On this date in 1931, a Solemn Pontifical High Mass was held dedicating our chapel “to the honor and service of Almighty God.” Today, as we do every year on October 11, we celebrated with a special anniversary Mass and remembered with deep appreciation our Sisters who first envisioned this beautiful chapel and who had the dedication to bring their dream to fruition. We also gratefully remembered the benefactors who helped make possible this grace-filled space which has held the prayer of our monastic community for so many years.
This chapel, vast and yet intimate, has held our beholding day after day for nearly eighty years – securely, faithfully, beautifully, and with quiet grace. Our gratitude is unbounded.
Postscript: Sister Mary Ruth, our community archivist, placed on display in the dining room today a copy of the program from the 1931 dedication. Following are a couple excerpts from the program notes:
“Finally all was ready. On June the sixth, 1930, – which was First Friday – the ground for the chapel was blessed and broken. Only eyewitnesses of the ceremony can realize with what loving enthusiasm each of the dear senior Sisters dug up her spadeful of earth. “
“…our Right Reverend Bishop is here today to ask, through the sacred rites of Dedication, that God will make of this great material edifice a yet greater spiritual edifice: a tower of strength and protection, a fortress of counsel and graces, an ark of sanctification and salvation.”
I might add that “loving enthusiasm” endures, and the “spiritual edifice” continues to grow.