Ursuline Sisters, students and Associates gathered at the Sacred Heart
parish in Waterford city on November 25 to celebrate the 475th
anniversary of the foundation of the order by Italian saint, Angela
Merici.
Amongst those attending the ceremony was the new Vocations Promoter for the British-Irish province of Ursulines, Sr Anne Conway, OSU.
Amongst those attending the ceremony was the new Vocations Promoter for the British-Irish province of Ursulines, Sr Anne Conway, OSU.
The native of Omagh told CINews that the gathering in
Waterford of friends, neighbours, past and present pupils of St Ursula's
and St Angela's post primary schools, as well as Ursuline Associates,
was intended to honour the “amazing enterprise” begun by St Angela
Merici in the 16th century.
In the coming months, Sr Conway will be visiting Ursuline schools and colleges around Ireland, as well as youth festivals, to promote the Ursuline calling.
This move towards apostolic religious life for women as envisioned by St Angela was “a new way of living a vowed single life in the midst of society and defied the norms of the time.”
“In an era when women had little freedom to choose their state in life, St Angela asserted that those who wished to remain single and to live in the world as women consecrated to Christ, deserved to be respected and supported in their special vocation,” Sr Conway said.
She said the invitation to a life of intimacy, which was focused on Christ through individual and communal prayer, and which was lived simply in community, continued to be as relevant today as much as it was in the 16th century.
The Ursuline calling, she added, “is an alternative lifestyle, based on Gospel values as opposed to consumerist and self-centred interests; a way of life that offers both challenge and fulfilment.”
In the coming months, Sr Conway will be visiting Ursuline schools and colleges around Ireland, as well as youth festivals, to promote the Ursuline calling.
This move towards apostolic religious life for women as envisioned by St Angela was “a new way of living a vowed single life in the midst of society and defied the norms of the time.”
“In an era when women had little freedom to choose their state in life, St Angela asserted that those who wished to remain single and to live in the world as women consecrated to Christ, deserved to be respected and supported in their special vocation,” Sr Conway said.
She said the invitation to a life of intimacy, which was focused on Christ through individual and communal prayer, and which was lived simply in community, continued to be as relevant today as much as it was in the 16th century.
The Ursuline calling, she added, “is an alternative lifestyle, based on Gospel values as opposed to consumerist and self-centred interests; a way of life that offers both challenge and fulfilment.”
SIC: CIN/IE