Tidings of Ty Mam Duw 2009
The clusters of bright holly berries in the garden, slight frost in the mornings and showers of gold and brown leaves with every gust of wind, are a sure sign that the time has come to look back over the past twelve months and record its events in our annual Tidings. Our account this year begins with early November 2008 when we watched the live broadcast on EWTN of the special Mass at the Birmingham Oratory for the Feast of All Saints. During it a small glass-sided reliquary, containing the few remaining articles found in Cardinal Newman’s grave together with locks of his hair preserved at the Oratory, was solemnly placed in a side-chapel with a view to his coming beatification.
His life, which spanned most of the 19th century with all its tensions, has been for so many people throughout the world, including our beloved Pope Benedict, an abiding inspiration in their own search for truth and ultimate reality. Apart from his sheer endurance amid all the contretemps of his day, he lived and worked among the Catholics in the burgeoning industrial area of Birmingham, doing all he could to help them materially as well as spiritually, teaching their children to read and write and know God’s love for them, so they could find a better future in their new surroundings. And he treasured any small gift that they gave him. One such item was a silk handkerchief which had been left at the door for him by a poor person. Some thirty years later Newman still had it, and insisted on keeping it with him when he was dying. Please God, in due course there will be the further step of his canonisation. In actual fact we ‘canonised’ him ourselves over 30 years ago in a recreation written for a Sister’s Jubilee. It comprised a This is your Life ‘documentary’ in which Newman (Mother Francesca) met up with many people who had played a greater or lesser role in his life and at the end of which he was presented with a gold cardboard halo by Pope Paul VI!
Our Advent carol service was largely based on Cardinal Newman’s words and hymns; its overall theme was that of the motto he wished to be engraved on his monument: “Ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem” “Out of shadows and images into truth”. The service was attended by about 40 stalwart friends. There had been a frost all day, and by the evening it had turned to fog, so it took some courage for anyone to venture out on the treacherous roads, and we really appreciated the effort they had made get here. The Gospel passage at the service was Luke 1:46-55, commonly known as the Magnificat from its opening words, My soul magnifies the Lord, (rendered rather delightfully in one modern translation as “I’m bursting with God-news; I’m dancing the song of my Saviour God.)

The Church throughout the world sings it every day at Vespers, and on this occasion we interspersed its verses with carols that would have been in current circulation in Newman’s time, illustrating them with slides. After the intercessions, which were also based on Newman’s writings, we displayed a tall silk banner we had painted. It showed him in a shadowy wood representing this world, standing by a lake and casting as it were his reflection in the shining water. When the banner was turned the other way up, it revealed what was formerly seen as the reflection to be Newman clad in shining garments, surrounded by the light of the “angelic faces” of which he had written in his hymn Lead Kindly Light, and looking down on the world of shadows which he had now left behind him.
November brought the feast of St Martin, which we celebrated by going round to Marianne’s flat singing “Bright lanterns”, (this despite the fact that the ones we were carrying all blew out in the strong wind!). Sr Juliana arrived clad as St Martin in a cloak and centurion’s helmet, and on our behalf she presented to Marianne an appropriate St Martin’s supper of hot baked potatoes - a small return for all she does for us with so much love. We then took ourselves back indoors to do justice to our own share.
On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception we saw a video on St Catherine Labouré and the Miraculous Medal. We also heard how it had helped to bring about the remarkable conversion in 1944 of Claude Newman (no relation to John Henry!), and the appearance of Our Lady to him when he was on Death Row in the States. His last wish the day before his execution was for a party with his fellow-prisoners and ice-creams all round to celebrate his going to God. When there was a stay of execution a couple of hours before the event he broke down in tears, not of relief but of sorrow. When he was eventually executed the observers said they had never seen someone so radiantly happy when led to the electric chair.
Our Advent sharings, when we meet together informally in the evening to share thoughts relating to the season, included a delightful one by our Beloved Mother Francesca in the form of reflections by Saint Anne about her life . Another by Sr Yolanda on the theme of “waiting” included an amusing and true-to-life skit on the various attitudes of people in a London bus queue. Sr Beatrix spoke on the relatively new custom of having Advent calendars, and Sr Seraphina described for us the Filipino pre-Christmas celebrations, especially the Misas de Gallo (Masses of the Cock), the novena of dawn Masses leading up to the great feast.
