 1984 and by September the full merger of Turner / Carroll High School was in place. The hallmark of the new entity was its education of students of diverse religious, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds.

In 1987, The Buffalo Public School System bought Carroll high school and convent and four of our sisters closed things out. In 1988, Sister Helen Talbot, principal of Carroll in those transitional years, took a position in Miami to help Cuban families set up a school.

Holy Family Home II - 1962 to present

The new building for Holy Family Home was built set back from Mill Street at # 410 to the immediate north of the motherhouse. Sponsored, that is owned and operated by our sisters, Holy Family Home is a not-for-profit Adult Care Facility. The brochure reads: "In the spirit of Franciscan hospitality, we welcome all persons regardless of race, color, creed, or national origin."

With emphasis on the care of each individual, the staff at Holy Family takes as its mission to strive for excellence in service and stewardship.

The mission statement of Holy Family also states that "The spirit of St. Francis motivates us to create an atmosphere of Acceptance of each person, compassion for the suffering, Dignity for all human beings, Hospitality to those come, and Reverence for human life."

Along with private rooms and suites, dining room services, companionship and activities, person care including medical needs, Holy Family Home offers daily religious services in the spacious chapel and other spiritual programs given by a pastoral care team.

In 1962, residents who had made their home at St. Mary of Angels motherhouse moved to Holy Family. The Chronicle for Holy Family names the transfers and illnesses of the sisters, the visitations of the general superior, and more per usual.

Hospitality for a Japanese guest

In April 1981, Nobuka Matsude arrived from Japan and stayed for five weeks previous to attending the University of Buffalo. And while living on the Amherst campus for school days, she spent weekends at the convent. During the second semester, Nobuka "discontinued campus living and made our home her residence, " the chronicler tells us. She remained until March 1982

During the 1960s through the 1980s, administrators of Holy Family Home included Sister Eymard, Sister Donna Marie, and Sister Lillian Schwartz. Sister Paula Marie Notarthomas became administrator. In 2001, Sister Virginia Balk became administrator.

Other sisters living at this convent include Sister Angela Anzalone who helps with various household needs, Sister Margaret Anthony Domin who provides pastoral care and coordinates services, Sister Anne Marie Gavin who works as a personal accounts officer, Sister Mary Jane Gerwitz, assistant administrator, Sister Jeanne Kennedy who helps with community service, and Sister Paula Marie, an auxiliary staff member.

A raised garden provides ease of access for those residents who raise vegetables for the kitchen as well as flowers just for the beauty of it. An outdoor patio provides space for relaxation.

In 2002, Holy Family Home celebrated the 100th anniversary of service to the elderly in the two locations - Holy Family on Reist from 1902 through 1937, and Holy Family on Mill from 1962 through 2002.

1963 - our Centennial Year

As Sisters of St. Francis, we observed our centennial as a separate congregation in the Diocese of Buffalo.

At the time, the sisters ministered in 38 elementary schools and 3 high schools in the Buffalo area, and 3 elementary schools and 1 high school in Puerto Rico. They also staffed St. Clare College at the motherhouse, the College of Nursing at Niagara University, Mt. St. Mary School of Nursing, and 2 hospitals and 3 homes for the elderly.

Other 1960s moments

In 1965, our Sisters left old St. Mary's Hospital in Niagara Falls for the new building of Mount St. Mary's Hospital in Lewiston.

Chapter 4 picks up the story from 1965 through the end of the 20th century and into the 21st century.

Overview of this section

Eucharist - Mass, Christ's presence, Perpetual Adoration

Divine Office, Sacraments, Retreats

Communal Prayers / Prayer Manuals

Novenas and Triduums for the public

Music - Latin, German, and English

Favorite foods, Fun - recreation and creative corner,

Vacations and Travels

And, oh yes, the habit

Introduction

What role has our prayer, our music, our food, our recreation played in our history? What do music and food say about the ethnicity of our community and the welcoming of other ethnic groups in our founding stories and in our ongoing stories?

Historians and scholars make note of the reinvention and reinterpretation of ethnicity in each generation. Folk customs associated with religion change likewise with the flow of time.

For our Assembly Days 2002 we began and continue an intensive look at racism. We are aware that we have come a long way in giving welcome to all, and to including all. We know we have steps yet to take. This chapter on our 140 years of customs and traditions, especially those concerning prayer, food, clothing, and recreation really do show movement as a community from our German roots to our American growth toward blossoming in global appreciation and dialogue with all cultures and all religions.

Our main celebrations as sisters in community consist of our reception into community, our profession of the vows of religion - also called the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and jubilees of 25, 50, 60, 70 years in religious life. Anniversaries of the congregation also rank high in our reasons for celebrating. Lesser feasts include the feast days and birthdays of the sisters.

Of course, we celebrate the Catholic feasts - Christmas and Easter especially, and all the holy days, feasts of our Lady, of the apostles and martyrs and holy women and men of 20 centuries. We celebrate the Franciscan saints - Francis of Assisi on October 4 and Clare of Assisi on August 11, and many others as given in the Franciscan ordo. And we honor St. John Neumann, missionary to Western New York and bishop of Philadelphia at the time of our founding.

We celebrate with prayer - Mass and Divine Office, with music as prayer, with festive foods, and often with music and / or drama for entertainment.

Eucharist and Perpetual Adoration

Devotion to Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist has characterized the Sisters of St. Francis from the very beginning in the chapel at Pine Street. In 1895, a 40 Hours devotion, which began in Philadelphia during the time of Bishop John Neumann in the 1850's and spread to the whole county, was conducted much as it was in many parishes. During July and August 1896, a day of adoration was provided during the annual retreats for the sisters.

In October 1902, Bishop James E. Quigley gave permission for perpetual adoration to be undertaken by our sisters. In November of 1902, Mother M. Juliana and Sister M. Ignatia made a visit to the Franciscan Sisters in Qubec City, Canada, to see how they carried out the practicalities of perpetual adoration. On December 27, 1902, Perpetual Adoration was established at the Pine Street motherhouse. Two sisters at a time kept vigil for an hour and they kept this going around the clock, 24 / 7 - to use a contemporary description of perpetual. The special privilege was transferred to Mill Street when the new motherhouse was occupied in October 1928.

Many stories linger in sisters' memories of the night hours of adoration they took. They recall the two lanterns, the clock, the special white veils, and the night walk to wake the next two sisters. The famed FireWatch passage in Thomas Merton's Sign of Jonas captures something of the feelings of walking the silent halls in the dead of night to rouse the next two adorers without waking others.

??? other adoration stories

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In December 1977, the Sisters celebrated 75 years of perpetual adoration. A marker commemorating adorned the second floor entry way to the Mill Street chapel. Additionally, each sister received a small memorial of this anniversary.

In the 1990s, with dwindling numbers of sisters, after much study and prayer, a decision was made to hold only day adoration. While emotionally painful for many, this decision helped us to reverence Christ more fully in His manifold presence.

The Association of Perpetual Adoration, which was exclusively for sanctuary needs, arranged for the annual Eucharistic Novena held each fall for many years, for the nine days preceding the feast of Christ the King which was then the last Sunday in October.

The St. Mary of the Angels Aid Society (which formerly raised funds for the maintenance of the buildings and grounds and the education of the sisters by holding card parties, bazaars, and lawn fetes) continues to provide Mass enrollment cards for a donation.

Mass / Eucharist

Some of us remember kneeling at the sanctuary door to make the Latin responses to the priest when Mass was still in Latin. We were doing what altar boys did while we remained out of the sanctuary as was proper for women in those days. In due time, we moved along with the liturgical movements of our church in this country and came to see the Mass as the action of the believing community and the value of our participation in it. We relinquished some of the focus on Eucharistic piety of Jesus in the tabernacle and related holy hours and visits and benediction for a new sense of the priesthood of the faithful with the altar as central and practical charity as the fruit of the Mass.

We shared in the revival of Gregorian chant as we let go of some of the polyphonic choral music. We encouraged congregational singing even when the music lost some of its artistic appeal. We learned new hymns from many sources as we grew in our understanding of the mystical Body of Christ.

Divine Office and prayers - over the years

For many years and continuing in the 1950's, our sisters prayed Matins, Lauds, Vespers, and Compline of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was the custom for the novices to chant Matins, Lauds, and Vespers. The plainchant of the Latin and especially the Marian anthems that concluded the hours held a mystic sense of prayer. These anthems included: Alma Redemptoris Mater for Advent, Ave Maria for Christmas, Ave Regina Coelorum for Lent, Regina Coeli, Laetare for Easter, and Salve Regina for Ordinary Times. In the mid-20th century, the Latin gave way to the vernacular, in our case, English.

After Vatican II, our sisters took up the communal recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours, also called the Divine Office - of Matins and Lauds, Vespers and Compline, also called Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer.

In March 1977, we adopted the Divine Office book, Christian Prayer: The Liturgy of the Hours, published by the Daughters of St. Paul. Our sisters continue to recite Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer in common and to pray Compline in private.

