LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR.

New Zealand Tablet, 2 September 1920, Page 39

LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR.

Last week in the presence, of his Eminence and '■ a number of the clergy the; Little Sisters of the Poor in Roxbury celebrated the ' 50th anniversary of their establishment .in \ Boston, (says the Pilot, Boston, U.S.A., of July. 10). In the last 50 years they have given a home to over 3000 old people. His Eminence, in the course of his remarks on the happy occasion, paid a beautiful tribute to the Sisters for the great work of charity they are doing and to the home which has served the poor of the diocese so faithfully. Old age is the first requirement for admission into this home of the Little Sisters. The juniors of both sexes are somewhere between the ages of 60 and 65 years. The middle aged are between 70 and 80 years. The seniors are between 80 and 100 years. Poverty is the second condition necessary for admittance. The Sisters will tell you that they have room only for the poor. The institution is distinctly a Catholic home, yet no distinction of religion is made when any poor old . person applies for. admission. Those of the required age will be accepted, provided they cannot gain their own living and have no one to gain it for them. The work which these few 'Sisters are doing is simply marvellous. A handful of weak women, strong in faith and in God's grace, with no. charitable guilds or organisations to help them financially, simply with the aid of the charitably inclined people of the diocese, fight the battle of these poor people, some by soliciting food, and money; the others by working around the home, cheerfully performing tasks for their charges, often of the most repulsive kind. Nowhere can the lessons of self-sacrifice in the work among God's poor be better learned than by knowing and appreciating the lives of these Sisters.