She had made a scene with many colourful figures and a parole, a colourful star-shaped lantern, which is as much a part of their Christmas as the Christmas tree is of ours. On the strength of this we decided to rise at 4.30 a.m., an hour earlier than usual, in solidarity with the people in the Philippines. We began by reciting the rosary, then continued with Matins and our ordinary prayer schedule finishing with Holy Mass and Terce. This brought us to about 9.30 am, and so gave us a good innings with Our Lord before all the other busy events of the last week or so of Advent.
Christmas is above all a time for children, and December brought, most appropriately, the safe arrival of a baby boy to the young couple who had moved into our gate house just a few weeks earlier. Later that week about thirty children from the nearby Carlines Park Primary School came with their teachers and gave us real pleasure in singing and playing carols for us.
On the Feast of Saint Lucy we had a special Vespers, which included Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, and to which we were each invited to bring a candle or votive light. During it Dear Mother shared with us some thoughts on the role of darkness (in the positive nurturing sense) and that of light in the creation of the world and in our own lives. We then gave thanks for specific people who had handed down the light of God through the ages, lighting a votive light before the Blessed Sacrament as each name was mentioned. Later in the evening after a real family-style collation with home-baked bread by courtesy of Sr Agatha, we were invited to each add some melted wax to a candle mould to form a large candle. This was lit at the crib at Christmas to symbolise the collective light of our community in the footsteps of St Clare, who was described as a ‘lofty candlestick in the house of God’.
Our home-made choir crib now comprises 32 scenes of salvation history, centred on the Nativity. They range from Adam and Eve being expelled from Paradise, to the baptism of Our Lord, and on to Saints Francis, Clare and Colette, the most recent addition being a figure of the prophet Daniel. It depicts his interpretation of the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. In it a large stone was seen breaking free from a mountain, shattering a gigantic statue and then increasing in size to fill the whole earth; This was taken by Daniel, and later by the Church, to represent the coming of the Messianic kingdom which will endure for ever, while all other earthly empires pass away and are forgotten.(Daniel 2:31-45). For those of you who cannot get to see the crib without flying or swimming, by the first Sunday of Advent this year the our crib is due to appear as a Youtube called Come along to Bethlehem!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc3ajk8sAWs
Sr Amata and Sr Ruth constructed an unusual crib this year. It featured Christ as the Redeemer not only of mankind but of the whole world of matter, in taking to himself a human body made up of molecules and atoms, the building blocks of the material world. So their Bambino was depicted not cradled in a manger but in the heart of an atom. Sr Amata, who had studied physics before entering, waxed enthusiastic about it, reading up Teilhard de Chardin by way of spiritual input for shared reflections. Sr Ruth compiled a large poster of the periodic table of the elements, which she had not really considered since her schooldays and was intrigued to find out how many additional ones had been discovered since then, such as Europium, Americium, Californium, and Einsteinium!
Among items given for our Autumn Fair had been a game comprising 80 magnetised rods and silvery balls, which could be made to cling to each other and build up all sorts of shapes. These came in handy for ‘audience participation’ demonstrating the action of the positive and negative charges in atoms which (by the grace of God!) help to hold the world together .
Our Christmas Vigil began with the rosary at 9.15 pm, and continued with the psalms and Te Deum of Matins interspersed with carols, as well as readings from Franciscan sources; These included ones from the writings of St Joseph of Cupertino, Thomas of Celano and St Bonaventure as well as our own Saints Clare and Colette. Fr Adrian OFMCap from Chester celebrated the Midnight Mass, after which we gathered at the crib, united spiritually with the shepherds who came to the stable that first Christmas night. Like them we brought such offerings as we had - in our case ones of song, music, and poetry in honour of the Infant Jesus, who was now snugly ensconced in his manger, surrounded by what looked like a small sea of white cyclamen and cream poinsettias.