For special occasions, the sisters sometimes use other Office books, especially those published by the Carmelites of Indianapolis. Most recently, many of us also use The Geste of the Great King, Office of the Passion as composed by St. Francis of Assisi, in an English translation published by The Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University, near Olean, N.Y.

Sacraments and Scripture

Most convent chronicles indicate the names of priests called regular confessors who came for weekly Confession and of priests called extraordinary confessors who came four times a year - at the time of ember days associated with the change of seasons. Gradually, after Vatican II, this sacrament called Reconciliation became the personal responsibility of each sister who goes to a parish church or religious house for face to face or traditional use of the sacrament.

The motherhouse chaplain in recent years held a communal Anointing of the Sick on a Sunday in Advent. Additionally, the chaplain provides for this sacrament as needed by those who are ill and / or aging. In the parishes, a priest of the parish anointed sisters who took ill.

A sacramental spirituality of Christ's presence also imbued the way many of our sisters prepared children for first Penance and first Communion as well as for Confirmation. Our sisters educated many along the part to priesthood in the elementary and high schools, and more recently in ministries at Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora, NY, at St. Pius X Seminary at Nkubu, Kenya, at the Consolata Seminary in Williamsville, and at a seminary in Poland.

As St. Francis of Assisi deeply respected priests as representatives of Jesus Christ, so too our sisters continue this respect. In 2002, when media coverage of pedophile priests peaked, our community sent out a letter of concern and support to the many priests our sisters know and work with and these priests expressed deep gratitude.

With our sisters now working in pastoral ministries at hospitals, parishes, and college campuses, we find ourselves doing pre-Cana preparation for marriage, making arrangements for baptisms, and participation in Mass as readers and Eucharistic ministers. We also bring Communion to the ill in hospitals and the aging in nursing homes.

Our convent chronicles of the 19th - 20th centuries abound with the Catholic rites of passage. Along with the statistics for opening and closing the school year, the numbers and sometimes the names of those making First Communion and Confirmation are listed in the chronicle. In hospital chronicles, Baptisms are noted. The micro history contained in the chronicles mirrors that of the parishes and heath care institutions and the sacraments of the church are pivotal.

The habits of our prayerful hearts took inspiration from ethnic pious devotions and religious festivals, from liturgical renewal, and from contemplation.

Our foremothers in their times lived their prayer as useful in its multiplication of forms and focus on self-examination and mediation methods. Their spirituality was formed largely by Redemptorist and Jesuit preachers with a message of mortification and penance, a devotion to duty in the prevailing work ethic, with a sacrificial spirit. These early sisters absorbed the ultramontane (deference to the pope) sense of church, the great truths of hell and strong sense of personal sin and need for self-discipline, the hope of heaven and dependence on Jesus, Mary, and the saints.

Like our founder and patron, St John Neumann, our early sisters tended to imitate Christ with external devotions and lost something of the mystical and internal approach to life and prayer. Still, they thrived in the beauty of Catholic life - the candles and incense, the windows of stained glass, the flowers, the statues, the tabernacle. They thrived in their hierarchical experience of church and the close bonding of long-term pastors with the laity and the religious of the parish.

By the time of our 75th anniversary as a congregation in the 1930's, the Catholic church in the United States was spinning some threads of renewal in the personal impact of Thomas Merton's view of the interior life, of Dorothy Day's social concerns, of liturgical renewal and of ecumenism. By the time of Vatican II, our religious community as well as many others of women religious were ripe for the mystical synthesis of prayer and work, of sacrament and daily life, of "ora et labora" in its many contemporary experiences and expressions. In taking up the work of Vatican II, we emerged from our almost medieval and monastic way of living religious life with highly structured situations to a whole new world opening and blossoming of spirituality, relationships, and activities. We gleaned from papal documents that we were consecrated persons living a spirituality of communion with God, our church, our congregation, and our neighbors worldwide and at home. We directed our apostolic outreach in creative charity to the poorest of the poor, to those deprived of human rights anywhere we found that happening.

Reading and sharing of the Scriptures also sustains the spirituality of our sisters. From the beginning of liturgical changes, our sisters moved into proclaiming the Word of God at Mass. Meditation on the message of the Scriptures for daily and Sunday Mass has motivated our sisters toward integration of prayer and life.

In the 1990s' our leadership team encouraged us to use Scripture for our faith sharing at local convents and community meetings. The process included the reading of a pertinent Scripture, the sharing of one word derived from it, a second reading and the sharing of a phrase, a third reading and the sharing of a prayer of intercession of praise.

Our Rule of Life, the Third Order Rule for Religious, derives most of its meaning and much of its wording directly from the Gospels. As our Franciscan community heeded the call to renewal issued by Vatican II, we realized that we never quite fit in with being only contemplative or only apostolic. We are evangelical in the sense that we lived the gospel, the good news, and the evangelium. Much hard work and participation led to a new TOR (Third Order Rule) promulgated in 1982 and revised in 1996. Prayer, retreat, and study around this Rule and other Franciscan sources have renewed our sisters with a spirituality that touches our world today. We have a renewed sense of our Franciscan calling in the realms of ecology, peace, ecumenism and religious dialogue, social justice. It is in this new awareness that we find our charism and our renewed energy to face the challenges of the 21st century.

We are Eucharistic women who find sustenance in the sacraments of our church and in the many presences of Christ in our world, especially in the poor. We live the life of the Trinity in our community life, in our interior dispositions, in our apostolic endeavors as an evangelical congregation.

Retreats

The tradition of retreats - one week a year and one day a month - as a long-standing practice in the community encourages every sister toward a healthy rhythm of prayer, work, and play. Our sisters make yearly retreats of six of eight days, sometimes at our motherhouse and often at retreat houses around the county. Each sister now chooses a retreat style - preached, directed, or private - an experience that best meets her spiritual needs. Directed retreats rely greatly on Holy Scripture with the director selecting appropriate passages to match the expressed needs of the retreatant who prays over the selections and later shares some of the insights with the director. Additionally, sisters make retreat days and days of recollection, often on a monthly basis, at the local convent, with others, or alone.

Through the 1960's, most sisters made one of the preached retreats at the motherhouse - at Easter, week after school was out, or in early August. The convent chronicles abound in mentioning who went to which retreat. Some of the smaller rural convents closed for 10 weeks in the summer and all the sisters went to the motherhouse for retreat - and vacation - and to cover work for others making retreats or vacations. Replacement workers were needed to cover the jobs of sisters working in health care, food service, and laundry.

Retreat masters, usually Redemptorist, Jesuit and other order priests, came for a week gave two or three conferences a day, celebrated Mass, heard Confessions, and met with individuals for spiritual guidance. After Vatican II and renewed interest in the charisms of founders, we chose to have retreats with Franciscan priests on Franciscan topics.

As sisters began going out to places that held directed as well as preached retreats, places like Auriesville, Rye Beach, Combermere, Stella Niagara, to mention a few, the motherhouse retreats also changed with the times. Sisters began to give the retreat conferences and provide individual direction for those who wanted it. Some directed retreats took place at Neumann High School convent in the 1970's. Our community designed and held a Third Order Rule (TOR) retreat in 1984. Several of our own sisters gave the conferences and all members of the community participated in one of the three sessions.

Some sisters chose to make once in a lifetime retreats like 30-day Jesuit retreats or extended renewal programs offered at Stella Niagara and other places.

Thinking back a ways, some sisters recall that we hosted retreats for women who used the fourth floor of the Mill Street motherhouse for sleeping. Today, we host retreat days for our associates and days of prayer for those interested.

Music - favorite hymns - hymnals and organists

There is an organ accompaniment hymnal with covers and title page missing. There is a holy card attached to this hymnal dated: Weihnachten 1910, St. Marien Kirche, Lancaster, N.Y.

This seems to be the earliest hymnal that comes down to us. We have not found any older ones in the Archives or in the Liturgy Resources. This hymnal with a horizontal format has some handwritten notations (not always easy to read) which given the German melody name (or the simple label - Ger.) for the English hymns:

Among the hymns for Christmas, we find: Dearest Jesus Sweetest Child (O Du Liebes Jesukind) and O Jesus Sweet Jesus (Ihr Kindirlein). For Lent: Christians Who of Jesus Sorrow (Las unsi deine lirden and Litany of the Passion (Ger.).

General hymns include: To Thy God (Deinem hirland) and O Jesus Dear (O Jesu mime liebe). Marian hymns, of which there are many, include: O Mary, my Mother, so Tender (Maria z lieb) and To Love Thee O Mary (Maria z lieben).

Other pencil notations indicate that a hymn is good, is also known by another number, or with other words. For example, on page 60, # 83, a hymn given as O Salutaris is marked as O Gloriosa and is the melody for O Gloriosa which remains well known in the community right into the 21st century for profession and jubilee liturgies.

Holy God seems to be the hymn that has remained a favorite and has been frequently used to conclude special occasions.

