NOVEMBER 21, PRESENTATIION DAY

Today, 21 November, is the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the temple at Jerusalem or as we know it, Presentation Day.  It is a day that is special to Presentation Sisters all over the world.  It is special to St Patrick's girls and boys too because it was the Sisters of the Presentation who established St Patrick's Convent School and taught there for well over one hundred years.  (Some of us can even remember when Presentation Day meant a holiday from school!)  

The school closed in 1999, but although many years have passed since we sat in the desks at St Patrick's, those days and the Sisters continue to influence our lives. 

The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple

The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known in the East as the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, is a liturgical feast celebrated on 21 November by the Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, and by some Anglo-Catholic Churches. The account of the Presentation of Our Lady into the temple is based on the Protoevangelium of St James.  The Protoevangelium has been dated by historians prior to the year 200 AD. It relates that in thanksgiving for the birth of their daughter, Joachim and Anne decided to consecrate her to God. When the child was three years old, her parents brought her to Jersusalem where she was presented in the temple.

Dolls depicting how the PBVMs used to look

That the Sisters of the Presentation are no longer a presence in our Parish is sad.  The contribution of the PBVMs to St Patrick's School, Church, and Parish is immeasurable. The whole of the West End of our beloved City is better for their coming.

A 108 YEAR OLD TEXTBOOK!

I owe this post to Sean of "FAIR AND SQUARE HANDYMAN SERVICES".

Fair and Square Handyman Services

Sean's mother came across a very old school book which had belonged to her aunt. The aunt, Mary (May) Williams, happens to be my aunt too. 

Mary (May) Williams and her younger sister
standing behind their parents

Mary Williams attended St Patrick's Convent School more than one hundred years ago so she would have been taught by some of the Presentation Sisters who had come over from Ireland on the Newfoundland Mission!  

Mother M DeSales Walsh (1866-1968)

Among the Irish Sisters was Mother Mary DeSales Walsh who was born in Tralee, Co Kerry, in 1866. Mother DeSales was just 16 years old when she arrived in St John's to join the Presentation Sisters at Cathedral Square. Mother DeSales had a long and distinguished life. She taught at various schools, including St Patrick's, and served two terms as Mother General of the Presentation Sisters in Newfoundland. She was also one of May's favourite teachers!  Mother DeSales died at Presentation Motherhouse on 1 March 1968. She was 102 years old.

English textbook used by St Patrick's pupils
more than 100 years ago

Now back to that book! The book is an English text book that children of that time used in school. Sean has taken pictures of some of the pages where we can see where May marked the pages to be studied. Homework, perhaps? He has also taken pictures of the front cover and of the inside back cover. On the inside back cover, May has written her name and the date. At this time, so soon after our commemoration of the signing of the Armistice on 11 November 1918, the pictures set me thinking about the children who learned from copies of this textbook. They would have lived through the dreadful years of WWI. Many of them would have been in the thick of it, fighting in the mud and blood of the trenches. Sadly, so very many of them would never again return to their beloved Newfoundland. May lost her first beau just days before the Armistice was signed. He died in a military hospital in France at the tender age of 17.  

A peek inside an English textbook from the early 1900s

Could you handle this at 11 or 12 years of age?

Once again, thank you Sean, for the pictures and for others that you have kindly sent to me over the years. I must not forget to thank Sean's mother, my sister Doreen.  She too gets a vote of thanks for keeping the book safe and keeping alive the memory of a 12 year old St Patrick's Girl who studied at our school over one hundred years ago.

Inside back cover with May's signature and the date