Mother Francesca had established a canopied ‘Caravanserai’ in the cloister for Christmastide on the theme of hospitality, that of welcoming others, even if they are different from oneself, and sharing not only material things like food and shelter, but also thoughts and ideas. There we met for a short time most mornings during the “coffee days” to talk, share family news and partake of the results of our Beloved Mother’s and Sr Pia’s mammoth baking the week before. We spent a satisfying time one morning stitching identifying letters on new work tabards Sr Beatrix and Sr Seraphina had made us for Christmas and doing other sewing. During it we took it in turns to read a story or share a piece of poetry, religious or humorous. Sr Juliana regaled us with an extremely gripping account of life at the court of good King Wenceslaus in the 10th century, as told by one of his pages, ending with the story that gave rise to the well-known Christmas carol. In the evening we took part in a Vespers sharing devised by Sr Elizabeth and Sr Pia at their crib, dedicated to the suffering people of Zimbabwe. It had been given an African setting, with the large figures of Mary and Joseph wearing African dress.
We ushered in the Year of Our Lord 2009 with a Vigil reflecting on the references to Our Lady in the Gospels, in the light of the Beatitudes and the Holy Father’s New Year message, “to fight poverty is to build peace”. It was followed by a midnight Mass celebrated by our friend, Fr Paul Shaw, from St Werburgh’s, Chester.
For the feast of Bl. Angela of Foligno later that week we had a time of prayer and Exposition in our shrine chapel, with reflections by Dear Mother and Sr Agatha on that remarkable saint of the 13th century. Born some twenty years after the death of St Francis, she was of a wealthy family, married with three children and leading a very worldly and far from holy life until her conversion at the age of thirty-seven.
Our Christmas finale comprised a tea-party in the Chapter Tea Room, to which we were all invited by John Henry Newman. We each attended in the guise of one of his 19th century contemporaries, clad in costumes from our TMD dressing-up department, all sizeable enough to be slipped on over our habits. In the event the Cardinal himself did not put in an appearance, being indisposed. However Florence Nightingale and Emily Dickinson did the honours, providing a first-class spread and tea in decorative china teapots at small circular tables imported from the extern dining room. During the tea we were each required to tell something of our lives, and where appropriate, read something from our writings, or, as happened in the case of Gilbert and Sullivan give a short recital from our musical works. Other guests present were Saint Bernadette and St Catherine Labouré . Artists were represented by Vincent van Gogh and William Blake. Hans Christian Andersen was one of the writers there, together with Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë.
During the tea-party Van Gogh did lightning illustrations of those present in their appropriate costumes, and at the end there were prizes distributed all round.
Afterwards we met in the refectory for a Vespers sharing on the crib there on the theme of “light” and under the auspices of John Henry Newman whose large banner adorned the wall.
It was also a crib expressing the light of conversion and the transformation brought about in people’s lives, a number of the figures having been made by a good friend who last year had rediscovered the joy of the Catholic faith.
Our annual Mass in honour of Saint Colette was well attended despite a fall of snow the night before. Canon Quigley celebrated the Mass, which was combined with psalms from Vespers, during which those present, including Canon, received the Colette blessing. Two young disabled people were brought in wheelchairs, and many people unable to be present were remembered by name in the bidding prayers. It was as always a very lovely and moving occasion.
Dear Mother keeps her feast on that of Our Lady of Lourdes. This year we have established a new Lourdes shrine in the cloister, incorporating a stone statue of Our Lady given us some years ago, which had previously been outdoors. We obtained a wooden figure of Bernadette, which goes admirably with it, and added a small fountain which recycles genuine Lourdes water given to us by friends. So the sound of rippling water accompanies us as we pass along the cloister and we can pause to bless ourselves with it, invoking Our Lady’s help and protection in all we do. The addition of the fountain gave rise to a “water celebration” led by Sr Pia and Sr Amata. They had been given a book on the ‘Water Walk’ at Lourdes, with its nine ‘wells’, each named after one found in the Old or New Testament - from Beersheba to the Well of Siloam.
We duly followed it in spirit, each well recalling a specific scriptural theme, which was related to the new and eternal life that is given us through Christ, and through His Mother, who is now also ours. At the end we renewed our baptismal promises and each partook of a small cup of Lourdes water. It was altogether a simple and lovely celebration.
