Our Heritage and Story

1. Where it began

Introduction

Hello viewer, what would you like me to share with you?

My religious name is Sr M Francine Shaw and this is my first contribution to the website. Why am I now writing? Well, after years of ministry in education at various levels and time spent in pastoral work in the Kimberley WA, I have been very involved in recent years in research on our foundress, Elizabeth (Mother M Ignatius) Hayes. In particular, I’ve been uncovering the richness of her mission through journalism that she carried out over twenty-one years when journalism was almost exclusively a male-dominated domain. When most religious women in USA were busy teaching and nursing in 1874, Elizabeth commenced editing and publishing the world’s first Franciscan journal in English. Her success laid a foundation for 100 years of communication to Franciscans and general readers through a monthly periodical called the Annals of Our Lady of the Angels. In the months ahead I hope to share the fruit of some of my research and if you want to contact me directly, to ask questions or to make suggestions, please feel free to e-mail me and I will be happy to respond.

One way of introducing Elizabeth Hayes to you is to situate her where she began our Franciscan Institute in USA. Then briefly I will tell the story of her interesting life, through early years on the Channel Island of Guernsey, her life in England, Scotland, Jamaica and parts of Europe, her time in Minnesota and Georgia and finally her fruitful years in Rome. We might try a whirlwind tour and then return for a more detailed pilgrimage if our viewers wish this. Elizabeth is a fascinating woman, for while many courageous 19th century religious women founded communities and were well known in particular cities or areas, this Franciscan foundress acted differently. She moved often, as one historian wrote, from a centre to the periphery and then back to the centre again. Time and again she confronted challenges and turned them into a means of expressing love and determination.

I hope you will join me when the trans-Atlantic tour commences.

Where it all began

Standing knee deep in snow on our former property in Belle Prairie, Morrison County, Minnesota was an experience never to be forgotten by an Australian visitor. Some years ago I’d visited this area where our foundress and her pioneer sisters began our particular Franciscan family but this last visit was in winter and the experience had a richness all of its own. I was surrounded by the virgin forest that is now a park on the bank of the Mississippi River. Elizabeth (Mother M Ignatius) Hayes braved this place at the end of 1872 in order to open a girls’ school, St Anthony’s Academy, at the beginning of 1873 - so the local newspapers announced. The curriculum was impressive. Elizabeth, well qualified for the ministry of education, had not only a dream of being a missionary in a frontier town but also a desire to invite other women to come and share her search for God in the Franciscan Way of Life.

Not far away from today’s park stands the Belle Prairie Church founded in 1852, built from stones taken from the river. The Catholic people in frontier towns had established a custom of replacing their first log cabin Mass-centre with a church and it appears that Belle Prairie was no exception. It was the log cabin that became the home of Elizabeth and her first companion, Alice (Sr M Clare) Peet. The first winter they experienced was one of the coldest on record. A replica of the log cabin stands today as a reminder of Elizabeth and all the foundresses and founders who braved the ‘Wild West’ in order to serve the local people of whom many had come to USA to escape religious persecution in Europe, particularly in Germany and France. The first wooden convent-school stood nearby and served the growing number of sisters and students for some years until it was reduced to ashes in 1889. It was replaced years later by a substantial building and growth continued until our sisters built a high school in 1963. Events after some years caused the sisters' final withdrawal from ‘the cradle’ of Elizabeth Hayes’ institute.

P.S. If you wish to log onto a great website about Minnesota then try the Minnesota Historical Society. In 2001, I did research in the impressive headquarters of the Society in St Paul (twin city of Minneapolis). Since then I’ve stayed in contact through this website and enjoyed its many presentations and updates.

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