THE foundress of a religious congregation for women who worked for the elderly poor is set to be canonized in a solemn ceremony on October 11, 2009 in Rome.
Jeanne Jugan, a Frenchwoman who founded a congregation called Little Sisters of the Poor will be elevated to sainthood together with four other blesseds including Fr. Damien, the leper of Molokai.
The Little Sisters of the Poor has two communities here in the Philippines, one is Pasay and another in Bolinao, Pangasinan where the novitiate is located.
“We are very happy. It is an affirmation of our vocation, of our work, of the way [to holiness which] our foundress ha[d] shown us. And also we are happy for the elderly people in the world, because she is a saint for the elderly, a special patroness,” said Mother Imelda Primosh, the superior of San Lorenzo Ruiz Home in Lancaster St., Pasay City.
Primosh, an American, said a delegation from the Philippines will go to Rome in October to witness the canonization.
“There will be two from each community of Pasay and Bolinao, one postulant, one novice, three volunteers, and maybe two priest-friends,” she said.
The nun said more than a thousand are expected to participate in the event from all their communities all over the world.
“We heard that India will send more than a hundred in delegation. Surely, countries that are closer [to Rome] will send more,” she said.
A local celebration is slated on October 24 with a thanksgiving mass at the Manila Cathedral to be led by Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales. The Papal Nuncio is also expected to grace the event as well as other bishops and priests.
On October 25, birthday of Jeanne Jugan, the Sisters will open their convent to friends and benefactors for a day-long festivities and thanksgiving for the grace received.
Caring for the elderly poor
Of French origin, the congregation was founded in 1839 to care for the elderly poor who have nothing to eat and nowhere to go. The Little Sisters are now spread in 32 countries in five continents. In the Philippines the first community, the San Lorenzo Ruiz Home for the Elderly, was established in Pasay in January 2004. It currently houses 43 elderly residents.
A second that can accommodate 60 residents was built in Pangasinan in 2008. A formation house for novices and postulants was also built in the same site. The community now has three novices and three postulants.
Although the congregation is new in the country, it has already a large number of Filipino Sisters.
Primosh said their Filipino vocations were either migrants or overseas Filipino workers who entered abroad.
Sr. Ofelia Ripasa, one of the two Filipinas who are currently assigned at San Lorenzo Home said she met the sisters while working in Hong Kong.
“I was a volunteer to the Home of the Sisters. I saw the work they were doing. That’s how I was encouraged in my vocation,” she explained.
“Those who have entered abroad are mostly working there. There are a few who are migrants, but many of them were overseas workers,” Primosh added.
“We have the export quality,” Ripasa quipped. “Our Filipino vocations are not rooted here,” she added.
The six sisters in San Lorenzo Home are a mixture of five nationalities: two Filipinas who entered abroad, one American, one Sri Lankan, one British and one Singaporean.
But with their patroness in heaven and a formation house in place, the community is hopeful local vocations will come.
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