Bishop Buddy Scrapbook 1938-1940
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long lines of happy_ dear old people approach the Lord's Banquet Table and then listen to them 'singing and making melody in their hearts'- chanting the Magnificat-'My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Saviour' - in very tmth He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted the humble: the rich He hath sent away empty and the poor He hath fill?d wit11 good things. For most of u.~ the Magnificat is the vesper hymn, but for the hearts of these honored guests, made young by th<) joyful mysteries. it is still their morning prayer. TEACH US MUCH A century of loving service made 'the desert blossom like a rose " On May 29. 1842, the young Community met in their first Chapter and elected Jeanne Superior. In memory of the Virgin Mother and the humble home at Nazareth, they gave the Supe1ior the name of "The Good Mother". On August 15, of the same year, the Community adopted the name of Sis- ters of the Poor and vowed their virginity to God thus completing a sublime Consecration. "It is not necessary here to relate the fulfiil- mPnt of the destiny awaiting this smaU beginning. The Grace of God had fallen on rich soil and the tiny acorn grew apace to the mighty oak you witness today. VALIANT WOMEN "Because they measured up to the stature of valiant women. the Little Sisters made progress over rough roads of opposition and humi!iat,ion. Divine Providence trained them in the school of calumny, suffering and contradiction; but thei1· constancy, their tears. their prayers, their toil, their sacrifices. impeiled and enlightened by a burning love for Jesus Christ as they recognized Him in the derelicts of humanity, made them vie- Legion of Decency CLASS A-SECTION I (Unobjectionable for General Patronage) Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever Angels Wash Their Faces "For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink· I was a stranger, and you tcok me in: Naked and you cov- ered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in priscn, and you came to me ... Amen. I say to you as long as you did it to one of these my least brethern , you did it to me." (St. Matt 25, 31-33 .) . "That these words of our Divine Saviour have a fitting application to the Little Sisters of the Poor and their heroic work of a century, you , :vour- selves are eloquent witnesses. One hundred years of charity unfeigned and sweetness in the Holy Ghost. Blessed be God- mindful of all His crea- tures. This world. created and sustained by Di- vine Power and Wisdom. reflects everywhere the loving providence of our Heavenly Father. Every moment of existence implies a new act of creation. In His hands God holds the destiny of nations. In Him alone is our salvation. He numbers the stars of the firmament as wen as the hairs of our head. "Cleave the wood and you will find Him; lift the stone and He is there." He shapes the course of every planet and directs the worm that crawls on the earth. "Day to day uttereth speech and night to night showeth knowledge" of the won- derful works of God-of that Divine Providence which "reaches from end to end mightily and or- dereth all things sweetly." "Behold," he says, "the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor do they reap nor gather into barns yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them.'• "Among the marvels of Divine Providence are the Religious Orders and Institutions of the Cath- olic Church which provide for every need of man- kind and make every sac1ifice to alleviate human misery. Inspin·d by her Divine Founder. our Holv Mother the Church, with tender solicitude, ha.~ founded asylums to shelter infants on the thres- hold of life; a splendid educational system to give the right foundation and balance-to paint out to our youth , from the earliest years, "the Way. the Truth and the Light"; hospitals to nurse back the waning health of mind and body; retreats wherein are rescued from spiritual and temporal death victims of sin and degredation; and havens of peace for those who have reached the eventide-- looking out at the portals of ete1nity they come with tottering steps and slow to their merciful Re- deemer to lay down at His feet the burden of the years. the sorrows and joys of a checkered career. "Thus men and women consecrated to a mighty cause. their lives and aspirations /hidden with Christ in God, become the spilitual parents of countless children and rock them gently from the cradle of infancy to the couch of death. Their loving arms are outstretched to embrace every form of human suffe1ing and need, every shade of color, creed and nationality. They walk with the poor whom Our Saviour loved and proclaimed "blessed", "Today, in the most impressive ceremony of the Church, with the beloved Shepherd of the great Archdiocese of Los Angeles offering Solemn Pon- tifical Mass, we commemorate the Centennial of the founding of the Little Sisters of the Poor. With them we thank God for the blessings of a glo1i- ou.<; service ::>nd especially for their far-reaching hospitality extended here in southem California for the past 35 years. "Next to the Divine Giver of every good and perfect gift the Little Sisters pour forth their gratitude to His Excellency, the Most Reverend Metropolitan of Los Angeles, who has been the kindl'St of fathers to them. They have already pr d 1, ir appr ia ion in an in · ription ov 1· their chapel entrance which forms the noble cen- t er of this jubilee's decorations - "Ben edictus qui venit in nomine Domini" Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord. Bad Lands Beau Geste Blondie Takes a Vacation Chicken Wagon Family Colorado Sunset Conspiracy Cowboy Quarterback, The Death Rides the Range Desperate Trails Fighting Gringo Fighting Renegade Flight at Midnight Gantry the Great Hawaiian Nights In Old Monterey Jones Family in Quick Millions Man from Sundown Man from Texas Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase New Frontier Night Work Oklahoma Frontier Perpetual Sacrifice, The Range War Riders of the Frontier Should Husbands Work? Smuggled CargG> Stanley and Livingstone Star Maker. The Television Spy, The They Shall Have Music Under-pup, The Wizard of Oz CLASS B (Objectionable in Part) Each Down I Die I Demand Payment Just Like a woman Man Thev