Ursuline
history book tells one part of women's story
By Kiply Lukan Yaworski
SASKATOON — A newly
published 300-page history of the Ursulines of Bruno tells one part
of the often overlooked story of women religious in Saskatchewan.
Written
by Sister Maureen Maier, OSU, Women of Service for
the Glory of God describes the origins and work of one of the many orders
that have made a significant contribution to prairie communities —
in this case, the Ursuline Sisters of Bruno, who have provided education,
faith formation and cultural enrichment to thousands since they first
arrived in St. Peter’s Colony in the Muenster area in 1913.
Although the order’s
longtime historian, Sister Benedict Plemel, OSU, had worked on recording
parts of the history before she died, including a booklet for a jubilee
in 1963, a comprehensive history has never been produced, said Maier,
who was asked to take on the project three years ago.
“I have thought for
many years that the story of religious women in Saskatchewan has not
been adequately told. I was determined that it must be done,”
Maier said of her motivation to take on the task.
A history of the Ursulines
at Prelate written by Sister Magdalen Stengler, OSU, was published in
2004, but the story of the Ursulines based at St. Ursula’s Convent
in Bruno has not been told. “Publication of that book helped stir
up the same feelings: that we must write our history, too,” Maier
said. The stories of the two branches of the Ursuline order are very
different, she added.
The new book chronicles how
the Bruno order was established, growing out of the arrival in Canada
of a handful of women religious from Germany, just two years before
the outbreak of the First World War cut off regular communication with
the mother house in Europe.
Maier’s research included
the idea of writing to the order’s founding convent in Haselünne,
Germany for any letters or documentation about the move into Canada
in 1912. A box of letters and photos arrived, which provided a rich
source of information — although some of the documents written
in old German script had to be deciphered with the help of area resident
Karin Redemann of Humboldt.
Other sources of information
included records kept by the Ursulines themselves, which were extensive
and thorough, and included the order’s ongoing Chronicle, written
by the sisters on a regular basis through the years, as well as a diary.
Maier also contacted area residents to interview them about the impact
of the sisters, in addition to drawing on her own knowledge of the religious
community.
“I have myself been
in this community for 60 years — so that’s a big piece of
this 100 years, too — and I knew all of the early sisters, except
four who had died before I came,” said Maier. At the same time,
she said she was often surprised to discover parts of the order’s
story that she had not heard before.
For instance, Maier had not
realized that the order’s Canadian foundress, Mother Clara Erpenbeck,
and another sister from Germany had spent a year living and working
in Windthorst, Sask. — where they had a difficult time —
before returning to Winnipeg. Abbot Bruno Doerfler met the Ursulines
in Winnipeg, inviting members of the order to come to Saskatchewan to
teach in the new St. Peter’s Colony.
The Ursulines began teaching
school Sept. 2, 1913 in Muenster, with several more arriving from the
Haselünne convent the following year. The women quickly amalgamated
into their new community and became an independent community in order
to receive novices, with local women joining the order as early as 1916.
Mother Clara recognized that
the order had to adapt to the new situation the sisters found themselves
in, said Maier.
“They came from a cloistered
life in Germany, with monastic rules. She could see that here, they
could not stay exactly like that,” Maier said, describing photos
included in the book, which show sisters in the early days attending
picnics at Dead Moose Lake, something that would not have been permitted
in their former cloistered life.
With the establishment of
St. Ursula’s Convent at Bruno, there was an effort to go back
to the cloistered life, but it never returned to what had been experienced
in Germany, she related.
“What they were trying
to do in this new situation was live a monastic life and still be teaching
in the town schools,” said Maier, describing the strain this caused
at times. “It took until Vatican II for us to really establish
that we are meant to be apostolic and not monastic. That’s how
the story moves.”
The history also chronicles
the ministry provided by the sisters in schools throughout the area,
including the 1922-82 operation of St. Ursula Academy, established in
Bruno as a school for young women, with both live-in and day students.
Another long-running ministry was a catechism course delivered to youngsters
in area schools, which was written, co-ordinated and corrected by the
Ursulines of Bruno.
Another major contribution
included cultural enrichment.
“They came with their
European training in things like music and art,” Maier said. “They
directed the church choirs, they taught piano. They started piano lessons
almost from the beginning. There was always music in the schools. They
were huge on drama. Several of them were trained in theatre and dance.
They brought a cultural base to everything they did.”
The order’s response to the renewal of Vatican II is included in the history, which also details the decline in numbers in recent years and the decision to move out of the Bruno convent in 1999.
 |
|