A NOCTURNAL ADVENTURE AT THE HOLY FAMILY COLLEGE IN BORDEAUX

  

A NOCTURNAL ADVENTURE

AT THE HOLY FAMILY COLLEGE IN BORDEAUX

It is a warm June evening... the first Sisters of Loreto are asking one another: 

-“Did you say “noctiluque?”  What a strange word to describe a garden ...I have never heard that word before but I suppose nowadays words are constantly changing...We must ask Mother Bonnat ...or maybe the idea has come from our Good Father.  He likes to dream, to look into the future and perhaps he has invented the word ...and people have taken it up ...that would be just like him. 

- But no, look, I have found the word in the dictionary:  Noctiluque:  a small marine creature that generates luminosity in the sea at night; it is like a glow worm that shines in the dark...that must be beautiful!

- I have never seen it.  But what has this got to do with our garden?

- Wait, I have found another definition: a flower or an animal, called “noctiluques” when they glow in the dark. 

- Yes but that still does not tell me what a “noctiluque” garden is. 

-  I heard the conversation of a small group of students and I think that it has something to do with throwing light on and giving value to a garden.  I have heard that it is quite a project. 

- You mean that these young persons have decided to improve our garden.  Oh I imagine that our Good Father will not miss this because he loves nature so much, especially trees. 

- See there is quite a crowd; quickly let’s find a place so that we can see what is going on.

 - Leave your chairs, there are things happening all over the garden...I was told that there are acrobats...My adrenaline level is rising

- Your what?

- But I am not bothered about that because I feel secure with the children in paradise

- Would you like to walk a little until it gets dark?

The sisters walk along the avenues of trees.

- Do you remember when we arrived here ...it was in 1822 some months after the Eucharistic Miracle in Rue Mazarin.  That house seemed like a palace to us.  We had been so cramped up until then

- That was the time when we decided to place ourselves under the patronage of “Our Lady of Loreto

- These trees were already there: this monumental cedar, these magnolias, these oak trees, these lime trees...how wonderful it is to see that they are still here in spite of the havoc caused by pollution as it is called today.  It seems that pollution levels are rising all the time.  Where is the good clean air that we used to enjoy?  Our Good Father used to love walking in the park and I can almost see him still along these pathways...

Suddenly Noemi Gautier stops...

-  Do you hear the music?  It seems that the spectacle is beginning.  But what do I see there?  Someone is trying to get into my room by climbing in the window...Well I never!  Nowadays there is absolutely no respect.  Come on let’s warn the director. 

- Wait...am I dreaming?  There are people doing acrobats on the wall...they seem to have no fear

- That must be part of the spectacle.  In the programme there was an item called vertical theatre.  I would have loved to do something like that, to experience new emotions by letting myself fall into the emptiness! 

- And look, on the highest branches of the trees...there are pupils.  In our days we were forbidden to climb...but now everything is allowed...but what they are doing is really beautiful...I hope they won’t fall. Look they are moving around from tree to tree; let’s follow them. 

- Goodness they are recounting our stories; they haven’t forgotten us.

- What they are saying is so beautiful – that earth hold all living things in her bosom – humus and human have the same root.  If she were here, Mother Bonnat would be delighted to see such poetic talent among the young.  What creativity to be able to bring us alive with small things, a paper, a text, light, musical instruments, voices - transformations to life that has been destabilised by humans.  

- They must have worked very hard to produce such a spectacle.  But do you understand what they are doing in the college?  I read the brochure but I have to say I did not understand much about the modern sciences that they are teaching them...do you know what home automation is?

-No but it’s natural that things evolve over time.  In any case there are 650 pupils and I absolutely love the project that they have taken on to restore the park.  They have planted new trees; finished the raking and planted a hedge to attract birds and insects.  They are going to tidy the woods and restore land so that the vegetation will flourish.  That is called « a climax »…

- You do know a lot of things

- Yes I read it in the paper and one of the teachers explained it to me. 

- They also want to create a meadow of wild flowers like the one at the Solitude and that will add colour and beauty.

- But where will they get the water from? There are no more wells

- It seems that the young people are going to install an irrigation system.  Do you know how that will work? 

- No, one would have to follow a course to learn all about that.

- I am going with my dictionary because with all these new words: ecology, cosmic vision, biodiversity, sustainable development.  I could get lost!  But all this is truly exciting – to see these young people thinking about the future and preserving the patrimony that we have left them.  It is really hopeful.   

- Come on, it is getting late, we will resume this conversation tomorrow and we will think up a new adventure that will keep us up to speed as the saying is nowadays.