Organists

In years past, ever so many sisters served as organists especially in rural parishes. Motherhouse organists have played the music for Sunday and daily Masses, for jubilees and other big celebrations, for Benediction and Holy Hours, for novenas and triduums, and for funerals. The organists often with other sisters as music director have held countless choir practices.

Some of the organists in the early years of the community included: Sister M. Francis Bachmann, Sister Robertine Bachmann, --- many more - in the convent histories ---

Some of the organists of more recent memory include: Sister Roberta, Sister Mary Mark, Sister Fidelis, Sister Audrey, Sister Miriam Joseph, Sister Edna, Sister Ida, Sister Mary Ellen, Sister Gloria Tachok, Sister Fran Gangloff, motherhouse organist 1969 - 1999, Sister Beatrice Leising, Sister Eileen Pinkel, Sister Mary Dolores Cook.

Some of the old German hymns that we still use in translation include: Lo, how a Rose (Es Ist Eein' Ros' Entsprungen); Silent Night, Holy Night (Stille Nacht); O Sacred Head Surrounded (O Haupt voll Blut); At the Cross (Stabat Mater); All you on Earth (Lasst Uns Erfruen); Holy God, we praise Thy Name (Grosser Gott); and God's Holy Mountain (Wie Schn Leuchtet).

Black music manuscript books

We have two large, black, bound music manuscript books in which some of the favorite hymns were handed down from generation to generation. Since there are no German hymns per se in these, it is a good guess that they date from the early 20th century. One of the black, manuscript music staff notebooks has Sister Seraphim's name on it. Some of the hymns contained in these, such as Pie Pelicane, O Cor Jesu, Jesu, Amor Mi, are no longer used.

Others, like O Gloriosa, Wonderful Night, Glory to God, Sleep Holy Babe, Queen of Heaven, Rejoice, and Blessing of St. Francis, are kept in use and are still being used on special occasions.

Also, from the early 20th century, three old hymnals survive. These include the one with no covers mentioned earlier and the Basil hymnal and the St. Gregory Hymnal, and from the mid-20th century, the Cantate Omnes, all of which contain both Latin and English hymns.

Some of the favorite hymns from the Basil include: Hibernia's Champion Saint , Hymn to St. Anthony - If Then you Ask for Miracles, On This Day, O Beautiful Mother, O Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today (Queen of May), and Mother Dear, O pray for me.

From the Gregory Hymnal, we had our favorites including Panis Angelicus, Ecce Panis Angelorum, and many melodies for O Salutaris and Tantum Ergo used at the daily benedictions of the Blessed Sacrament we had through the 1970s.

Cantate Omnes

The Cantate Omnes Hymnal, a project of the church musicians of the Buffalo Diocese, known as the Catholic Choirmasters' Guild of Buffalo, appeared in 1952, and received popular use. A later supplement to it in 1963 (price $3.00) offered hymns for the four hymn low Mass which became popular as the vernacular was used for the whole Mass. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty - for the Entrance, O King of Might and Splendor - and - Accept Almighty Father - for the Offertory, Thou, Who at Thy First Eucharist - for Communion, and God, Father, Praise and Glory - as recessional. Favorite and frequently used hymns included chants in Latin and English: Veni, veni Emmanuel, Creator alme sidera, Stabat mater, Regina Coeli, Veni Creator, Pange lingua, and Salve Regina. We learned the special technique to conducting chant with arcis and thesis movements of the hand and the voices in unison following the flowing movements.

Pius X Hymnal

In the 1950s, Sister Mary Gloria (Tachok), organist at the time, introduced the St. Pius X Hymnal (copyright 1953). Some of our favorite hymns from this book include: Be Thou My Vision; King of Kings; Dearest Lord; and Jesus, Food of Angels; also, Mary the Dawn, O Mary of Graces; Mary, Pure Light; Simple and Wise (O Mary Immaculate); and Spirit Seeking Light and Beauty.

Mass propers and ordinaries

Mass propers for each day and feast and Mass ordinaries, the parts that remain constant like the Holy, holy, were sung from various sources. Some of the favorites included: Gregorian chant Mass VIII, especially Gloria VIII, Gregorian chant Mass XVI, Gregorian chant Requiem Mass, choral Mass of St. Paul, choral Mass of Creation, choral Gloria of the Bells. In the 1950s and 60s, choir practices were held on week nights and schola practice on Saturday evenings. The sisters choir excelled.

Deiss Canticles and Hymns

The first volume of Deiss hymns was also introduced by Gloria and the hymns of Father Lucien Deiss were continued with Volume II by Sister Fran and others who followed with playing organ and leading choir and congregational singing.

Biblical Hymns and Psalms (World Library of Sacred Music, 1965) went into its fifth printing by 1969. Workshops led by Father Deiss and Gloria Weyman, as well as by Robert Schulz, longtime organist at St. Mary of Sorrows in Buffalo, by Cecilia Roy Kenney, active with Church Musicians, C. Alexander Peloquin, Father Gelineau, and others brought spirit and life and variety to church music and to the Sisters who attended. The Gelineau Psalms were also part of our repertoire for a time.

Among our favorites of the Deiss hymns: Keep in mind; My soul is longing for your peace; Splendor of Creation (Send forth Your Spirit, O Lord).

Bicentennial hymn - 1976

In 1976, the bicentennial year of the United States, when the International Eucharistic Congress was held in the U. S., the hymn by Westendorf and Kreutz, Gift of Finest Wheat, became the official hymn of the Congress. At the time, Sister Mary Inez asked Sister Bea Leising and Sister Fran who were handling music and organ, to teach this hymn to the sisters at the motherhouse. They did, and the hymn has continued to be used ever since.

Other music and hymn notes

Congregational singing, introduced to the church at large in the mid 20th century, flourished into the mainstay of our daily prayer music for Mass and Office at our motherhouse and local convents. Folk music with guitar as well as with piano and other instruments like the flute and the clarinet found a niche in our choices. Some favorite choral pieces remained in our repertoire; premier among these - the Blessing of St. Francis which we sing frequently as we honor individuals or groups.

Once Christmas season, and the year is not certain, there was no organist at home, and guitarists played for the first time in the chapel. And the hymns were Christmas ones like Silent Night and things went all right. After that guitars were used from time to time, with mixed reviews. Hymns of Joe Wise, Ray Repp, Jack Miffleton and other folk singers were used at the motherhouse chapel. Make me a Channel of your Peace, published in 1967 by Sebastian Temple, became one of the community's favorites and is used to this day. Also by Temple, All That I Am and Take My Hands were used for several years.

Sister Francis Xavier wrote a hymn - Our Eucharistic King - which she taught to the sisters and which was sung for several years.

Some of the Alfred Burt Christmas Carols were introduced when Bea and Fran were doing music, and Star Carol and Some Children See Him became favorites. Sister Regina Leising held a special love for Star Carol and Sister Fran played it as an instrumental for Regina's funeral.

The new Peoples Mass Book came out in 1984. The motherhouse bought hard cover copies of it and it serves as the main hymnal right through 1999. Some issues of Today's Missal hymnals have been donated by parishes no longer using them - 1981, 1984, 1994, - and many of the favorite hymns are found in these.

Additionally, the motherhouse liturgy and music files contain copies of hymns used with permission from the various publishers.

Some of well-liked hymns came originally from the hymn booklets of the St. Louis Jesuits - Glory and Praise 1, 2, 3, and 4, and from various Weston Priory hymn booklets - Listen, Winter, Locust, and others.

Among our favorite Puerto Rican hymns, we include Pescador and Allegria. Beloved Irish / Gaelic melodies for hymns include: O Mary of Graces, Be Thou My Vision, Morning has broken, Spirit seeking Light and Beauty. Spirituals we like include: Were you there and Go tell it on the Mountain. Other ethnic hymns we often sing include: How Great Thou Art (O Store Gud, Swedish folk melody) and Ash Grove (a Welsh folk melody)

In the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, several sisters led the choir. These included Sister Mary Dolores Cook, Sister Beatrice Leising, and Sister Mary Louise Frainier. Sister Eileen Pinkel played the organ through most of the 1990s, alternating with Sister Fran, and Eileen took over the role entirely when Fran left the motherhouse in 1998. Rosella Morgano, associate, plays the piano for some functions.

This survey of the hymns used by the sisters at the motherhouse and in many cases in the mission convents and parishes offers a sense of the melodies and words that nurtured the souls and spirits of the sisters over the years. The spirit of the music connects us and unites us past, present, and future.

One of the major disappointments in leaving the Mill Street motherhouse and moving to the new residence on Reist Street was the fact that the new chapel is too small to accommodate the pipes of the organ. The Mill Street organ went to a Lutheran Church in Lockport and in summer 2002, Sister Marian Rose and Sister Beatrice Leising went to a Sunday service there to hear the restored organ.

Kitchen and dining room

God bless the cook!

So many of our early missions began with four sisters - two for the school (two-room schoolhouses), one for the laundry and housekeeping, and the cook. Any one of these would have also served as organist for the parish church.

