SILVER JUBILEE OF SACRED HEART NUNS

New Zealand Tablet, 9 November 1916, Page 53

SILVER JUBILEE OF SACRED HEART NUNS

Last week (writes our Wanganui correspondent* under date October 31) at the Sacred Heart Convent, bt. : John s Hill, a re-union was organised by the girls past and present of the Sisters to celebrate in a fitting manner the silver jubilee of the Rev. Mother and Sister Gertrude. For weeks past arrangements were in preparation for the social gathering, at which the present pupils were to give an entertainment, and the past girls were to express by their presence and felicitations their abiding gratitude for the training they received from the Rev. Mother and her devoted Sisters durumthe years they spent at the Convent. In addition to the large attendance of the ‘ Old Girls,’ some of whom have now daughters to take their places, there were present the Very Rev. Deans Holley and Power, the Rev. Fathers O’Dwyer, Cashman, Mahoney, Vibaud and Dignan, and the Marist Brothers. Clad in quaint dresses, the students opened the entertainment by a procession, at the back of which were arranged in raised order, a series of benches. On to these the girls filed in such a fashion that when all had occupied their allotted positions they formed an imposing tableau, ingenious in design and striking in effect. It constituted a kind of animated Mosaic from which at intervals walked forth those who had parts to play in addressing spoken words of welcome to the visitors, or congratulating in felicitous terms the jubilanans, or dancing jigs and hornpipes, or joining the numerous choruses, or, not last nor least, crowning with great pomp eclat the convent carnival queent Miss R. Dennis. Not only was the stage decorated with the flags of all the Allied nations now at war, but groups of girls, dressed in the fashion of each of the friendly belligerent countries gave an exhibition of their several national dances, starting with the nimble heel and toe of Bonnie Scotland, and finishing with the graceful salaams but less lively pirouetting of the Japs. An orchestra, led by Mr. Beck, played through' the performance; and Miss Rubie Curran, who acted as pianiste, showed that she can sing or warble as well as play by an artistic rendering of the vocal solo, ‘ Bid me discourse.’ At the close of the entertainment, Very Rev. Dean Holley said that to him fell the difficult but pleasant duty of thanking, on behalf of the jubilarians, the girls for the good wishes expressed towards them, and for the trouble they must have taken to prepare such a fine concert in their honor as they were all delighted and privileged to witness. The display they were after giving of singing, dancing', and tableaux effects spoke eloquently of the training they were receiving from the good Sisters, who were devoting themselves gratuitously to their development, moral, mental, and physical. .Language failed him to adequately express the praise due to those who spent themselves in the meritorious work of the noble calling to which the Rev. Mother and her companion had devoted their time, talents, and energies for the past 25 years. They did incalculable good quietly, receiving no earthly recompense for their labors, no rewards for the act of self-sacrifice, and selfdenial that continued teaching imposes, save the complacent consciousness that follows in the wake of good deeds done, acts of love performed, and the service rendered to God in teaching children to know, love, and serve Him. The moral and religious training of the Catholic girls of the Dominion would be very defective were it not that the Catholic Church had women like their jubilarians, who abandoned all that worldings seek after, in order that, being free from family responsibilities, they would be in a position to devote themselves entirely to imparting religious and secular knowledge, to - giving ideals of womanly virtue and examples of modesty now so lacking, but so needful and befitting and indispensable in those who in the days to come are destined to be the mainspring of family life and the focus of domestic well-being and happiness. Under the direction of Sister Charles, the children of the parochial schools gave a concert of their own in honor of the occasion. Though not so grandiose as that of their elders, it was none the less meritorious and appreciated. , ...