Heirs of a multi-secular tradition, we are and wish to remain educators to the core until we die, that is why‘’ the heart of the Ursulines ignores retirement‘’. We are in fact bearers of the genes of Angela Merici and Mary of the Incarnation. Both of them were inspired with an amazing apostolic fervour.
Without any specific aim, Angela Merici founded her Company to promote the presence of consecrated women in the world. She ardently wished each one of us to become a shepherdess wherever we may be, and able to adapt to the times and circumstances. As for her, she was convinced of remaining in our midst, and very much alive.
About one century after Angela, in Tours, France, a young widow called Marie Guyart, left her family and chose to enter the Ursulines where she was called Mary of the Incarnation. She preferred the Ursulines precisely on account of their apostolic commitment. Her passion for Jesus’ interests drove her to Canada to open a school for the education of Amerindian and Canadian young girls.
From Québec, we have expanded to other regions of Québec and elsewhere in the world, as recorded by our lengthy history. Cloistered for several years, despite the founder’s intuition, we have held on to our apostolic commitment welcoming young girls - and boys - in some of our schools. We have instilled a family spirit in our boarders. Among the souvenirs retained, our former students surely remember the sisters called: ‘’maîtresses de division‘’.
Times have changed immensely since Angela and Mary of the Incarnation. Vatican II, twinned to the Québec ‘’révolution tranquille’’ obliged us to undergo serious and numerous transformations. ‘’Driven by the strength of Love‘’ we accepted to pass on the torch to other educators, thus, inventing new avenues in order to continue remaining what we are. Even though diminishing as a group, wherever we are rooted, we wish intensely to revive the human promotion of those with whom we live and whom we accompany.
A panoramic and lively shot allows us to see Ursulines working among other people. Ursulines, differently gifted and in all ministries, share part-time or full-time work. Ursulines, at home or on the road, Ursulines surrounded by adults, the healthy as well as the sick. Ursulines heartily encouraged and stimulated by the fact that: ‘’the whole community shoulders the apostolate of each of its members‘’.
We still run schools in Québec, Japan and Peru, and the educational project reflects the Merician pedagogy, fastering the eternal values of the Gospel. A special attention is given to the importance of each person, the power of the unity of a group living togetherness, the gift of God’s almighty Love. Ursulines and lay people, fully commit themselves by their presence to keep alive, in schools and colleges, the values of our multi-centennial tradition they cherish the most. We can see young women and men delighted to share our precious heritage.
Many among us answer the calls from different activities of the Church. You will find some well anchored in the field of education or hospital work, either in parishes or diocesan services. You may trace some others giving retreats, offering varied spiritual sessions here and there and to different groups: lay people, religious men and women, and diocesan priests. We also offer sessions and spiritual accompaniment in a few of our houses and in Spiritual Retreat Centers of Québec and the Philippines.
How many of our Sisters have already committed themselves fully in multi-social-services to the poor, the homeless, the handicapped and misadapted of all sorts! How many others are dedicated to the promotion of women, the struggle for a better environment and ecology and the welcoming of mothers and children helping these to do their homework. We have discovered sisters with unrenisful dedication who opened homes to answer the needs of their sisters and brothers in all paths of life.
A great number of our sisters invest all their energy in the necessary community-services.We are greatly indebted to them. Let us consider some of these numerous services in our own convents: reception, cooking, sewing, laundry, maintainance, bursarship, secretary’s office, bookstore, archives, liturgy, coordination of the work loads, etc. You will meet some sisters generously accepting to be invested with responsibilities at different authority levels whether local, provincial, general, or as councillors, bursars, secretaries, and members of diverse committees or commissions, etc.
Just as Mary of the Incarnation toured the world in spirit, many of our sisters answer the call to far-away countries. Canadians have gone to Japan, Peru and the Philippines. Québec is often times the stepping stone for language study and an appropriate panoramic view to cultures, as one of our missionaries in Japan and in the Philippines testifies.
A few of our Sisters work in the field of health, physical health and psychological health as well. This care means dedication from head to foot driven by the heart. Our infirmaries and health-centers are blessed spaces where numerous lay people share our mission. Retired sisters also love to visit the sick in their homes, and offer them solace and Holy Communion. Can one really count our volunteer workers ?
Finally, since ‘’the heart of the Ursuline never retires’’, there are still all those who, either aging or ill, find the secret of staying open-hearted, promoted to actively working for the world by their undying prayer. Saint Angela implores all these sisters to yield and accept to be assisted and taken care of, because, their collaboration and offering of daily disablement are an assured pathway to share, until death, our common mission, that of following Jesus.
You will surely have occasions to meet Ursulines in the domain of arts and crafts, because there are a few as wellas writers. Among us we also have writers. Without forgetting all those who are studying either, on sabbatical leave, ongoing formation, we would not be surprised to have you meet some sisters in places which have not been already mentioned.
Times have changed immensely since Angela and Mary of the Incarnation. Vatican II, twinned to the Québec ‘’révolution tranquille’’ obliged us to undergo serious and numerous transformations. ‘’Driven by the strength of Love‘’ we accepted to pass on the torch to other educators, thus, inventing new avenues in order to continue remaining what we are. Even though diminishing as a group, wherever we are rooted, we wish intensely to revive the human promotion of those with whom we live and whom we accompany.
In Foreign Countries
Finally, since ‘’the heart of the Ursuline never retires’’, there are still all those who, either aging or ill, find the secret of staying open-hearted, promoted to actively working for the world by their undying prayer. Saint Angela implores all these sisters to yield and accept to be assisted and taken care of, because, their collaboration and offering of daily disablement are an assured pathway to share, until death, our common mission, that of following Jesus.