An oft-quoted line from an earlier version of our policies stated that there must be enough food for even "the most robust appetite" and almost always there was. Like our grandmothers and great grandmothers, cooks of our first hundred years worked with food in season and spent hours canning and preserving food for the winter months. Sister Cook made a point of being on good terms with the local farmers in rural areas and with food vendors in the city. As food technology changed, so did making meals.

We chuckle now at the memories of hot dogs for breakfast and farina (cream of wheat) for supper. Some of the food customs of mid20th century puzzled new members then. But we adjusted. We wondered about a meal of noodles and prunes. We savored snow pudding, a lemony treat new to most of us.

For the greater part of the mid- and late 20th century, Sister St. Anne ran the motherhouse kitchen with many and various helpers. Novices worked in the kitchen and can tell many an amusing story about those days. Some of us remember being called "dumb novices" by Sister Agatha when we did not bring the pan or spider she wanted.

Huge food bonanza happened at our annual summer lawn fete when we served hundreds of chicken dinners. Every cook in the community came to the motherhouse to prepare for days all the makings. And the rest of us served up the plates to those who came.

Everyone has novitiate stories and it's nostalgic and heartwarming to sit around of an evening and share the escapades. One of the funniest kitchen happenings occurred when a young sister accidentally dropped a large pan of mayonnaise. That gooey white liquid went about eight feet up in the air and then came down like a fountain in little white droplets all over the sister who dropped the pot and everything near her.

In the local convents, cook-sisters pleased the sisters with good food and great meals. Gradually, when no cook- sister was available, sisters took turns cooking the main meal. In our local convents, there are many good cooks and it is a joy to partake of special meals when convents get together for Thanksgiving and other celebrations. With very few sisters available as cooks or house sisters, we have learned to juggle these tasks along with out ministries, much as working mothers do anywhere.

At the motherhouse, gradually, lay chefs and cooks and helpers made the meals and we still say with enthusiasm - God bless the cooks!

Favorite foods and recipes - Christmas and other

For many years, our motherhouse kitchen made fruitcakes large and small and they were given as gifts to benefactors and friends. We enjoyed plum pudding (steamed in coffee cans) with sauce on feast days.

We looked forward to Fat Tuesday preceding Lent and the smell of fastnacht keuechles, which we ate with gusto.

At our Mill Street motherhouse we had dishes made at Syracuse China Company. When some of us visited the Syracuse sisters in the 1980's, they had dishes - made at Buffalo China Company.

In 2003, our Development Office collected favorite recipes from our sisters and associates toward compiling a cookbook for sale. Titled ----, the book -------

Traditions for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany

In the mid 1980s, as part of the liturgical preparation, Kris Kindel (Christ Child) exchange was introduced, or perhaps reintroduced. It would seem that a German community might have had this custom in the 19th century but so far, no reference to it has been surfaced. Those whose wished put their names in a basket that was part of the Offertory procession on the First Sunday of Advent. At dinner, each sister pulled a name and then did little anonymous acts of kindness for the other all through Advent. On Christmas Eve, the sisters made known to each other with a larger gift who the Kris Kindel had been all the while.

On the Eve of St. Nicholas and on Christmas Eve, it was and is still the custom to sing Christmas Carols in the Infirmary and around the whole house. Little gifts - Christmas cards, popcorn, candy, oranges and apples, and such - are given on December 5. For a long time, a roll of caramel popcorn was given. These treats came from Etenger on Broadway and Tzetzel on Military, suppliers of candy and small gifts. Later, when the popcorn roll was no longer made, a box of Cracker Jacks was given.

Christmas Carols were also sung a half hour before Midnight Mass, and are still sung a half hour before the Evening Mass that replaced the Midnight one. "In the old days" the motherhouse chapel used to be full to overflowing with guests for the Midnight Mass. And the sisters feasted on chicken fricassee and kchen and other good food after the Midnight Mass. Actually, this Christmas night breakfast dates back only to December 25, 1939. Our Motherhouse Chronicle of that date indicates that this was the "first breakfast after Midnight Mass."

St. John's night on December 27 is still observed with a special sharing of wine. In years gone by, New Year's Eve at midnight found many sisters in chapel for prayer. And the organist would play all the Christmas carols with the chimes. And sometimes the sisters would spontaneously sing along.

For those associated with Puerto Rico, Epiphany - Three Kings - Trois Roi - was the feast of celebration. For those in Kenya, Boxing Day brings invitations to family parties of the British nationals living nearby.

Little Christmas was observed on the 25th of each month. Postulants and novices, especially, found great joy in observing this ritual with prayer and procession and song and social time with good food.

One Little Christmas, January 1959, when Sister Fran was a postulant, she thought it would be nice to invite Mother Priscilla to the postulants' Little Christmas observance. And she did so without checking with the director of postulants - Sister Mary Inez. And it caused a little flurry when Mother Priscilla arrived. But she was welcomed and all went well.

Another Little Christmas, probably January of February of 1960 or 1961, Sister Sheila Anne and Sister Fran decided they wanted pine cones to decorate with - and they saw some on evergreen trees near the southeast corner of the building - which was just a little beyond the boundaries for novices. But they went anyway and knocked some down from the trees, snow and all, and brought them inside - only to be met by a distressed novice director - Sister Dolores Ann - who had been summoned by Mother Priscilla - whose window was just above those southeast trees - to please see why there were novices out there shaking the trees. All's well that's ends well, and the two novices were allowed to keep their pinecones for decorations.

One of the Little Christmas decorations used for several years was an angel chimes which rotated as four candles burned and the heat moved the air.

Traditions - Lent, Holy Week, Easter

High school and college students often put on Passion plays and the sisters attended these. On a daily basis our sisters prayer the Stations of the Cross as them moved quietly from station to station in our chapel.

Long years back, no bells were rung during Holy Week and wooden clackers were substituted. One sister tells how she was living with some sisters from another culture and was surprised at the way they carried on with cleaning and vacuuming on Good Friday. For us, it has been a day of quiet throughout the house and chapel.

Outdoor processions

For May 1 and May 31, processions at the motherhouse with the Mary statue went on for many years. Four novices or young sisters of about equal height were selected to carry the litter on which the statue rested. For a couple of days they decorated it with appropriate cloth and flowers. It was much easier to find flowers at the end of May than it was at the beginning.

At the end of May, a second litter decorated with red and holding the Sacred Heart Statue brought up the rear of the procession.

The processions were held out of doors, weather permitting. Otherwise they were held in the chapel. Outdoors, the procession wound its way all around the house while Mary hymns were sung.

In parishes where our sisters worked, they took part in outdoor processions too. Formerly, on the three Rogation days preceding the feast of the Ascension, priests and sisters and parishioners processed to the fields to ask God's blessings on the crops.

Processions honoring the Blessed Sacrament flourished on Corpus Christi feast day - the Thursday after Ascension Thursday. At the motherhouse for many years, there were three outdoor altars set up and the procession paused for benediction at each of these altars. In the parishes, our sisters prepared the first Communion children in their white dresses and suits to precede the priest with the monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament; the children slowly dropped flower petals from baskets they carried.

Other customs and traditions

It was the custom to greet each other - not with Hello - but with - Praised be Jesus and Mary - and the other responded with - Now and forever. This practice began in German - ........

and only in ---- did we begin doing it in English.

The hour prayer - a pause at the beginning of each hour for a silent prayer - served as a meaningful way to recall the presence of God in whatever we were doing - cleaning, cooking, attending class.

On Fridays at 3 p.m., sisters would gather in the chapel and extend their arms in a Cross prayer in memory of the death of Jesus at this hour on Good Friday. Sisters also prayed the cross prayer at the end of night prayer for the duration of five paters, aves, and glorias - Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory be prayers.

When passing or entering a chapel or church, we had the custom of pausing to pray: "We adore you, O Christ, here and in all the churches throughout the whole world."

Because St. Francis of Assisi was so devoted to the humanity of Jesus Christ in the Incarnation - God made man, Franciscans have found solace in devotion to the Crib, the Cross, and the Ciborium. Even the smallest of convent chapels had the 14 stations installed and blessed by a Franciscan. Sisters make the path of these 14 stations while they meditate on the suffering of Christ on the way to Calvary.

Franciscans have a special rosary of their own - the Franciscan crown with seven decades honoring the Seven Joys of Mary's life with Christ. Our religious habit of earlier years included a 7-joy rosary hanging from the cord around each one's waist. The cord of a professed sisters had long ends which hung the length of her skirt and one of those ends was tied into three knots representing the three vows.

All the customs and ceremonies surrounding Christmas for us combine the Crib aspect of Franciscanism with German and American Christmas customs. The Ciborium refers to Eucharist, which we place at center with Mass, adoration, and seeing the Face of Christ in every person we meet each day.

Our communal prayers used to include a petition to St. Agatha for protection against fire. Other devotions to the Blessed Sacrament, the Sacred Heart, the Holy Name of Jesus, the Passion and Death of Jesus, and the of the Blessed Mother formed our vocal prayers.

