Remembering the Daughters of Loretto as the Association of the Holy Family marks 200 years

As February 3 (Thursday) comes around, the Association of the Holy Family commemorates the day with great piety, in keeping with the powerful message of Jesus Christ and also the humble vision of its Founder Peter Bienvenu Noailles.

This year, the association will prayerfully celebrate its bicentennial (200th anniversary).

Born in 1793 in Bordeaux, France, against a backdrop of a society devastated by the Revolution, it was in 1818 when Peter was at the seminary at St. Sulpice and later at Loretto that he was inspired by Mary (the mother of Christ) to ‘re-establish’ the Holy Family on earth.

Seeing the spirituality of his own family, he was drawn not only to the Holy Family (Mary, Joseph and Christ) but also to the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit). He realized that the ‘poultice’ to heal society was a common family for young and old.

Made a man of cloth by 1819, Peter became the parish priest at St. Eulalie and the next year laid the foundation for this society by recruiting three women on Holy Trinity Day.

The beginnings were modest. Known as the ‘Daughters of Loretto’, they dedicated their lives to the Holy Family by looking after orphans. Many were the challenges they faced, praying for a sign that their work was indeed required by God.

It was on Sunday, February 3 that the sign came. When the priest conducting mass for the Daughters of Loretto placed the bread (the host) in the monstrance, the image of Jesus manifested for about 20 minutes.

The image epitomized Christ’s ‘real presence’ (that the Eucharist is not just a symbol); His ‘beauty’ or ‘glory’; His ‘goodness’ (casting gentle eyes at people and through the gesture of a blessing); His ‘intimacy’ or closeness to people (with the hand placed on His heart); and His ‘authority’ (the sash across the shoulder – a traditional insignia of command in the army), signifying that such authority had been obtained through blood or His Passion.

The Daughters of Loretto who later became the Association of the Holy Family flourished thereafter spreading across the world including Sri Lanka, like a great tree.

Sr. Tekla Jayawardene