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| 1930 : Landslides on the Hill of Fourvière |
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X - May 2006 |
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Just as we were beginning to enjoy the lovely new chapel,
the regular life of our cells, the new cleanliness of our
old buildings, and just when our little monastery had the
joy of receiving two more sisters, recently professed -
Sr M Michelle and Sr M Lorenzina - and we had started organising
everything to be ready to receive more beloved sisters,
who were due to arrive soon, just as we were at last living
our life of prayer and work in peace and happiness, suddenly
the cross has appeared…casting us into the unknown
and the uncertain, as if to prove that God alone suffices,
and that with Him even if everything else around the Christian
soul falls to pieces, the one thing necessary will never
be lacking.
We had heard about Mr M Gaston’s worries: he was
anxious about the solidity of one of the wings of the building,
and was having it evacuated […] but there was no reason
for us to be concerned about our own little convent. So
during the night of the 12th- 13th our Holy Hour had taken
place as usual. It was only afterwards that some of us heard
landslides in the distance, but we thought it was simply
the wing that had
been evacuated.
The wall of our enclosure, with the white statue of Mary,
seems to have been the grain of sand which halted the fury
of the elements, as when God said to them: thou shalt go
thus far but no further. The part of the huge field on the
left which was nearest to us, was transformed into an abyss,
the enormous mass of land had been carried off by subterranean
waters, hidden up till then, and had been thrown over the
houses built at the base, dragging them off and crushing
them in a matter of seconds.
Sionian letter,
November 1930, written by Mère Christine
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| Diary
of the contemplative house |
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1930
13 November
In the morning we heard what had happened. […]Abbé
Boulin took the Blessed Sacrament, and we took the sacred
vessels, and valuables, and a loaf of bread, and by order
of the municipality, we were taken to the
Sisters of Charity. We were pleased to find Mr M Gaston and
his family again. We settled in, and ate our bread, and said
our prayers in part of the common room that was assigned to
us. It was only then that the extent of the catastrophe began
to sink in.
15 November:
We are looking for somewhere else to stay as the Sisters of
Charity have too many people, and too much work.
17 November:
We say goodbye to our wonderful Sisters of Charity, we are
leaving them to go to the “Hope” home.
21 November:
Our dear little Sr Lorenzina is to leave us, Notre Mère
gave her her obedience yesterday, she is going to Paris with
the promise of returning to the contemplative group as soon
as possible.
23 November:
Day of adoration! at last! between Mass, and Benediction at
2.30…
Matins and Lauds as usual in Notre Mère’s room.
31 December:
We end the year in thanksgiving and adoration! 1931 is in
God’s care.
In the evening we find Sion again and our Mothers!
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1931
21 February:
We hear from Paris that from now on the Solitude at
Grandbourg is to be our home.
F i a t! It is a consolation for us, and our Mothers
are doing us a great kindness, for that is where Notre
Père lived and prayed and worked, and everything
there is full of memories of him.
27 March:
Notre Mère and Sr Dionysius … have been
told that our three younger sisters are to go on ahead,
they will be leaving on Tuesday.
31 March:
Farewells and departure. Please God the separation will
not be for long.
9 April:
At 1.30 the train sets off – it is not without
emotion that we are leaving the past of these last four
years, so short, but so full! Abandon to Providence.
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| «The 'white
statue'
at Lyons », which was taken
to Grandbourg and placed
in the front garden
of the Solitude. |
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“This is
the motto that fills the whole of the Gospel:
CONFIDENCE.
It is the password to everywhere,
but especially to the one thing necessary,
to LOVE. ”
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