The stained-glass windows of the Mill Street chapel mutely told our priorities - 12 small windows with the 12 apostles; six large choir windows of St. Clare, St. Anne, St. Therese of Lisieux balanced with St. Anthony, ..., ... In the nave of the chapel, the assumption and coronation of Mary as Queen of the Angels highlighted the name of our motherhouse - St. Mary of the Angels. In the transept, the stigmata of St. Francis bore witness to our founding saint. A bas-relief of St. John Neumann was installed near the time of his canonization. Our main altar had a place for display of the monstrance holding the Eucharist as part of our perpetual adoration. Side altars honored Mary and Joseph.

In the 1960s, we still carried on the long tradition of the Chapter of Faults, a penitential practice in which each one openly admitted her faults against the Franciscan Rule, the Constitutions of the congregation, and the directives, policies, and admonitions of the community. For the most part, we took this ascetic practice seriously, but every now and then, one of us would confess to things like eating an apple noisily and thus breaking Great Silence or using toilet paper to clean up paint brushes. Great Silence meant no talking or noise after night prayer at 8:30 p.m. until after breakfast the next morning. A key principle instilled in us was to use things only for their intended purpose and so using an item for another purpose was frowned upon. Another fault was using more that the one allotted drawer in the recreation room.

Communal recreation ran for an hour most evenings, usually 7:30 to 8:30. Many of us worked with crocheting or knitting while conversing with our sisters. Sometimes we went outdoors for a leisurely walk.

As television became more common we watched our favorite programs - Lawrence Welk, Bishop Sheen, Shirley Temple movies, and the like.

Special showings of movies like The Sound of Music and A Man for All Seasons brought sisters from all over the diocese to theaters. Convent chronicles note the acquisition of a record player or a radio for a convent. Gradually, sisters had radios of their own and music players for records or tapes, and now for CD's. Our sisters go to plays, and concerts, and other cultural events.

When a sister left a particular convent, an Abscheid (farewell) was held for her, and upon the arrival of a sister to stay in at a convent called for a Suscheid (welcome). Some of us still use these old German words to mark the comings and goings.

Novenas and triduums

We opened our chapel to the public for novenas and triduums. For much of mid 20th century, we held a novena in October for the nine days preceding the feast of Christ the King, which was then observed on the last Sunday of October. In later decades of the 20th century, we held Triduums in the motherhouse chapel, sometimes in early spring honoring Mary and praying for peace.

Table prayer and reading

It used to be the custom for someone to read to the sisters while they ate. At breakfast, the Imitation of Christ might be the book of choice. At supper, a more general book like a life of Father Baker would be read. Only on Sundays and Thursdays did the sisters talk at meals. On Fridays, at supper, a portion of the Franciscan Rule and the Exhortation was read and the superior read the Blessing for those who observe the Rule and Exhortation.

Holy cards

We remember receiving holy cards from the sisters who taught us in grade school. Along with trading cards and baseball cards, we collected these holy cards, put them in our prayer books, and loved the friendship and love the cards represented. We liked the saints who were depicted on the cards and asked these saints to intercede for us. Also, at wakes and funerals, we received holy cards with the pertinent dates of the deceased person's life. Earlier funeral cards held black borders and somber pictures of the death of Christ. Wakes and Funerals remain the primary use of holy cards, but they are now more likely to be in color with more pleasant depictions of Christ, Mary, the saints, or even a nature scene.

A lot of history lies in these holy cards called Andachtsbilden in German. Looking through the cards left in a prayerbook or worn with use does tell us about the devotions of the person. Those who study folklore collect these holy cards for what they reveal of a particular area or time. It is told how those who had received holy cards from Bishop John Neumann cherished them for a lifetime. While many see these holy cards and other paper "ephemera" as something to be disposed of when a person dies, others see the everyday life of the common person. This holds true for what devotions our parents and grandparents and older sisters knew in preVatican times.

Libraries and resources

At our Mill Street motherhouse, we had a college library as long as St. Clare College operated. This was a treasure house of good materials especially for literature and history studies. The community room also had an extensive library of spiritual topics and lives of saintly people. When we moved to Reist Street, all these resources were reduced and placed in the Media Center along with computers and periodicals. Many of the convent chronicles list the small library of books the sisters had. There used to be a rule that you could have only two books in your room. If you wanted to borrow a new one, you had to return one. Now, books are very plentiful and sisters share them freely.

Heritage Room and archives

Our community has maintained archives from the very beginning and our current archives contain several file drawers including topics like the convents in Buffalo, the convents in the various towns and villages, out of town ministries including Puerto Rico and Kenya. Our archive collection also holds information on former mother superiors and general ministers, heritage communities, individual sisters now deceased, books and documents of earlier versions of the rule, constitutions, policies, directives, prayer manuals, scrapbooks on various topics, and many materials on the new motherhouse building. Large items and artifacts are stored above the files. Our Heritage Room, established in 1988, holds permanent displays of artifiacts of our past missions and community history as well as temporary displays prepared for anniversaries and other special times.

What do you do for Fun ?

Our sisters find relaxation and recreation with hobbies of many kinds - woodworking, quilling, painting, needlework, and many more. One sister has intensively studied icons and now gives presentations on their meaning. A friend of the community gave an icon retreat in which the participants painted an icon of their own. Another sister has delved into mariology with extensive studies of the titles of Mary and artwork pertaining to Mary.

In early letters of Mother Mary Francis we find a reference to the sisters making silk and paper flowers. Down through the years our sisters have nurtured house plants and garden flowers - Sister Fortunata and Mother Priscilla had wonderful rose gardens, vegetables and herbs. Sisters have created things of beauty with cloth, paper, yarn, and more. Photography has attracted some and music making others. Many have excelled in practical arts like sewing and cooking. Our sisters have decorated classrooms and convents and churches with their artistic touches in flower arranging, color schemes, and design. Some have studied the fine arts and music, others home economics and woodworking and shared their expertise with students and convents and others.

During 1979, the Creative Corner was established under the leadership of Sister Ruth Wangler. Crafts were taught and items made by the sisters were on sale for those who wished to purchase them. For several years, the room next to the elevator on first floor, northeast, was used. Later, the Creative Corner moved to the front of the building to the large room formerly used as a sewing room. In 2003, more than 20 years later, the Creative Corner still functions well, with classes in ceramics and other crafts and with good sales of the items in the Gift Shop.

In the 1980s, several hobby and craft shows, held in the motherhouse auditorium, featured the talents of any sister who wished to participate.

With the move to 201 Reist, we hired a director of activities and she organizes the events for the enrichment of anyone who wishes to attend. There are rides to various places, pets brought in, craft and art projects, parties and socials, music, and more.

Feast Day and special occasion programs - themes and talents

During the 1960s and 70s, the motherhouse organist also arranged for programs to celebrate feast days and jubilees and other special occasions. Most of these included scripture and song, poetry and prayer, instrumental and vocal music, and sometimes slides. A notebook of the actual printed programs includes these themes: Simple Gifts; God Bless America 1776 - 1996; Desiderata; Journey and the Dream; Something Beautiful for God; All Things Bright and Beautiful; Tapestry; A World of Hope; Brother Sun, Sister Moon; You are a Child of the Universe; and Noah's Ark.

As the number of sisters dwindled and schedules make music practices more difficult, these programs of entertainment were phased out in favor of movies or videos and other entertainment media.

In 1987, for the November feast of Sister Maureen Ann, a video of Roger Whittaker in Kenya was shown for her feast day. This followed the visit to Kenya made by Sister Maureen Ann with Sister Fran Gangloff in January - February 1987.

In the summer of 1998, at the Community Assembly Days, a Talent Show brought to the auditorium once again some of the magic and fun of these earlier stage programs. Interest ran high enough to set up another one for Assembly Days in 1999.

Technology

A note on technology: Earlier programs are done on white paper with mimeograph black ink. Later, they are done with various colors of ditto stencils on colored paper. The program covers give evidence of creativity in the use of colored papers and inks decorated with cloth, pressed flowers, drawings, and other art-work. Programs done in the 1990s make use of computer-generated graphics, scanned images, and laser printers and copy machines.

Drama and plays

In the 1960s, Sister Julie Uhrich and Sister Fran wrote a play based on the Franciscan legend of Greccio and directed their companion novices in its performance at Christmastime.

Sister Bea Leising took on a leadership role in organizing two dramas that stood independent of feast days and jubilees. In May 1972, the sisters performed A Man for All Seasons. In June 1974, a cast of sisters performed Fiddler on Roof to a full house of sisters. In September 1974, they performed again to a full house of parents and family and friends.

For the canonization of St. John Neumann in 1977, our sisters put on a five act play titled His Life was Gentle. It was performed in the fall of 1977 as a multi-media drama with music in celebration of the canonization of St. John Neumann.

