Before formation in the religious life could be given, however, the language barrier had to be broken. There were no other Sisters, and there was no Congregation! Yet, Divine Providence, Director of all these events, did not abandon the new postulant.
What a surprise to learn that she was the only postulant. September 1973 arrived and Janine left her homeland for Ecône. In which language did the future founder and the first daughter communicate? English? French? The Archbishop had trouble understanding her accent and she did not speak a word of French! With these two different ideas, the trip of the future postulant was organized. As for the Archbishop, he thought that she was begging him to begin such a foundation. And so she very simply asked to be admitted as a postulant. The aspirant, Janine Ward, unable to find a convent to enter in her own country, had heard–only a rumor, it is true!–that the visiting French bishop had founded a congregation. In February 1973, he landed in Melbourne, Australia, where, he met a young lady, 19 years old, desirous to give herself to God in the religious life.
Consequently, the Archbishop travelled a great deal. What was missing? The Sisters! But everything in its own time!ĭuring these three years, the call for priests and the sacraments was world-wide. However, this desire remained on paper for nearly three years. There we read the Archbishop's mention of a future Sister Society. In 1970, Bishop Charriere officially approved the statutes for the Priestly Society St. While not the only religious society founded by the Archbishop, it is, as the Congregation's name implies, the "sister society" of the Priestly Society, its counterpart in both spirit and purpose. A man fully attuned to the ways of God, he also included in this precious legacy the religious life: the Sisters of the Society St. Having received what the Archbishop has handed down, we can indeed marvel at the richness of the treasury of doctrine and holiness of which the Church is the guardian. Rather, God's rights, souls, the truth–the Faith–were his concern. On numerous occasions, he made it clear that his fight for the Mass and Tradition was not a personal crusade, nor the doctrine he preached his alone. Paul, Archbishop Lefebvre wished to proclaim his fidelity to the Roman Catholic Church. "Tradidi quod et accepi: I have handed down what I have received"Įchoing these words of St.
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