For Dear Mother’s actual feastday Sr Juliana and Sr Yolanda had arranged a very lovely Vespers in the antechoir, combining pictures of icons and background music from an Orthodox service. On display was an icon of Saint Seraphim of Sarov, given us recently by Sr Yolanda’s great-aunt. On dismantling it to restore it, our Sisters found that beneath the heavily embossed metal frame was a print giving a Moscow shop address and the date 1903, the year after St Seraphim’s recognition as a saint by the Orthodox Church. Sr Juliana shared with us some information about his life and continued with the theme of icons in general, and that of man himself envisaged as an image (icon) of God. Her sharing ended on the note on which it had begun, that of Christ as He is so often portrayed in icons, blessing His people on earth below as He ascends into heaven.
During Lent we were treated to a welcome series of talks by Mother Francesca on the Old Testament prophets, among other subjects she has covered with us in the past year, the most recent being some on the Holy Father’s major encyclical on social justice Caritas in Veritate. The theme of the Franciscan Guided Day of Prayer, which we hosted in March, was that of the soul coming from God, being clothed in the robe of faith and so returning to God. It was distilled from writings by our friend Fr Herbert Schneider on the teachings of the great 13th century Scottish theologian, Duns Scotus. We had depicted it on a large banner, pictures of which were printed for those who attended, together with a meditation. It also formed the theme of the Vespers we celebrated with them. This included a simple dramatisation of the soul setting out on its journey, being clothed in the robe of faith, and like Mary surrendering itself to God, so enabling Christ to come into the world of today through its own life of faith, hope and love.
The prayer day was well attended, and later that month we also welcomed a group of 45 young people, aged 14 -16 from a Catholic school who came with their teacher to find out something about our life as part of their religious studies. She herself had come before with reluctance, thinking the visit would just be a waste of time, and had gone back full of enthusiasm and looking forward to coming here again.
Canon Quigley was able for the first time to celebrate the Paschal Triduum with us this year. Our paschal tableau in choir had a Eucharistic theme; a large chalice-shaped wicker basket served as the tomb into which we placed a shrouded figure of the dead Christ on Good Friday evening. This heightened our awareness that at every holy Mass we are brought into contact with the saving power of God’s love flowing into the world through Christ’s suffering, death and saving resurrection. All went smoothly at the Easter Vigil, though the holy fire kindled outside the antechoir for the lighting of the paschal candle attracted the attention of a police helicopter which hovered overhead for a couple of minutes, possibly suspecting an arsonist at work! Sr Juliana and Sr Yolanda had decorated the paschal candle this year with a very lovely design of a stalk of wheat rising from a buried grain. A shortened version of the Creation account was danced simply by three Sisters, and Sr Elizabeth illustrated the reading from Ezekiel with some of her inimitable cartoons on paper fastened the length of the choir wall. In the paschal tableau the chalice-shaped tomb was now revealed as empty, glowing with twinkling lights and with the risen Christ appearing in splendour to the women who had come to the sepulchre to anoint His body.
Our newest member went into retreat during Easter week. She had been made an ingenious countdown calendar in the form of a large paper doll which received an equally paper item of Poor Clare wear each morning, together with a verse from Ephesians chapter 6, about being clothed in the armour of God. The private clothing ceremony took place early on Low Sunday (Divine Mercy Sunday). In the early Church it was the day on which those baptised at Easter made their last appearance in their white baptismal robes.
We gathered outside the chapter room, and processed with Sister, who was clothed in a very lovely bridal dress with a long flowing train, through the shrine chapel and extern chapel to her prie-dieu in our choir. After clothing her in the habit and giving her the white veil of a novice, Dear Mother announced her new religious name, that of Sr Maria Ancilla of Christ the King, one which none of us had guessed but which suits her to a “T”.