The Concert - 1963

In conjunction with the 1963 Centennial Observance of the Buffalo Foundation of the Sisters of St. Francis, a Sisters Concert was staged at Kleinhan's Music Hall.

**more info / dates / program

Sabbaticals

Several of our sisters, one at a time, have been granted a year off from their usually ministry and work in order to take a sabbatical. During this time, the have attended courses and workshops, updated skills and leanings in a particular field, and taken part in ministry to the poor.

Vacations

Our daily rhythm of prayer - Mass, Divine Office, contemplation, and personal devotions, our assigned work - in ministries and household duties, our play - in hobbies, recreation, and leisure provides the balance of wholesome living. Sisters are encouraged to take a week or so for vacation each year.

Before the 1950s, vacations often took the form of visiting and staying at other convents, especially the rural convents for the coolness of the rolling hills and valleys of Wyoming and southern Erie counties.

In 1957, with Mother Priscilla's leadership, our community purchased lakefront property in Derby and established Our Lady of the Lake as a vacation house. Those of us who were postulants and novices in the late 1950s and in the 1960's remember with delight how we would go out there once school was finished and scrub the place clean. Then we could enjoy the water and the sunsets, the quiet and the beauty. Nearby Piarist priests would come for morning Mass in the chapel in the main house. The large dining room and all the windows out onto the lawn and lake offered scenic views. There were sleeping quarters upstairs as well as at Bethany, the little cottage, and Bethlehem, the house with the stables, originally meant for horses, but we used them as changing rooms for swimsuits. The gatehouse also served as sleeping quarters.

Many of us hold wonderful summer memories of the spacious yard for walking, the shaded area near the lake for suppers, and our somewhat rickety stairs down the cliff to the beach. Eventually, our stairs washed away and we got permission to use the neighbor's stairs down the shale escarpment to the beach on Lake Erie. The pleasure of walking barefoot on the sand, of picking up shells and driftwood, of swimming, and of jumping incoming waves made this place a favorite for many.

In the early days of Our Lady of the Lake, Sister Hyacinth, Sister Francis Clare, and others resided there to keep the house in order. To visit for a day or to stay a week was like going to Grandma's. These older sisters fussed over the young ones, made everyone welcome, and created a haven of summer peace and joy.

Over time, especially as sisters took more vacation time with their families or in travel, this vacation spot was used less and less. For a time, the main house served as a House of Prayer were three sisters resided year round and offered hospitality for those seeking a quiet place to pray.

Around ----, we sold the Derby property and bought a new vacation place on North Ellicott in Tonawanda. A split level home with several bedrooms and a patio and in-ground heated pool outdoors offered a place for summer vacations, as well as year round retreat and meeting place.

And, oh yes, the habit

Was it brown or black in the early days?

Kunigunda, age 11, at East Eden, said Goodbye to her mother, Mother Mary Francis, on a cold winter morning. As Kuni remembered it decades later, her mother was dressed in "black and white" as the goodbyes were made. On her 75th jubilee, at age 89, Sister Francis (Kuni) told her memories to a reporter. She recalled that her mother, dressed in the Franciscan habit of "black and white, " had stood by her bedside and told her: "to be a good girl, and pray daily to your Guardian angel that he may watch over you, guide you and care for you. (The Union and Echo, May 2, 1940)

Some sisters have told stories of the habit being brown in the early days. Our early history also indicates that the sisters suffered ridicule, scorn, and mockery for wearing the habit in public and sometimes had to go out in lay clothes.

A favorite "habit" story is the one when Sister Ignatia accompanied five other sisters from the Orphanage to the train station in an open horse sleigh with a driver. There simply was no room to take a companion sister with her for the return trip.

It was February 1, 1886. On the way back, Sister Ignatia was thrown from the sleigh and the driver returned to the Orphanage before he realized that she was gone. As our Motherhouse Chronicle (MC, Feb 1, 1886) tells the story, a gentleman, not named, found her unconscious near Chicago Street and took her to the Sisters of Mercy Hospital at Swan and Michigan. The Mercy Sisters recognized the cincture (cord) with its three knots as belonging to the Franciscans and contacted the sisters at our Pine Street motherhouse. When she regained consciousness, Sister Ignatia did not know where she was or what had happened. She had some internal injuries from which she recovered and later returned to the GRC Orphanage.

For just about 100 years, the habit remained nearly the same: a full-length black serge dress made with six pleats on either side of the center, front and back, with a yolk and set-in sleeves that were quite wide. The bottom of the habit was reinforced with braid that prolonged the wear of material that barely cleared the floor.

The headgear included a starched white headband and coif that covered the whole head except the sister's face and a starched white inner veil with a black outer veil. A guimpe, something like a big, was worn on the front. Worn around the waist, the cord (cincture) with three knots on the left side also held the seven-joy rosary on the right side. Undersleeves that reached from above the elbow to the wrist were also worn. Black stockings and black sturdy shoes completed the attire. Shawls were worn over the veil in cold weather.

Novices wore a white veil until their profession day. Some of the sisters working in the kitchens and hospitals wore white veils and dresses (habits) for the sake of cleanliness.

In September 1955, a vote of the sisters concerning the inner white veil strip resulted in 111 for removing it and 281 for keeping it. For the time being, the veil remained as it had been.

In November 1955, a decision was made that the sisters would wear mantles in the winter. The community asked McCosker Company to tailor these floor length black serge cloaks. The Company measured 325 sisters and in November 1956, the sisters began wearing the mantles when going out. As sisters died, their mantles, and the other parts of their habits were handed down to young members of a similar size.

By December 1961, because the machines had worn out and could not be replaced and because it was simple too much work, the white starched inner veil was discontinued. Discussion all through the 1960's resulted in the adoption of a new habit of an A-line dress of mid-calf length, still black in color. A roll collar of white topped this habit.

In October 1969, Sister Agnes Clare gave demonstrations to the sisters on the cutting and sewing of the new habit. In May 1973, those who wished to began wearing beige habits in the warm weather. At the chapter of Affairs in may 1985, a vote of 28 to 16 made the wearing of the veil up to the choice of each sister.

While there were intense emotions around the changes of the habit, gradual changes did take hold. Over time, other colors became acceptable and by the 1990's many sisters were wearing ordinary lay clothes appropriate to the climate, seasons, and activities.

Summary

Our prayer life and spirituality, as well as our food and fun, rests on a bed of church / liturgical / sacramental sources, on Franciscan and communal selections, and on a variety of personal devotions and choices. As we grew in our understanding of contemplative prayer, we did let go of some of the communal novenas for Christmas, Pentecost, and other holy days - with some nostalgia and sadness, and growth into a more interior prayer life.

To be in Timau, Kenya, for their Christmas novena the last nine days before Christmas with native novices leading the beautiful hymns, is to bring to mind a kind of prayer and life whose essence we still hold dear. While the externals may change and do change, the eternal and internal essence holds true.

This is our God who sustains us in every kind of weather - "cloudy and serene" - Amen.

Infirmity and Tribulation

"Praised be You, my Lord,

through those who give pardon for Your love

and bear infirmity and tribulation.

Blessed are those who endure in peace

for by You, Most High, they shall be crowned."

- Canticle of the Creatures by St. Francis of Assisi

Overview of this Section

Infirmary - at 337 Pine, at 400 Mill,

Health Center, assisted living and skilled nursing at 201 Reist

Infirmarians and council liaison person

Wellness, insurance, health care proxy

Spirituality - Sacrament of Anointing, Powerhouse of Prayer

Retirement and Enrichment

Stories

Bonds, blessings, and bedside prayer

Introduction

Our sisters benefit from the holistic approach to health and wellness, an approach that integrates good nutrition, moderate exercise, fresh air, hobbies and recreation and entertainment with mental, emotional, and spiritual well being. An old proverb comes to mind: A sound mind in a sound body. In one of our earlier editions of documents, there was this idea concerning food: that there be enough for even the most robust of appetites. We have been blessed with good food and wonderful health care all these many years.

Mother Mary Francis

In the very first years of our existence as a congregation, we are made keenly aware of the illness that overtook Mother Mary Francis while she spent the winter at East Eden. The lack of food and fuel in that remote place as well as the bitter cold summarized in the mention of "snow on their beds, " made worse the tuberculosis she was already afflicted with. She returned to Philadelphia a very sick woman. She left her daughters behind under the care of Mother Margaret. Mother Francis died in Philadelphia on June 30, 1863, surrounded by some of her sisters.

Pine Street Infirmary

The early years of the Motherhouse Chronicle, as composed in 1894 from existing notes and documents, mentions very little about the health or illnesses of the sisters.

At the time of her 96th birthday in 1998, Sister Mary Richard Gaenzler told about the Pine Street Infirmary, which she described as two small rooms and a small pharmacy.

On the other hand, the local convent chronicles abound in telling the illnesses of the sisters stationed at each particular mission. These historical records mention and sometimes describe in detail the health problems and hospitalization of the sisters often followed with their return to good health, and sometimes with death.

