When the old St Mary’s
Convent, Clyde St, Hamilton was being stripped in preparation for demolition, anything not claimed was display in the Boarders’ Hall for bargain hunters to go through them. One item that intrigued me was a large sepia colored photographic print of Our Lady of the Missions. It showed no signs of ever having been framed or mounted in any way. In all my years as a boarder, Sister, or visitor, I had never set eyes on it before. I claimed the picture! Small, coloured prints of this picture have always been popular with our Sisters. We had always thought of it as “our picture” – we were the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions. What of the picture’s origin I wondered?
Catherine Laborē, an obscure 19th century French Sister of Charity had several visions of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, all requiring some action. The small miraculous medal was one such action. Another devotion Mary showed Catherine Laborē was a picture of Our Lady of the Missions – an upright, white-robed figure of Mary, looking to heaven, holding the globe of the world representing the whole human race.
In 1861, Euphrasie Barbier founded our Congregation – the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions. At first, some critics objected to the title, citing Mary was never a missionary! When Euphrasie Barbier began to write the Constitutions defining the purpose for the Congregation, it was the understanding of the Divine Missions which inspired her.
The old sepia print of Our Lady of the Missions is now coloured, framed and hung. But the mystery of its presence in Hamilton is still a mystery. We hope to use resources at our disposal to solve this mystery.
“Thank you Mary Philippa. A longer, more detailed account of this venture is available from Christine, our archivist. We hope she might be able to track down more of the story.”