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Passionist beginnings recalled
archived from: 2010-07-26
by: Patricia Bartos

Religious order celebrating 100th anniversary of arrival in U.S.

Most U.S. religious orders trace their beginnings to small bands of pioneers who ventured from European monasteries to serve their fellow-immigrant Catholics in the New World.

For the Passionist sisters, those founders were five women, ranging in age from 46 to 24, who left Tarquinia, Italy, on April 13, 1910, never to see their families again.

They were heading for Pittsburgh, where they founded Our Lady of Sorrows Monastery in Carrick. The order is celebrating the 100th anniversary of that arrival this month.

As part of the celebration, Eileen Gimper compiled a history and Sister Mary Ann Nunlist added reflections on the personalities of those early founders.

The women came from many backgrounds — born into wealthy or modest homes, some with a vocation at age 12 and others in their mid-20s. Some were quiet and modest, others gifted with management and business skills.

Mother Hyacinth — born Clara Nardi — came from a wealthy family, the oldest of 14 children.

“I loved the world in my youth and the world loved me,” she wrote in her spiritual journal. “I had all that the world can give.”

But she later felt a call to the Passionist way of life and joined at age 26.

When a priest preached of hopes to found the first community of Passionist nuns in the United States, she, “with her great and generous heart,” volunteered.

Blessed with good business sense and sound judgment, within a year she had established her new monastery and its expanding community of 18 women.

The sisters began to offer retreats for women and soon started making altar breads for income. By 1914, she built a retreat house for 50 women and added a new chapel, choir and kitchen.

And in 1926, she sent six sisters to found a new monastery in Scranton — the first of eight communities tracing their roots to Carrick.

At age 70, as she faced death, a priest wrote in gratitude:

“You die leaving a fervent community behind you and with the assurance that the Passionist nuns are deeply rooted in American soil.”

Another pioneer, Mother Mary Catherine, as a child couldn’t bear to be separated from her mother.

Later, when inspired to become a nun, her priest encouraged her, but added, “You will never stay there because you are too full of mischief and too fond of your mother.”

But, as Sister Mary Ann wrote, “grace triumphed,” and she took to religious life.

She became mistress of novices, sharing her “contagious joy and cheerfulness,” and her love for the Divine Office with the young women.

She loved art, baking and caring for retreatants. “Grandma,” as she called herself, died at age 75.

Olga Benedetti, or Mother Mary Teresa, was born to nobility and as a child walking past the Passionist monastery, dreamed of entering the community.

At age 21 she wrote to Pope Leo XIII seeking permission to enter and joined four days after he approved.

Seven years later, she joined the founding group, serving over the years as mistress of novices, superior and vicar.

She was gifted in dealing with people, but also “was a woman whose power was her prayer,” Sister Mary Ann wrote. “She lived constantly in the presence of God.”

Mother Teresa lived to be 103, dying in 1984.

“I would do it all over again,” she once wrote. “The Lord has been so good to me. I only hope everyone could see how beautiful it is to give one’s life so that others will have peace and joy.”

The fourth pioneer, Mother Louise, wanted to become a Passionist at age 12. She finally did join at age 20.

Noted for her quiet and calm manner, she was chosen 16 years after arriving in Pittsburgh to found the new convent in Scranton.

“She trusted completely and wholeheartedly in God and would not yield to even the shadow of doubt regarding the wisdom of the divine dispensations,” a priest wrote of her.

Sister Mary at age 24 was the youngest of the founders. Her father died when she was 17 and though she wanted to become a nun, her mother needed her. She finally relented four years later.

Sister Mary professed her vows just one month before joining the group heading to the United States.

“She was so immersed in God, yet so human and warm and down-to-earth,” a priest wrote of her. “Nothing riled or disturbed her. She pursued her way to God unperturbed.”

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