Sacred Heart Sisters leaving the Rose City
Heading east to Summerside, P.E.I., to open a house on the island
Sixty years after arriving in Welland, the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Ragusa are ready to move on.
Not to pull up roots, but to plant new ones.
Three of their number from the convent on Edward Street are going east, to Summerside, P.E.I.
Two will be leaving here April 9. They are Sister Margherita Ianni, the superior, and Sister Marian Limen.
Sister Juliet Villaceran is scheduled to join them sometime in August.
For 59 years, the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Ragusa, their founding place in Sicily, have operated a daycare in Welland. It is well known and highly regarded. It opened in St. Mary’s Parish Centre in February 1959 and a few years later moved to Edward Street.
Their ministry also involves teaching catechism to children who attend public schools, visiting the sick and elderly and working in parishes as needed.
Sister Ianni said they were invited by the Diocese of Charlottetown through Bishop Richard Grecco to open a house on the island.
“They have no sisters in active ministry and there is need for us to be there,” she said.
Summerside, with just more than 14,000 souls, is the island’s second-largest city. The only Roman Catholic parish is St. Paul’s, with which the sisters will serve. Their new convent is about a five-minute drive from the parish.
Their work will be similar to what they have been doing in Welland. A daycare at the convent is in their plans but at some time in the future, Sister Ianni said. But the sisters have reason to be optimistic: Already there have been phone calls from parents in Summerside to the house in Welland, requesting information about registration for the daycare.
The planning for this outreach started close to four years ago, said Sister Ianni. There have been a handful of trips to the island to search for a site, meet with diocese and city officials, meet parishioners, select a site, study drawings and other preparatory work.
The first site chosen had a house already on it and required rezoning to institutional because of the daycare component. The rezoning was rejected by the city council after opposition by local residents concerned about possible future use if the sisters one day decide to leave.
Sister Ianni said a prominent construction company became aware of the sisters’ setback and offered to donate a vacant property to them so the project could go ahead.
They accepted the offer of donated land. Eventually the rezoning application for the second site was approved. Construction began and now, the convent is ready for the sisters to move in.
Sister Ianni, who was born in Italy, came to Welland with her family when still a child. She joined the religious community in 1961. She became the superior about 10 years ago.
In a way, the new convent is a dream come true; in a way, it isn’t, she said.
“We always had a dream of opening another house in Ontario, but we never dreamed of opening a house in another province,” she said. “God works in mysterious ways.”
I asked how they felt about what lies ahead. Is it daunting to them?
“Excited. Overwhelmed. We have the opportunity to open another house in Canada which gives us opportunity for expansion. Perhaps there will be some vocations from other parts of Canada. Perhaps,” Sister Ianni said.
Sister Marian Limen, serving in her 26th year here, admitted to having mixed feelings.
“I’m used to being with the children, I really love them,” she said. “I don’t really know what I’m going to be doing there, I just hope I will be with children and with sick people.”
Sitting nearby, Sister Ianni sought to assuage those concerns, assuring the work will be the same as in Welland.
Historically, the sisters have been here since 1958 when the religious community in Sicily responded to a call from Monsignor Vincent J. Ferrando, pastor of St. Mary Church. He was in need of assistance in ministering to Welland’s burgeoning Italian community.
Mother Alba Puglia arrived in town that summer from Ragusa with seven sisters. It was not an easy go at first. The sisters did not know the language, did not know the people, had no money. They found themselves being helped by the people they came here to help.
Often they found pasta, rice, fruit, other groceries and donations left on their doorstep by caring Italian families and others. They persevered, and little by little their ministry, presence and influence grew.
Mother Alba, 95, still is at the Welland convent but in declining health. She professed her religious vows almost 72 years ago.
Over the years, the sisters went abroad to bolster their numbers. They recruited vocations in the Philippines, where Sister Marian and Sister Juliet are from, and they summoned sisters from
Italy to come here as well.
Sister Ianni said plans have been made for a sister from India to arrive in May and one from Italy possibly in July, reinforcements to bolster the community on Edward Street. Currently seven sisters are there, Sister Ianni said.
The religious community will celebrate its 60th anniversary in Welland in August.
Sister Ianni said she is looking forward to service at St. Paul’s. She said it is a large parish, with two Masses on Saturdays and two on Sundays. It has many young families. The weekend masses are well attended. She said the parish reminds her of Catholic parishes in Welland in the 1950s and 1960s when churches were always full.
I asked if she is aware that what is happening is countercultural, even though in the minutest of ways. The trend has been vocations decline, attrition thins the ranks, religious communities amalgamate, convents close. Yet this small house based in Welland is set to reach out and grow.
“It’s God’s plan, we did not plan this,” said Sister Ianni. “It’s something God put in front of us.”
As in the past, Wellanders again have rallied to their cause. Even without a high profile public campaign, the sisters already have enough gently used household items to furnish their new house.
Furniture and scores of boxes take up large portions of two rooms in the convent, one of them the auditorium.
The contributions have come from diverse donors: from longtime friends of the sisters going back decades, to families of children who currently attend the daycare. There are donations of money too.
“Some people have given us donations in the form of money to help us pay for the building. Some have given $50, some have given $100, all donations help. We appreciate all the help we can get,” said Sister Ianni.
The furnishings and other items for the house are scheduled to leave Welland by moving truck April 2.
“We have everything we need to furnish the house,” said Sister Limen. The convent will be home for up to seven sisters. It will have a small chapel, seven bedrooms, meeting room, bathrooms, kitchen, dining room and more.
“It’s modest in size,” she said. They are pleased with the progress in preparations for their big move. They have their plane tickets, departing from Toronto to Charlottetown airport. There will be much work to do getting the convent set up in the days after they arrive. They are sustained by their faith.
Will the new roots take?
“It’s God’s will that we’re going to establish this house,” said Sister Ianni. “We have faith in what God is doing.”
On Saturday, April 7, following 5 p.m. mass at St. Mary Church, 90 Griffith St., a farewell reception is being held for the sisters in the parish hall.