The next joyful event was our dear Sr Seraphina’s solemn profession on a glorious May day, our Lady’s month at its best. Fr Sebastian of the Birmingham Oratory concelebrated the Mass together with Canon Quigley and Fr Paschal OFMCap. The ceremony took just over two hours, and was, as always on such occasions deeply moving. One elderly friend showed some consternation, announcing in a stage whisper, “She’s fainted!” when our Sister prostrated full length before the altar while we sang the Litany of Saints over her, invoking their aid as she made her lifelong commitment to God in our community.
The homily of Fr Sebastian Jones Cong. Orat. focused on Sister’s role in singing God’s praises night and day in the Divine Office. He spoke of the liturgy as God’s gift to us as a means of teaching us how to pray and praise Him, and drawing us and the Church and the whole world into the eternal life of the celestial liturgy.
The next day, in honour of the occasion, we were treated to a delightful shadow-puppet recreation. The charming figures were drawn by Sr Yolanda, scanned on to the computer and printed on transparent paper.
The following fortnight brought two welcome three-day retreats, which gave us time to draw breath after all the recent activities. During the first Br Parker, who showed us slides of the catacombs last year, showed us a further series on St Paul and the places associated with his two imprisonments and subsequent martyrdom in Rome. The second retreat, equally worthwhile, was by Mgr Atherton on Dei Verbum, the Vatican II document on Sacred Scripture.
While we were in retreat we had to give the garden a miss, but it was just as well as the weather turned very wet, and anything we had hoped to sow earlier would have rotted. Sr Pia and Sr Yolanda spent several days tacking together two 50 metre pieces of black netting, this time spreading it out evenly round three sides of our quadrangular cloister to make sure the edges matched! Then we spent a long day sowing several kilo of runner French beans , and the next one planting out celery and lettuce seedlings.
Then followed unseasonal sweltering weather, so it was all hands on deck to keep the vegetable garden watered! In early spring, our two herbalists had taken great pleasure in harvesting some of the horse radish they had been nurturing with the utmost care for 18 months or so, planting the rest out into several more pots to increase and multiply. Even the two fig trees which we have had for twelve years or so looked like perking up and bearing fruit, but unfortunately they lost heart and it came to nothing. However, at the time of writing, several grow-bags of potatoes given us by a friend are flourishing, and if they are doing as well below ground as above we can hope for a Christmas harvest.
Paschaltide ended with due solemnity and joy at Pentecost. Our two-hour Vigil began with seven Sisters lighting candles among flower arrangements before the altar and lectern, and continued with hymns and a series of relevant Old Testament readings, interspersed with hymns and psalms invoking the coming of the Holy Spirit. One of the songs was danced, and we had Exposition and several periods of silent prayer. At the end, each Sister laid her hands on the head of the sister next to her and prayed silently for her for a moment, recalling the sealing of each of us by the Holy Spirit at confirmation.
The dove may be a symbol of the Holy Spirit, but it was buzzards that held centre stage in our wildlife this year - not the bird of the same name in the States which is really a turkey vulture and has more sinister connotations. A pair had nested in one of our trees, and the battle with other birds who tried to drive them out was an ongoing saga for weeks, till they eventually managed to raise Buzzard Junior.
In June we had to move out of our choir to allow new lighting to be installed. This meant moving the Blessed Sacrament to a tabernacle in a room looking out into the garden, which we turned it into a chapel for the celebration of the Divine Office. And though with daily Mass in the parlour there was not enough room for the variety of musical instruments we use to accompany the hymns, it was lovely to be just a few feet from the temporary altar. We were delighted at the effect of the new system, which not only saves us a considerable amount of electricity, but also gives an even light in every part of choir - a real boon, as we spend about seven hours a day there all told in prayer and praise on behalf of all God’s people.
June brought not only the end of the Year of Saint Paul but the opening of the Year of the Priest. As always we are keen to encourage and support the many priests, known personally to us or farther afield, who continue to serve the Lord so lovingly and faithfully and often suffer greatly through the misdeeds of those who have disgraced their calling. We have therefore been making it our particular concern to gain the plenary indulgence granted this year which can be offered by the faithful on a number of occasions for priests. So we have been individually remembering by name all the priests of our own diocese and many others near and far, both living and dead, entreating God’s grace and lovingkindness for them in all their trials and difficulties.
