For 190 years...
The apostolic dynamism, the prophetic flame
which filled the heart of Pierre-Bienvenu Noailles and of the first members of the Holy Family,
has been generating energy, and light which still empower us today.
1820…”GOD’S TIME” HAS COME.
The time of waiting is over
Three…three members for the first community.
“The number three satisfied his piety: it reminded him of the august and loveable Trinity and at the same time of the visible Trinity that lived in the house of Nazareth and under whose protection he was founding his work”.
Encouraged by his Bishop, faithful to the grace received and carried in the secret of prayer, the young curate organised the Foundation.
It was to be on the 28th May – the feast of the Blessed Trinity.
But at the last moment, a serious difficulty came up. Zoé de Raquine, considered to be the most promising support of this enterprise met with such opposition from her family that she had to delay her decision.
But Catherine- Aimée, the Pierre Bienvenu’s sister offered herself so that the adventure could begin.
They chose a house in the Grand Rue Saint Jean and they named this first house “Our Lady of Loretto” so that those who lived in that house would “never forget that the principle aim of their Association was to honour and imitate the Holy Family”. (Annals Vol 1. page 84)
On the 28th of May 1820, the eve of the Feast of the Blessed Trinity,
the first three members of the first community met and placed themselves
under the protection of the Blessed Virgin.
The 28th of May is also the day when Father Amand Noailles celebrated his first Mass in the Church of St. Eulalie.
He himself left us an account of this memorable day.
“On May 28th 1820, Trinity Sunday, Father Noailles’ brother sang his first Mass in the church of St. Eulalie. Father Noailles preached such a moving sermon that both he and his congregation were moved to tears. The young celebrant had the consolation that day of giving communion to almost all the members of the family, as well as to the three members of the Holy family, among them Miss Aimee Noailles, one of the Founder’s sisters who, with her two companions, withdrew after Mass to live in community.”
(Amand Noailles. Memoires des Contemporains)
And the first community act was an eight day retreat preached by the Founder.
“You have been chosen to become the mothers of a big family….
If you have to live through deprivations and trials which works already founded would not give rise to………do not let these privations and trials frighten you. You will never be poorer or weaker or more bereft of human support than you are today, and yet are you not happy to follow Jesus, Mary and Joseph in this way?”“Do not be afraid either of the persecutions, obstacles or the threat of an early death for your infant work which so many prophets of doom are predicting at the moment. What can men do with people who rely on God Alone and who seek only him? {…} “Stay like this and you will grow in the midst of storms, and your works will multiply like a seed, all the more fruitful that it has been scattered not by the hand of men, but by God himself.”
(“History of the Foundation” Annals Vol.1.page 40)
This week of prayer and reflection ended with their consecration as members of the Holy Family.
The Founder presented the community with the first Rule.
“Encouraged by these pious exhortations, the Foundresses of Loretto sought to live more in depth the spirit of their vocation –God Alone : this was their first rule of life”
( Annals Vol. 1. page 41.)
2010…
Many mishaps and storms have blocked the flow of the tree’s first sap,
But it worked its way through the blockages it met along the way
Each time enriching itself and all living things around it,
And the tree keeps growing, taking root in our own lives.
