Ursulines celebrate

Today at 11:10am, RTÉ One television is broadcasting Mass from the Ursuline Convent Chapel in Thurles, Co Tipperary, to celebrate the Sister’s 475th anniversary.

The celebrant and homilist for the Mass is Archbishop Dermot Clifford, Archbishop of Cashel and Emly and music is by the Ursuline Secondary School Choir under the directors Mary Rose McNally and Joan Farrell.

"This year, Ursuline Sisters throughout the world celebrate the 475th anniversary of their foundation and remember their foundress, St Angela Merici with joy and gratitude," a spokeswoman told ciNews. 

Angela Merici lived in Brescia, in the north of Italy, in the sixteenth century.  She consecrated her life to Christ, and lived her commitment, not within the walls of a monastery as custom and Church demanded, but out among her friends and neighbours in society at large.  She defied the norms of the time, and the demand to either marry of join an enclosed convent.

 Angela insisted that those who wanted to remain single and to live in the world as women consecrated to Christ deserved to be respected and supported in their special vocation.  On November 25, 1535, Angela founded The Company of St Ursula.

There were 28 women initially and Angela encouraged them to value their intimate friendship with Jesus above all else and to be a Christian presence in the world. 

In times not unlike our own, when church and society were rocked by difficulties and scandals, Angela urged the Company always to listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in their hearts and respond as the needs of the times required. 

A group of ladies were to act as governors of the Company not, as was usual in the church at the time, being governed by a Bishop.

In the intervening 475 years, Ursuline life has adopted many forms. 

The spirit of St Angela has remained a constant energy and presence throughout the centuries: her spirit of prayer, of openness to God’s plans; her readiness to take risks and introduce newness; her respect for every person; her spirit of cheerful service continue.

by Ann Marie Foley