 對一切人成為一切(格前 9:22) Witness of Hope ! |
| 以恆常的祈禱、簡樸 , 喜樂的精神、慈悲的心腸、友愛共融和言行及以耶穌基督降生的情懷活出我們的神恩往普天下去 ，傳揚福音。( 谷 16:15) | In order to continue the mission of Christ in the world, specifically at the service of the Missionary Church, we are sent to evangelize by immersing ourselves among the people, attentive to discover the seeds of the Kingdom, to call forth and to form workers for evangelization. |
修會里程碑
1914 會祖被召叫：對一切人成為一切
Mother Mary of the Sacred Heart and Mother Gabriel
1922 本會成立於加拿大，後加入方濟大家庭、 首批修女來華
1927 在香港創辦聖嘉勒女校
1950 往中國以外地方傳教
1954 在澳門創辦化地瑪聖母女子學校
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 an MNDA sister in the old habit |
 nun doll |
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Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels in Macao
From the earliest days of the arrival of Europeans in Macao in the sixteenth century, the territory has been an important centre of activity for religious missions. In fact, the Portuguese maritime expansion goes hand in hand with the story of the dissemination of Christianity in Africa and Asia. The first Jesuits benefited from the profitable dealings of the Portuguese merchants who exchanged silk from China with silver from Japan. While in China, conversions were never won over easily, Macao has always represented a kind of spiritual oasis, particularly for Canadian sisters.
The story of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels in Macao extends over three quarters of a century. These women worked closely with the Portuguese authorities and the Chinese population in different fields such as education and social services and showed an incredible spirit of sacrifice. Founded in 1922 by Florina Gervais (1888-1979), a Québécoise from the Sherbrooke area, from the very beginning the congregation decided that its goal would be missionary work among Chinese girls.
Shortly after establishing in a few Chinese cities, including Hong Kong, Bishop José da Costa Nunes allowed them to open a novitiate in Macao, on Rua da Penha, on the condition that they would be responsible for the Santa Rosa de Lima College on Rua da Praia Grande. The experience was short-lived, from 1928 to 1932, as they were transferred to China, but the school's reputation was already firmly established.
Soon after the first Japanese attacks on China, in July of 1937, and the capture of Canton in October of 1938, several missionaries returned to Macao to await the end of the hostilities. The founder of the congregation, Florina Gervais found herself unable to get to Hong Kong and so she decided to make the best of her extended stay in the enclave, which was swelled by refugees.
The hardships endured during the war and the presence of casinos encouraged prostitution, an on-going problem that the sisters fought. The sisters established the Casa da Regeneração in 1936 with a building donated by Bishop da Costa Nunes to help young women who wanted to change "professions", providing them with medical care, training, and the possibility of starting a new life, including marriage. By 1955, more than 20 young women had managed to abandon prostitution, by no means a small success.
The sisters of Sherbrooke were also head of a school for children of underprivileged families on Ilha Verde. Doctor Jose Pedro Lobo , a well-known local businessman, offered them a building that housed the six teachers (of which 5 were sisters) and more than 200 pupils. The sisters also ran a dispensary, under the supervision of Doctor Nye, another distinguished Macaense. The less fortunate flocked to the dispensary where treatment was available free of charge. Patients sometimes converted to Catholicism and a certain number of very sick children were baptised by the staff.
Since 1941, the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels have carried on their work in Notre-Dame de Fatima in the Taishan sector of the city. One thousand five hundred young girls in uniforms receive schooling in buildings that have been recently expanded.
While education is still the major concern of the congregation and the numerous layperson teachers, the sisters have always helped anyone seeking them out. For example, the name of Sister Liliane Cayer is a true legend, given the hundred or so abandoned babies she found homes for in Canada over a span of about 15 years from the mid-70s until 1991.
The Macao government bestowed a rare honour on one of the Canadian sisters in November 1996. A few days before she returned to Québec after almost half a century of dedicated work in China and Macao, Sister Bernadette Choquette officially received the Medal of Philanthropic Merit from Governor Rocha Vieira during an unprecedented ceremony. This honour is not only hers but recognizes the work of all her fellow members of the order.
[Courtesy of http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/asia/hongkong/perpa/canada-macao-en.asp]
Foundress
The Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels was founded by Mother Mary of the Sacred Heart , a very young Canadian Missionary. In 1913, when Sr. Mary was in Canton, she decided to set up a novitiate for Chinese Girls. She returned to Canada to pray and work for the idea. Two years later, with a young Canadian girl, she returned to Swatow at the invitation of the Bishop there. After contracting a fever, her companion died. Alone and with the war on, the Bishop advised her to return to Canada and try to found a novitiate there. She then left Swatow in 1915, together with a young girl of 17 whom she had known as a pupil in Canton. That girl later became Sister Gabriel, the co-foundress.
In June 1919 , the first Novitiate was opened in Quebec, Canada . In 1922 five Sisters sailed for Kwei Yang in Kweichow. New groups continued to come to China until in 1949, when expelled from China, they had 14 houses, four of them in Canton.
Training of girls for the sisterhood was their first work and they did this in several dioceses, but they also had schools, hospitals and worked in leprosaria and in social work. Mother Mary Sacred Heart chose to follow the Franciscan rule due to coincidence. Their first house was near a Franciscan monastery, the Fathers there were her first mentors. So again she got what she wanted - to be a Franciscan with accent on poverty and humility, a badge that would distinguish the Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels to this day.
Today they have Missions In Japan, Tahiti, South America, Africa, Macau and Hong Kong besides a recruiting centre in Canada and the United States. Everywhere they have novitiates.
The Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels are strictly missionaries. Their Mother Foundress always said if God wanted the work to go on, He would send vocations. Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart died in 1979. Mother Gabriel died in 1974 in Canada, after long years of work in China and Canada.
[Courtesy of St Calre Girls' School www.stclare.edu.hk]