HOLY LAND – They wear blue, brown or white… They work in offices, in schools, in institutions, in churches… They carry crosses around their neck, rings around their fingers, veils on their heads… They are the living stones of the Mother Church, the souls working discreetly to make the Church radiate. After meeting ten small female congregations in the Holy Land, lpj.org invites you today to visit the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist.
From left to right: Sr. Monica, Sr. Naomi and Sr. Maria David
The congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist was founded in 1973 by Mother Rosemae Pender (who died in 2016) and Mother Shaun Vergauwen, both of which were born in the US. Today, it has about 80 professed sisters and 20 in formation, disseminated on three different continents: North America, Europe and Western Asia. Often highly educated, its members – teachers, counselors lawyers … – live according to Franciscan spirituality and work in all kinds of different institutions, in order to help rebuild “the body of the Church” and “the sacredness of human life”.
Sr. Naomi in the beautiful garden of their house, located next to a Capuchin monastery. The Sisters have close relations with the friars living there.
From Bavaria to the Holy Land…
Although born in the United States, the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist were founded out of another community, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, who originally came from Bavaria (Germany). In 1849, five tertiaries left the country for the United States, in order to serve as teachers for immigrant children. More than a hundred years later, in 1973, fifty-five sisters of the congregation who lived in Wisconsin (USA) were established as a distinctive congregation and became the first members of what is today known as the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist.
“This happened because of Vatican II,” explains Sr. Naomi, one of the sisters of the congregation currently living and working in the Holy Land. “After the Council, everyone in the Church was trying to get to the essence of what religious life was, including our mother community. Experiments were made, new things were tried, and, little by little, one of their provinces became so different than the others that it was decided that, in order to keep growing in that direction, they should form a new congregation.”
Settling in Connecticut, then spreading across the US (they are currently located in eight States), the newborn congregation soon also felt the need to establish itself outside its homeland – more specifically, in Rome, “because it’s the heart of the Church”, says Sr. Naomi, in Assisi, “because it’s the heart of all Franciscans”, and in the Holy Land, “because it’s the birthplace of the Church”. It was thus barely five years after being established that the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist set foot in the city thrice holy for the first time. More than forty years later, they still inhabit it.
Sr. Maria David roasting kebabs on the barbecue, on the patio of the Sisters’ house. Unlike some congregations, they have no housekeeper nor cook; they share the housework and support themselves and their congregation through their work.
To serve God, the Church and one another
The spirituality of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist is based, as the name of the congregation indicates, on the teachings of Saint Francis of Assisi. As such, because Saint Francis saw God in every leaf and every flower growing around him, the Sisters aim to care for nature as a means to bring them to God and to enrich their awareness of the marvels of his creations.
In relation to this, the Sisters also aim to care for each person as a reflection of God, especially people who were wounded or hurt. “In a world where there is a rupture between the sacred and the profane (or the secular), our aim is to restore a sense of the sacred, especially the sacredness of human life, in each person, to bring them to God,” explains Sr. Naomi.
The other two important aspects of their charism are authority and the Eucharist, which is found in their name. Authority because it allows them to be in the right relationship with each other as sisters, with the Church and with God; and the Eucharist because of their mother community, which has perpetual adoration. “We never had enough sisters to do perpetual adoration, twenty-four hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament,” says Sr. Naomi. “So we had to find new ways to make that charism of Eucharistic adoration in presence adaptable for our own community. Today, each house has hours of Eucharistic adoration.”
In Jerusalem, the three sisters hold one hour of adoration every day, after the Vespers.
A formation in four steps
To become a Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist, one must go through various steps. First, the postulancy, during which the postulant gets to know the community (and vice-versa). After that, there is the novitiate, where the new novice receives the habit and the veil, but without a cross and without knots on her cord. This step lasts two years, at the end of which the novice makes her temporary vows and receives her cross and the knots on her cord, symbolizing poverty, chastity and obedience.
“These temporary vows usually last around six years. Then it’s time to make the perpetual profession,” says Sr. Naomi. “This is when you receive your ring. In all, the formation lasts about ten years.”
A postulant of the Sisters on a visit to the Holy Land
Three sisters, three journeys
Today, only two Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist are living in the Holy Land, more specifically in Jerusalem: Sr. Naomi and Sr. Maria David. Sr. Monica, who was until recently part of their house, was called to Italy in December 2021, and has yet to be replaced. She however came back on holidays during the end of May 2022 and was present when we came to visit.
“I spent 11 years working for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in the English section of the Chancellery,” she explains when asked about her work in the Holy Land. “And I also worked as secretary for the coordination of the Pastoral among Migrants.” In 2019, she received from the Equestrian Order the Cross of Merit of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem for her service to the Church and the Holy Land. “We sink our roots where we are called and yet we are ready to go where we are needed.”
“And we are waiting to see who will come to replace her,” says Sr. Naomi, who has been living in Jerusalem for about 20 years. Born in the United States, she entered the community at 22, and made her first, or temporary vows at 25. “I was very attracted to the Holy Land, so, during my formation, I was able to visit Jerusalem whenever a need arose. Then, since I originally trained as a teacher, I came here to work at our school in Beit Sahour, where we welcome children with psychological traumas. I took a break away from Jerusalem for a couple of years, when I was sent to Jamaica [where the Sisters used to have a community], but eventually I came back here, to work at the Custody. Today, I work at the Christian Information Center, to help with the pilgrims.”
Sr. Naomi working at the Christian Information Center
As for Sr. Maria David, she has recently been appointed as the new director of the St Rachel Center, which welcomes every day the children of migrants and asylum seekers. She herself was born in the Philippines, and first arrived in the country as a migrant. It was when she was working here that she met the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist.
The three Sisters with His Beatitude Mgr Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
Quick overview
- Name: Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist
- Foundresses: † Mother Rosemae Pender and Mother Shaun Vergauwen (co-foundress)
- Acronym: FSE
- Charism: “To restore a sense of the sacred, especially the sacredness of human life and the fruitful and proper relation of creation to God.”
- Spirituality: “To rebuild the Church” – “To be true to ourselves” – “To have reverence for the Blessed Sacrament and for all creation” – “To foster a spirit of complementarity” – “To live in the spirit of poverty”
- Country of origin: United States
- Localization today: Italy, the United States, Jamaica and the Holy Land
- Habit: brown with a black veil, a cord with knots, a ring and a cross of nails with a circular band of metal. When laid flat, it takes the shape of a cross.
- Other facts: there is a male branch of the congregation, called the Franciscan Brothers of the Eucharist. They live near the motherhouse of the Franciscan Sisters in Meriden (Connecticut).
- Website: https://fsecommunity.org/
