When the Holy Family nuns spread their kindness in Lanka
A visit to Eluwankulama
The celebrations of the 200th jubilee are muted not just because of the major changes wrought by the new coronavirus which has brought in its wake a new normal but also reflect the silent, though powerful, service rendered by a dedicated group emulating the simplicity of the Holy Family – Jesus, Mary and Joseph of the Christian faith.
While the Association of the Holy Family set down its roots 200 years ago (on May 20, 1820) in Bordeaux, France, long before the tree so tenderly planted by Founder Fr. Pierre Bienvenu Noailles spread its sheltering branches to many other parts of the world it found a place in the soil of Sri Lanka, blossoming in the hearts of the people.
A peep at history reveals that in those early days, Spain embraced the Association of the Holy Family in 1843, Belgium in 1854 and coming third was Sri Lanka in 1862, even before England, Ireland, Scotland, Italy or more.
Planting trees to encourage children to protect Mother Earth at Kurinjampitiya
As the Association of the Holy Family commemorates its double century, it is active in 21 countries now.
“The five vocations of the Association of the Holy Family – Apostolic Sisters; Contemplative Sisters; Consecrated Secular; Lay Associates encompassing children, youth and elderly; and Priest Associates – are working in the community to provide succour to all and sundry,” says Colombo’s Provincial of the Holy Family Sisters, Sr. Jesmin Fernando.
Looking back through the dim mists of time, she reveals how Pierre Bienvenu was born at the height of mayhem and terror, during the French Revolution. While being a lively and daring child, as he became a young man he was charming, embracing with enthusiasm everything life had to offer, with the exception of religion. A celebrated lawyer of the time who would later become a Minister of King Charles X, employed the 17-year-old Pierre Bienvenu as his secretary, impressed by his literary talents.
However, there were other divine plans for him. Coming into contact with a priest Pierre Bienvenu with a few youth formed the ‘Society of Christian Friends’, a study circle. His pathway became clear when preparing for First Holy Communion, he had a mystical experience before the statue of Our Lady (Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ) and there was no turning back. He ordained as a priest in June 1819.
Appointed as a curate in a parish in Bordeaux, Fr. Noailles took it as a sign from above when three girls wanted to serve God and came to him for spiritual direction and the seeds of the Association of the Holy Family blossomed from here with the Catechism of Perseverance.
A group of nuns in those early days in Jaffna
“There was much hardship and suffering as it was soon after the French Revolution. These three girls wanted to work selflessly for society. This took root and became a religious organization, getting entwined with other branches,” says Sr. Jesmin, reiterating that Fr. Noailles’s yearning was to respond to any crying need of the people.
Sr. Jesmin focuses on the Sisters of Hope who worked among the elderly and Soeurs Agricoles (Field Sisters) who gave dignity to labour in the fields, toiling alongside the few who had been left behind in the villages after a majority had been drawn by the lure of the towns or urbanization.
“The Association of the Holy Family was ready and willing to respond to every need in society, while also welcoming any other vocation, missionary or lay, into its fold,” she says.
Founder Fr. Pierre Bienvenu Noailles
Charting the voyage of the six nuns who arrived in Ceylon from France, on November 2, 1862, having been buffeted by stormy seas for 45-days, Sr. Jesmin says that they paid a courtesy call on Governor Charles Justin MacCarthy in Galle and set up base in Jaffna with a driving passion to educate the girl-child. That was Holy Family Convent, Jaffna, and from there they worked their way south, to Kurunegala, Wennappuwa, Katuneriya, then back to the north central area of Anuradhapura and finally Colombo and Kalutara.
“Education was a priority in the formation of the girl-child,” says Sister Provincial, but with the takeover of schools in 1960, the Holy Family Sisters expanded to other areas such as Hindagala and Embilipitiya extending a comforting and helping hand to women, working with families and setting up nurseries.
As the Association of the Holy Family looks forward to the future, apart from education, they have under their wing a fruitful counselling programme evident last year after the Easter Sunday bombings with nuns going door-to-door at Katuwapitiya giving a shoulder to cry or lean on; a Safe House for battered women in the Puttalam district; a Meditation Centre in Halpe, Negombo; and a Drug Prevention Centre in Ratmalana catering to those living on the beach.
The Association of the Holy Family in Sri Lanka is grouped under two Provincials – Colombo and Jaffna – with 86 communities working in all 12 diocese of the Catholic Church.
Sr. Jesmin Fernando
It is also not in this country alone that the Holy Family nuns spread their kindness and concern but in 13 others including India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Cameroon, South Africa, Italy, France and Canada.
“We started a new community in impoverished Malawi, in southeastern Africa, one of the poorest countries in the world. The weather is scorching hot and there is no water. Even the basic necessities are hard to come by but we are persevering,” she says.
Back here, different vocations of the Association of the Holy Family have been addressing issues such as cancer by carrying out awareness campaigns on prevention and coming together to support the poor and the marginalized.
All these efforts are to keep alive the dream of their Founder, Fr. Noailles who saw…..the Holy Family like a great tree…..with verdant branches….. flowers and fruits of all seasons; birds of every colour……each species with its own song, but every now and then forming a single voice and in perfect harmony seeming to say: ‘Glory to God alone!’
| Three-year jubilee culminates at Our Lady of Madhu | |
| Sri Lanka’s highlight of the three-year jubilee (2017-2020) preparations will be next Saturday, September 19, when a prayerful procession with the participation of all communities of the Association of the Holy Family will wend its way around the Church of Our Lady of Madhu, culminating in a simple mass presided over by the Bishop of Mannar, Rt. Rev. Emmanuel Fernando.2017 had been dedicated to thanking God for all blessings received; 2018 devoted to deepening spirituality; 2019 to sharing the fruits of the missionary community and 2020 for the jubilee celebration. |