Could not Hang, The Women, The Winter Carnival Ci torious over every foe. The masses of the people gave them the prefix "little", some in derision but for the most part a term of endearment. No won- der the peace of Christ pervades their homes- where feeble bodies and tired minds are enfolded in the warmth of loving kindness where even for the forlorn and shipwrecked pilgrim, trudging and limping along the Way of the Cross- sun- light silvers the deepening shadows. "A story is related which reveals the mettle of their foundress. One day on a begging tour she was grossly insulted and struck in the face by a cowardly man. Her answer is typical. She said, "That slap was for me, now give me something for the poor." "While the Little Sisters gratefully a~cept out- right gifts they have always refused county, fed- eral and all other subsidies which could take the spirit out of their rule. Often have philanthrop- ists offered to endow homes which would preclude the necessity of their begging rounds. LIVE BY CHARITY "Declining such endowments the Little Sisters have consistently replied: "We are daughters of Divine Providence and such we cannot cease to be. We shall continue to live by charity.' ''Through the intercession of St. Joseph, it plea~ the Good God to grant to His Little Sis- ters of the Poor a central house and novitiate near Rennes at La Tour which, to this day, is called the Tower of St. Joseph. They had implored. the Fos- ter Father's help in procuring the means for the site of their Moth~rhouse, and St. Joseph has never failed them through the wants and vicissi- tudes of a century. The first generous benefactors to build a church at La Tour were amply rewarded, 'We were happy' they said, 'to watch those long files of Little Sisters walking in recollection up tile aisle chanting the praises of God.' Let the scoffer sneer at the humilities of the Little Sisters -yet by their fruits He shall know them. "After establishing homes in England and Scotland, the Little Sisters came to the United States in 1868 to start their first American founda- tion in Brooklyn, Fifty other homes were founded in this country in 66 years. Throughout the world. 5500 Little Sisters of the Poor today nurse over 50,000 aged men and women. But what looms more important in the scale of ete1nal values, nearly half a million souls have been called to their reward from the family shelters of j:.he Little SisteTs. Who can tell the infinite me1its of the countless Masses and Holy Communions offered up in their Chapels?-the tens of thousand;; caught from the brink of despair and led fervently to God by these missionaires of charity? Many ::i, worn and weary soul who found refuge with the Little Sisters has in his dying moments been stirred to repentance as he looked up into their angelic faces and recalled that indefinable something, Could it be the memory of his own mother? "Let me add a word of sincere esteem for the good people of Los Angeles. those devoted citizens of all creeds and no creeds who have so mag- nanimously cooperated with the work of the Little Sisters. "Their record is providential - a tliumphant march of a vast army of the meek, indeed a ro- mance of charity that like everything else of gen- uine worth rests secure on the merits of its own achievemP.nts. When Jeanne Jugan, a child of humble origin. from an obscure village in the west of France. led her sheep to pasture on the cliffs above the Bay of San Michel, she listened not only to the solemn cadence of the majestic waves, but sh0 also heard the deep sea soundings within her own fervent soul. Even in her girlhood days the urge of Divine Grace so guided her that in her eii,hteenth year she promptly rejected a proffer of marriage saying, "God wants me for Himself. He keeps me for His work." THE FIRST CONVENT "Soon two kindred souls, Marie Jamet and a young motherless maiden. Virginie Tredaniae, re- spanded to the same divine impulse, The three girls rented a modest room in a crowded quarter of St, Servan and together drew up a simple yet comprehensive rule which read: "We will strive above all things to be kind and genlle to children, the poor, sick and infirm and we will never re- fuse them our ca.re when they ne<'d it.'' The plans of God move swiftly. and the following year of 1839 an event took place-to the world insignificant and unnoted-but in the archives of heaven and in the commemoration of today, of supreme im- portance. Jeanne Jugan had come upon an old blind woman left penniless and alone by the death of a. sister. Deeply touched by this sad plight, she brought the aged woman to her own scant rooms wher€ her companions joined in a warm welcome. The Angels of God looked on. Christ. in the guise of poverty, entered the first make- shift Convent of the Little Sisters of the Poor and thus humbly the Hospitaller Congregation was born. Soon the little Ccmmunity numbered a fourth foundress, Madeleine Bourges, and later Eulalia Jamet, the first Novice. anived. But the attic rooms could not accommodate both the guests and the infant Community. So the servants of the poor moved into a low, narrow shack which they furni~hed with their last cent. In less than a montl1 twelve aged women found a home in this new haven. They had no bread to give, but it was easier to go out and beg for bread than to see th'! unfortunate starve; and so la quete or begging rounds became the portion of their inheritance. those deprived of their liberty, it is equally right and just to feed those wno are not yet criminals and who don't want to be criminals or commun- u;ts. "We admit, the n<'CCJ ity of some· kind of sys- tem, but, God ha.';ten the day wlwn •very Catho- lic priest will be the ca e worker in his own pa1ish and every parish rectory a real welfare agency to show mercy-Um kind practised by the Good Sa- ma1itan on his way from Jerusalem lo Jerico. God hasten the day when case workers will learn from the Little Sisters of the Poor what has be ·n the secret of their success for one hundred years. The Holy Ghost says: "Blessed is he U1at understand- eth concerning the needy and the poor.' "This morning at 6 o'clock it was my privilege to celebrate Holy Mass in the beautiful chapel of the Little Sisters Home, It would have brought the tears to your eyes too, could you have seen the
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