In November 1891, a candidate (postulant) who was severely burned when her clothes caught on fire in the kitchen was given the habit and allowed to pronounce her vows. She died before two weeks had gone by.

Between September 1894 and July 1895, four young sisters in their 20's or 30's died of tuberculosis (TB). In November 1901, a novice who was very ill with TB, pronounced her vows on her deathbed.

Infirmarian

In 1896, with the August transfers, Sister Regis was appointed infirmarian at our Pine Street motherhouse. This is the first Chronicle mention of such a ministry to the sisters, though we must assume that someone was looking out for the sick previous to this date. The August 1901 transfers list a Prefect of the Sick along with a Prefect of Education.

In 1912, a 19-year-old novice made deathbed vows; another novice did the same in 1925, and yet another in 1936.

Our convent in Sheldon had a special bedroom separate from the others as a place a sister with TB could live while she gained strength from the fresh air and good food of country living. In the early 20th century, tuberculosis claimed the lives of several more sisters, usually young ones. As medical treatments improved, some were nursed back to health from this disease.

The Chronicle mentions that doctors sometimes operated to remove tumors right at the Pine Street motherhouse infirmary. Mention of cancer, especially breast cancer, appears in the Chronicle as the 19th century turned to the 20th. Heart problems also appear as the causes of sisters' illnesses. The Motherhouse Chronicle tells us that Sister Robertine Bachmann died on July 27, 1924, after a long and painful illness of cancer of the stomach.

When the Bubonic plague hit Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, in February 1912, our missionary sisters stationed there moved to our other Puerto Rican convent at Arecibo. In Western New York, the 1918 Influenza hit hard. Some of our sisters who died from the were buried right away at St. Mary's parish cemetery in Lancaster.

Every now and then in the Motherhouse Chronicle, we are told of "business trips" to Pittsburgh. Many of these references really mean that our leaders of the time were taking a sister to the psychiatric wing of the hospital there for mental health treatments.

When Sister Providentia, a native of Puerto Rico, was ill unto death at Pine Street, she said that she was feeling fine. She had tuberculosis. "I can say I am feeling fine, " she said, "because I am feeling as God wishes me to feel." (MC, January 1927) She died on March 25, 1927.

Just as our Mill Street motherhouse was coming to completion, Mother Anselma had surgery to remove one of her eyes.

By the 1930'sand 40s, the Motherhouse Chronicle no longer lists deaths of young sisters from TB. Operations for tonsils and a few eye surgeries are mentioned. Heart attacks and strokes claim the lives of several sisters in those decades, and with cancer, continue to be among the leading causes of death.

Still many of our sisters live to "ripe, old age, " as the saying goes. When two of our sisters were in Rome for meetings in June 1982, they secured from the Pope an Apostolic blessing for 18 of our sisters who were 90 years of age and older.

Mill Street Infirmary

The first mention of a car crash comes in the Chronicle in August 1934, when four sisters traveling with a lay couple experienced a coal truck hitting their vehicle. There were no serious injuries. We read of another car crash in December 1964, when "two sisters motored to Utica" (MC, December 1, 1964) and were hit on the Thruway in a snowstorm. "Motored" is the verb of choice in Chronicle entries about travels in cars. Sisters began to get their driving licenses in the late 1950s.

The third floor of the northeast side of the Mill Street motherhouse contained the Infirmary for our sisters from the late 1920 s through the late 1990s. Often referred to as a Powerhouse of Prayer, the patients as well as the staff exemplified patience in suffering and peace in tribulation as celebrated in the Canticle of the Sun. When the body is ill, old, crippled, hurting, the soul and spirit can soar. These sisters experience a quite evolution toward unceasing prayer, reflection, meditation, contemplation, and mysticism. This does not diminish the importance of the prayer of the active sisters, but it does point to the source of much of the spiritual energy of the active sisters. From the hearts of our sisters so immersed in continuous prayer comes the strength for those of us still in active ministries. We turn to them for this power of prayer.

We hold dear the memories of Sister Gerald, Sister Nelson, Sister Gabriel, Sister Margaret Therese, and Sister Cyril as nurses in charge, and of Sister Ann Catherine as night nurse. We remember the nursing care given by Sister Leonora, Sister Aquinas, Sister Marilyn, Sister Lucille Marie, Sister Consuela, Sister Julia Marie, Sister Marian Lamb, and others.

These sisters as nurses and aides cared for our sick sisters in a personal way. They cared for one or two patients with a one to one sense of care. They also reached out to any of us if we had the flu or needed a blood pressure check or had to stay a few days after surgery.

In the early 1990s, gradually, the lay staff grew as our sisters grew old and we had fewer sisters trained as nurses. Also in the early 1990s, we hired lay nurses as our infirmary supervisors. As the needs developed, Sister Margaret Therese and later Sister Cyril hired lay nurses for all shifts. When Sister Cyril became ill in 1992, we hired our first lay nursing supervisor, Rosemary Walter. When Rosemary left in October 1994, Ann Awald, who had worked for us for two years, became supervisor. In April 1998, we hired Mary Lu Summers as head nurse for our Infirmary. At this time, a Health and Aging Task Force was formed to promoted sound planning for the ministry of caring for our sisters in their later years and illnesses at any age. During the 1999 move to the new motherhouse, Mary Lu Summers served as supervisor. Sister Margaret Therese coordinated the move of our sick sisters to the new facility.

We recall the joy of singing Christmas carols from room to room on the eve of St. Nicholas and again on the eve of Christmas. We remember with prayer and sadness the decline and passing of sisters in death. They were our personal friends, our mentors, our teachers.

From our memories as well as from the written record, we know that all the sisters had opportunities for outings like picnics, boat rides, movies, entertainment programs, and more to promote their health and well being.

Hobbies, too, provided sisters with times of relaxation. Some sisters raised roses or African violets, and some still do. Some sisters like larger scale gardening of flowers and of vegetables and of herbs. Needlework of various kinds, crafts, and practical and fine arts are the choices of some. Others like to play musical instruments - guitar, piano, flute, clarinet, violin, accordion, and in days gone by, the harp and the zither.

In 1956, under the leadership of Mother Priscilla, the community bought the property at Our Lady of the Lake in Derby. The lakeside site opened in 1957 for recreation and vacation time. When we needed to let go of this place in 1983, we bought a home on North Ellicott Creek Road in Amherst; we call this place Bethany as it is a place of refreshment. Often though, we call it Lake House as a synonym for a vacation place that we were very fond of.

Health Insurance

On February 10, 1966, we processed the Medicare forms for the 146 sisters who were age 65 and older. In November 1966, we began receiving social security checks for these sisters. Now, when a sister reaches age 62, she files for these benefits.

Blue Cross, Blue Shield and Major Medical covered the sisters for many years. Recently, with the complexity of health care providers, most of our sisters moved to Community Blue or Independent Health. Each sister now takes greater responsibility for her scheduling and referrals and use on approved services and labs as well as accuracy in the co-pay fees.

Related to insurance, driver education has been promoted among the sisters to make them better drivers and less likely to get into an accident with the car. During 1997, all drivers received regular driver letters, which contained pointers toward better driving.

Doctors

In April 1968, our sisters received a thorough explanation of a comprehensive health program to be available at both of our local hospitals - St. Francis in Buffalo and Mount St. Mary's in Lewiston. Many of the motherhouse sisters took advantage of the Saturday clinic in Lewiston. Sister Margaret Therese and later Sister Vivian Pace coordinated these visits with Dr. LaTona and later Dr. Battaglia. The sisters also found sympathetic listeners among the other sisters waiting their turns to see the doctor.

Sisters see doctors of their choice within the scope of their insurance plans.

For mental health needs, our sisters have spent time at various centers that care for these needs.

Retirement / Enrichment

Attention was given to retirement issues when the Sister Formation Retirement Program presented and October 1970 workshop. In January 1976, a committee of our sisters presented a health care workshop on pre and post retirement. Titled Growing with the Years with Christ, they developed a slide presentation on the theme of the Robert Browning poem, "Grow Old Along With Me, the best is yet to be."

In October 1980, a retirement committee composed of our sisters sponsored a seminar on the Third Age, a term applied to those in the later third of their lives, after their active ministries are set aside.

Monday afternoon enrichment programs are now a long-standing practice. For many years at the Mill Street motherhouse, Sister Ruth Wangler coordinated the Monday programs. While the programs are arranged primarily for those in retirement, all the sisters are welcome to the birthday and feast day celebrations, seasonal entertainments, and social gatherings. At the Reist Street motherhouse, Linda McGee handles activities in a room built for just that purpose.

Anointing

From early years, sisters received the last Sacraments, Extreme Unction, as it was formerly called, and Confession and Viaticum - Holy Eucharist to be with (cum) her on the way (via). In the Chronicle, we find the first mention of the Anointing of the Sick, the new name, on September 28, 1975, as a communal sacrament given in our chapel. Several weeks later, the Chronicle mentions that communal anointing took place during Mass. On September 26, 1976, the Sacrament of Anointing again took place within the Mass. About 100 sisters, the well aged and the sick of all ages, received the sacrament. Individual anointing takes places as needed by any sisters. In the last several years, the communal Sacrament of Anointing takes place at a Mass in early Advent.