July brought with it days of almost tropical weather, with some equally tropical downpours, and we spent long hours picking our blackberries, and raspberries, together with a record gooseberry harvest, which boded well for future jam-making. Sr Ancilla and Sr Elizabeth quite excelled themselves cutting back, tidying and pruning all the shrubs, bushes and climbing plants in the cloister garden, transforming it to a degree of trimness it has not known for some years, and making it a real pleasure to behold whenever we pass by.
That same month our dear Mother Damian and Mother Francesca attended a special Mass at Gyndwr University in Wrexham to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Bishop Regan’s ordination. Many civic and ecclesial dignitaries were present. Bishop Regan was the main celebrant and preached the homily and the singing by three school choirs was impressive.
Fr Sebastian Jones came some weeks later on the Feast of Saint Clare for the celebration of our dear Mother Francesca’s Golden Jubilee. As she had wished, it was a purely family affair, with just ourselves and Marianne present. Sr Juliana had completed a very lovely vestment for the occasion; the front depicted Our Lady holding her Divine Child, with various people sheltering under her cloak, and the back portrayed her as the Pieta, her holding the body of her Son after He had been taken down from the cross. Fr Sebastian spoke of Mother Francesca’s mystery, (she is ‘of the Annunciation’), as not only being a moment in time when Our Lady willingly accepted God’s invitation to bear His Incarnate Son, but also a moment when she accepted all the consequences of the choice in her own life. This included her own sharing in His Passion as she stood beneath His cross. During her renewal of vows in the hands of our dear Mother Damian, four Sisters stood on either side holding glass stands with a total of fifty votive lights.
The next day we gathered to present the various gifts we had made her, among them a complete typed copy of the annals of our community from its first beginnings in Flint in 1928, now more than eighty years ago. All told it comprises a fascinating account of God’s many blessings in all the ups and downs of our small family since its foundation here in Wales.
The next day was a busy one, moving absolutely everything out of our choir, public chapel and front hall as we were having them professionally cleaned from floor to ceiling and repainted. While work was in progress we ourselves spent a very blessed week on retreat, reflecting on the role of Our Lady in the Church as a whole and in our own lives as a community. This theme was especially appropriate to our dear Mother Francesca’s mystery. One of the tangible fruits of our retreat was the eventual production of a short Youtube on our life made of photo clippings and cartoons, which was edited by Bernadette Bevans, a friend from XT3 (Christ for the Third Millennium.) You can find it at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3twbqqdnisI
It has been heartening to read of the warm reception in Britain of the relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux. It was a real witness to the love of God and His people that is awakened by the sheer goodness of such a life as hers, and of its lasting value, however brief and hidden it may have seemed in her lifetime.
Once the harvest had been safely gathered in, our working hours were largely spent making items for our Autumn Fair and we would like to thank all those who helped in any way towards it, and of course to the many people who have supported us in so many ways in the course of the past year. Your help in any form is much appreciated, whether it be donations, gifts in kind, produce from Harvest Festivals, or used jam jars for recycling. We would also like to say a heartfelt “God reward you” to all who support us by their own prayers for our community and encourage us by their appreciation of our life. You can one and all be sure that you are enfolded in our hearts before the Lord. The particular intentions we receive by post, phone or e-mail for remembrance in prayer are noted down and mentioned before we recite the Office of Terce after Holy Mass. They are then placed in the petitions box by the altar in Our Lady’s shrine, in confidence that she will join her prayers with ours for all God’s people in their special needs.
And so, as Advent once more comes into sight, we thank God for all His blessings in the past year, and look forward to those He will give us in the year ahead - not only the expected ones like the visit of the Holy Father to this country and the beatification of John Henry Newman, but also the unexpected ones He will give us if our hearts are open to receive them.
With deep gratitude and loving prayers for you all, far and near, from your Poor Clare Sisters at Ty Mam Duw
Poor Clare Colettine Community
Upper Aston Hall Lane
Hawarden, Deeside
CH5 3EN North Wales G.B.
Tel [++44] [0]1244 531029
E-mail community@poorclarestmd.org
Website http://www.poorclarestmd.org