Mater was a life-size statue at the Academy of the Visitation where I spent my young years. I was impressed with the statue and played countless games of “hide the thimble” in silence while waiting with another child for our fathers to come to get us. I did not know the story of Mater, but was impressed by her long pink dress with many folds in which to hide a thimble! Her stillness stayed with me.
My next experience with Mater came as a new thirteen-year-old boarder at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Saint Charles. I was asked to be Mater! It was 1944 and the centenary celebration for Mater was also to be the Reverend Mother Vicar’s Feast. Delegations would come from Maryville, Villa Duchesne, and the City House in Saint Louis. I had long blond curls but had a haircut when home for the week end as dormitory life was easier with a “feather cut”! The nun who had chosen me was devastated; fortunately, one of the Mexican boarders had a false curl that was used under my veil so all was well. I sat through all the practices and still remember after sixty-nine years the words from the Song of Songs that were applied to Mater by the chorus of older students.
A third experience with Mater came when I was sixteen and spending the summer in Mexico visiting classmates. I made a special trip to one of our convents to buy a statue of Mater. I wanted to get it through customs without having to unwrap the fragile package. The Custom Official heard the entire story of Mater before he consented to pass my box unopened across the border. I think Mater had protected me and my best friend as we were both so innocent and spent the three nights and days on the train making friends with all the passengers in our car who all happened to be male – I cannot remember seeing any females on that train! The porter on the way down to Mexico City had been well-tipped by my father, grandfather, and great-uncle who were all at Union Station to see us off; on the return, Mater watched over us. Her statue had a place of honor in my room until I entered the Society of the Sacred Heart three years later.
Helen Rosenthal, RSCJ
