The Society of the Sacred Heart
Australia-Aotearoa
New Zealand ,
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The Society of the Sacred Heart
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It is not what you are nor what you have been that God sees with
all merciful eyes,
There is something wanting in education where a child has not had its share of leisure, to be rapt in silence and alone… Janet Stuart rscJ
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Those who
have been to Rome have no doubt visited the Spanish Steps. Just above those
steps towers the
Trinita Dei Monti, a Convent and School which, until recently was run by
the Sisters of the Sacred Heart.
In 1844, a young postulant by the name of Pauline Perdrau, asked permission of the Superior to paint a fresco of Our Lady in the shallow archway in the wall of a corridor. The Superior, knowing Pauline’s lack of experience, was unenthusiastic but finally gave in. An Italian craftsman prepared for her each day the space she was to paint, which meant she had to paint for seven or eight consecutive hours as the paint had to be applied on moist stucco. By July 1st, the painting was finished, but according to one account “the tones were so glaring that it was pronounced hideous.“ Mother de Cariolis, the Superior “condemned it utterly and ordered its erasure.” Pauline was naturally very disappointed, but the craftsman who had helped her prevailed on the Superior to cover it with a sheet. Some weeks later, during a spring-cleaning exercise, the sheet was removed and the colours of the painting had miraculously softened.
The
picture became known as the Madonna of the Lily, but subsequently a nun who
was staying at the Trinita after her escape from a Russian prison, was
praying the Litany of Loreto in front of the painting. When she came to the
invocation, she heard a voice repeat it three times, so the Madonna was henceforth known under that name. This was confirmed later that year by Pope Pius IX on his first visit to the Trinita, for on seeing the painting he exclaimed, “She is admirable!” He blessed the picture, confirmed the Liturgical name of Mater Admirabilis and granted a Feast Day in her honour to be kept on October 20th. Pauline painted the Madonna in pink, praying in the temple with the dawn breaking behind her and with a work basket and open book beside her because she envisaged her as a model of prayer and study for young girls on the threshold of life.
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Society
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