At that time, Father Benedict Ballou, OFM, was in residence at our motherhouse as a guest priest and he provided his services for Mass and Anointing and more, especially for the infirmary sisters. Later, Father James Fadale, brother to our Sister Helen Fadale, did much the same. In the 1990's, Father Valentine Welker, not in residence, came regularly to attend to the spiritual needs of the sisters living in the Infirmary.

In mid-March 1997, Father Jack Rohr, SJ, presented a retreat specifically for the senior members of the community. The sisters attended this "first" of its kind retreat in the Infirmary sun parlor, which was located close to the sisters' rooms, making it easy for them to get there.

Powerhouse of Prayer

Powerhouse of Prayer. This is the mantra often attributed to the deep prayer of our sisters no longer in active ministries. Those who visit a sister suffering from one thing or another find this to be true. Many people in crisis have turned to our sisters for prayer and have found these prayers to be most powerful.

Those sisters who were able to come in wheelchairs or with canes to Mass and other services in the chapel, usually came to the choir loft at the Mill Street motherhouse. Dozens of sisters in various degrees of ill health found strength here. It was always a mediation to see their fervor.

For those not able to get to chapel, the priest or a Eucharistic minister brought Holy Communion to them in their rooms.

During 1992, Sister Frances Joseph organized a prayer program in the Infirmary so that each sister there was praying for one of the countries of origin of the many refugees staying with us. She used the book, A World At Prayer, which contains prayer from most of the countries of our world.

Physical Therapy

In October 1976, work began on a Therapy Department located on the Mill Street motherhouse fourth floor, directly above the Infirmary. An exercise room and a whirlpool tub were installed.

At Reist Street, a well-equipped exercise room and a therapy pool room offer the benefits of physical therapy to all sisters.

201 Reist Street

Health Center and Assisted Living

In April 1998, Sister Patricia Burkard, then general minister, held a special meeting with the sisters in the Infirmary to share the plans for the new location, which would be called the Health Center, and to respond to their questions and concerns.

With the move to our new motherhouse and with contemporary thinking on health care, we made some new choices about the vocabulary for our programs and services for the health and well being of our sisters, old and young and in between. We consciously put the emphasis on wellness and well being.

"In the growing awareness that body - mind - spirit are all deeply connected and the the glory of God is a person fully alive, ' we have chosen to focus on health rather than sickness, " Sister Frances Joseph Piazza, one of the two local ministers of the Health Center, said. "Thus the former Infirmary is now called "The Sacred Heart Health Center." Sister Margaret Therese Toohill also serves as local minister to the sisters in the Health Center. The two ministers have adopted a shared leadership style, which has proved to be a positive approach for both the sisters and the ministers.

This shared leadership style allow for the availability of a minister on a 24 hour basis. These two ministers explained that this plan "has improved communications between the sisters and the Health Center staff, has increased the sharing of gifts and talents, has provided personality compatibility as an option for sister residents, and that the plan makes tangible a Franciscan presence, and allows a minister to carry the treasures of each sister's personal history."

While there are plusses for the ministers, there are also challenges Sister Margaret Therese and Sister Frances Joseph pointed out that it takes effort "to keep a positive and spirit-filled attitude, to maintain priorities which are the sisters' spiritual and psychological needs, to keep the larger community informed, when appropriate, and to maintain effective communication with the leadership liaison person from the general council."

The Sisters in the Health Center participate in many spiritual opportunities. When able, they join in the communal liturgical and spiritual activities. The Health Center provides a special weekly Eucharistic liturgy for sisters residing there. Also, the ministers make a weekly visit to each sister. The rosary is recited on a daily basis.

Health Center sisters receive the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick annually and also anytime on request. They have the opportunity for the sacrament of reconciliation frequently and for a special retreat geared to their needs yearly.

Health Center facilities and staff

The 20 beds in the skilled nursing area of the Health Center, located in the northwest wing of the new motherhouse, provide short term nursing care for post hospital and / or rehab care for those who temporarily need it as well as long term care for those who permanently reside there. The Assisted Living section of the Health Center, located in a west wing, offers eight rooms (beds) for those sisters who need some care while living somewhat independently in a community of up to eight sisters.

In November 1999, a position called the Health Resource Coordinator brought in a person to be attentive to the sisters in Assisted Living and throughout the small communities of St. Mary of the Angels. The main thrust was to encourage and support sisters to be able to stay independent and part of their local community as long as feasible for all concerned. This means that some sisters living in the six motherhouse communities receive extra health care as needed while remaining in their small community. Only serious reasons brings them to a point of moving to assisted or skilled services.

Most of the active sisters have their own primary care physician and go to the doctor's office for regular checkups and referrals to specialists.

The staff of the Health Care Center includes the Health Care Coordinator who oversees the nursing care with the help of round the clock nurses and aides. Arrangements for on-site visits of a physician and a podiatrist are made as needed.

A dietician helps set up the meal plans and activities are provided at least five times a week. Those who need physical and / or occupational therapy receive it on site; whirlpool tub sessions help maintain good skin and circulation for those who need this.

The Health Care Center staff also oversees the pharmacy services for the sisters in nursing care, assisted living, and for the six residences of the active sisters.

The skilled nursing wing has video surveillance for security and safety. There is a lovely side chapel, two visiting parlors, and a large community room where the sisters who are able gather for prayer, physical activities, and social activities. The family setting of their dining room makes their mealtimes more pleasant.

A member of the leadership team (council) takes responsibility for the Health Center as a liaison person. She is called in when a sisters appears to be near death and prays with the sister. She also makes frequent visits to all the sisters with infirmities to bring them encouragement and peace.

"The sister ministers continue to try to bring the sisters in the Health Center every opportunity to know the joy of resting in God's love, " Sister Margaret Toohill said as she completed her council term as liaison with the Health Center. They bring to the sisters " a sense of hope in the midst of their suffering, and a sense of peace on their journey to God."

Sister Bea Leising took on the liaison role in 2001 and offered her thoughts on the privileged moments and vigils she has spent with sisters as they neared death.

Stories

Some sisters have had only a short stay in our Infirmaries of the past or our present Health Center. Others have lived there for years, even decades.

Sister Marie Ren

Sister Margaret Toohill tells the story of Sister Marie Ren who had MS (multiple sclerosis) an died on September 7, 1973.

"She is one of many who trusted our God and shared faith and hope from her sickbed. She was completely dependent on others for the least human need but remained always joyful. She had the word - JOY - hanging on her wall. She said it showed the order of our attention. Jesus, first, Others, next, and Yourself, last. Her prayer was powerful and persons she prayed for were blessed.

Opening our Doors to the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Child

Over the last several years, our health center has been blessed by our hospitality to sick and elderly sisters from the Divine Child community. These sisters received good care, same as our own, and we got to know the sister visitors from their community.

Collaboration

A while back, the religious communities of western New York in collaboration with the regional LCWR studied a Collaborative Health Care Project for all the member communities of LCWR. The task group, under the leadership of Sister Francesca Buckowski, a Felician sister, received a grant from the National Office of the Retirement Fund for Religious and hired someone to research the possibilities of a joint health care facility for the several communities. An April 16, 1994, meeting explained the findings to the sisters. After study, the project was abandoned as not feasible. Each congregation continues to care for its own members, sometimes with special arrangements, like the one we have had with the FMDC sisters. It's good to realize that study goes into projects and that not all ideas fly.

Health Care Proxy

During the last several months of 1991, we received information on the Health Care Proxy law. Our sisters were advised to select a person (agent) to act as proxy in an emergency and a second person as backup. This information was put in writing and each sister keeps hers handy for emergencies.

Bonds and Blessings and Bedside Praying

As our lay nurses care for dying sisters, special bonds of friendship develop. When a sister depends on someone else for many or all of her bodily needs, she comes to appreciate those persons who take care of these needs.

As of October 1999, Geraldine Patino, RN, served as the health resource coordinator. She is available to help all the sisters with their medical / physical needs. Geri had been a full time nurse on evening and night shifts. In her new role, "Geri brings a peaceful, competent presence, " Sister Margaret Therese noted in Gleanings, October 1999.

Now, we have in place a new practice of blessing a room when a new patient comes to live in it. In 2002, our leadership team blessed the rooms of Sister Mary Inez and of Dorothy Hupp, mother of Sister Joan Hupp, as they came to live in the Health Center. This eases the change to a rather confined lifestyle by bringing God's blessing and the warmth of companionship to the person.

Love of the sisters from TOR, Chapter 7

"Blessed are those who love the others when they are sick and unable to serve, as much as when they are healthy and of service to them. Whether in sickness or in health, they should only want what God wishes for them. For all that happens to them let them give thanks to our Creator."