Ursuline Update

A Message from the President – Gretchen Z. Kane

On behalf of the entire Academy, allow me to express my sincerest wishes for the happiest of new years and the best that 2010 has to offer. Please join all of us at Ursuline in congratulating Sr. Carolyn Marie Brockland, OSU, the prioress of the New Orleans Ursuline sisters’ community, on her golden jubilee. That’s right … Sr. Carolyn Marie made her vows as an Ursuline sister 50 years ago on Jan. 6, the Feast of the Epiphany. How appropriate that on the Feast of the Epiphany, when we are drawn to the light of Christ, that Sr. Carolyn Marie was called to a vocation dedicated to the imitation and work of Christ and the teachings of St. Angela Merici. Congratulations, Sr. Carolyn Marie!

Friday, Jan. 8, we celebrate a very important feast day, that of Our Lady of Prompt Succor. I do love the wonderful Ursuline story of how the title of Our Lady of Prompt Succor for our Blessed Mother came to be. 

The Ursuline sisters had already been in New Orleans for almost a century when Spain ceded the area to Napoleon Bonaparte. The Spanish Ursuline sisters left for Havana, Cuba, leaving only seven Ursulines to staff a hospital, a day school, a boarding school, and an orphanage. Desperate for help, Mother St. Andre Madier wrote to her cousin in France asking her to send help in the persons of young women interested in joining the Order and in working with the Ursuline ministries in New Orleans.

It was in 1808 that Agathe Gensoul wrote to Pope Pius VII requesting permission to sail for Louisiana with young women interested in joining the Ursuline Order in New Orleans. But, the letter stayed in her desk for three months until one day while praying before a statue of Our Lady, she was inspired to say, “O most holy Virgin Mary, if you obtain for me a prompt and favorable answer to this letter, I make the promise to have you honored in New Orleans under the title of Our Lady of Prompt Succor.” The next day the letter was on its way to Rome seeking to reach the imprisoned pope. On April 28, 1809, the pope granted his approval and blessing, and, Miss Gensoul set out to have a statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor carved in fulfillment of the vow she made.

Very quickly after her statue was enshrined in New Orleans, devotion to Our Lady of Prompt Succor spread among the Ursuline sisters and the girls they taught. Prayers to Our Lady of Prompt Succor are credited to the miraculous shifting of winds that saved the Ursuline convent during the fire which engulfed the city in 1812. On January 7, 1815, after hearing that the British planned an attack on the city for early the next morning, General Jackson warned the Ursuline sisters of the approaching battle and begged their prayers for victory for his out-numbered American forces. All night long, the Ursuline nuns and the women of New Orleans, as well as older men unable to bear arms, prayed to Our Lady of Prompt Succor for an American victory. And, the rest, as you know, is history!

In gratitude for the miracle of America’s victory over the British, the Ursuline sisters offer a Mass of Thanksgiving on the feast day of Our Lady of Prompt Succor each year on Jan. 8. This year marks the 195^th Eucharistic celebration honoring this Ursuline commitment. Please make every effort to attend Mass on Friday and to be part of a piece of history that is uniquely Ursuline.

A Message from the High School Principal – John Gabriel

For those in the Ursuline community fortunate enough to have attended on Sunday morning, the Mass honoring Sister Carolyn Marie Brockland for her fiftieth anniversary as an Ursuline sister was a very special occasion, indeed. The Mass was an opportunity for those of us currently associated with the Academy to recognize Sister Carolyn Marie for a lifetime of service to the Order of St. Ursula. The thousands of lives she has touched – and changed -through her work in New Orleans (which she calls her “second home”) and elsewhere surely deserves recognition. We at the Academy who have had the privilege of knowing her and working with her owe her profound thanks.

But Sister Carolyn Marie’s efforts over these past fifty years need to be viewed in the larger context of the Ursuline mission that started back in 1727. Our President, Gretchen Kane, often reminds our students and alumnae that all of us associated with the Academy are “standing on the shoulders of greatness,” meaning that we are continuing the efforts of the original Ursulines who arrived in New Orleans nearly three centuries ago.  As Ursuline’s mission in our city continues, all of us need to keep Sister Carolyn Marie’s example in mind. While few of us, if any, may be able to match her contribution, we still have the opportunity to contribute something to the Ursuline legacy. As we begin this new year, let all of us resolve to do our best to make the Academy a better place. Someday, there will be someone else standing on our shoulders.

A Message from the Elementary School Principal – Kim Harper

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a happy and restful holiday. Thank you so much for the many delicious and lovely Christmas gifts.

The Lower School Christmas Concert is rescheduled for this Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the auditorium. Students must arrive by 5:45 p.m. and be dressed in their school uniforms.

Re-registration packets for 2010-11 school year will be mailed home tomorrow and are due back by Jan.  22.

Elementary School Tours will be held every Tuesday in January for prospective students. Tours will be at 8:30 and 10:30 a.m.

Eucharistic Adoration is Thursday, Jan. 7 from 7:30 a.m. until 3 p.m.

We will celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Prompt Succor on Friday, Jan. 8. The Academy Mass will be held at 8:15 a.m. in the Shrine. The city-wide Mass will be celebrated at 4 p.m. in the Shrine.

7^th graders – High School Application Day is Saturday, Jan. 9. Testing begins promptly at 8 a.m. Students should arrive by 7:45 a.m. and may wear appropriate dress down attire (jeans, sweater, etc.). It’s always a good idea to bring a light jacket or sweater to allow for the temperature of the classroom.