| SISTER THEOPHANE BIOGRAPHY |
| SOURCE: SR THEOPHANCE FILE AT NOTRE DAME MOTHERHOUSE, WATERDOWN SPECIAL THANKS TO: JOAN HELM - ARCHIVIST |
| MAE WAS BORN ON A FARM NEAR AYTON, ON AUGUST 5, 1892 INTO A FAMILY OF 5 BOYS AND 6 GIRLS. HER IRISH CATHOLIC PARENTS INSTILLED A DEEP FAITH AND TRUST IN GOD INTO THEIR CHERISHED GIFTS FROM A LOVING FATHER. THIS FAITH, FORTIFIED BY PRAYER, ESPECIALLY THE DAILY FAMILY ROSARY, NUTURED THE SEED OF A RELIGIOUS VOCATION IN TWO OF THEIR CHILDREN, WALTER AND MAE, WHO BECAME RT. REV. W. J. HAWKINS AND SISTER THEOPHANE. AT THE AGE OF TWENTY MAE HEARD GOD'S CALL, APPROACHED HER PASTOR, RT. REV. M. HALM, WHO DIRECTED HER TO OUR ASPIRATURE, ST. ANNE'S CONVENT SCHOOL, KITCHENER. STRAIGHTWAY SHE SET OUT FOR KITCHENER WITH BAG AND BAGGAGE. THE CONVENT PORTRESS WELCOMED THE UNANNOUNCED GUEST BUT OUR FUTURE SISTER PROMPTLY REPIED, 'I CAME TO STAY, NOT TO VISIT'. THIS SHE DID FOR FORTY-NINE YEARS AS A PROFESSED RELIGIOUS. SISTER COMPLETED HER HIGH SCHOOL STUDIES AS ASPIRANT AND LATER AS CANDIDATE, AND WAS RECEIVED IN MILWAUKEE, JULY 25, 1915. THE DATES OF FIRST AND FINAL VOWS WERE JULY 26, 1917 AND JULY 26, 1924. SISTER WAS A BORN TEACHER. HOW SHE LOVED HER LITTLE GRADE ONCE PUPILS WHEN OUR SISTERS FIRST WENT TO CAMBRIDGE (GALT) IN 1920! HER COMPANION SISTERS TELL OF HER ENTHUSIASM OVER THE DRAMATIZATION OF 'THE LITTLE RED HEN' STORY IN THE PRIMER. BUT SISTER WAS EQUALLY SUCCESSFUL WITH OLDER CLASSES, WHO NEVER FORGOT SISTER THEOPHANE. 'SHE GAVE US SUCH WONDERFUL APPRECIATION OF OUR CATHOLIC FAITH' COMMENTED ONE OF THEM. SISTER SPENT HER ENTIRE LIFE AS A TEACHER IN THE SEPERATE SCHOOLS OF WATERLOO COUNTY. FAMILY TIES WERE ALWAYS STRONG. FAMILY PHOTOS OF THREE GENERATIONS WERE HER MOST TREASURED EARTHLY POSSESSION. AT EIGHTY SHE KNEW EVERY MEMBER BY NAME. THEY APPRECIATED ESPECIALLY THE CONCERN FOR THEIR SPIRITUAL GROWTH WHICH SHE ALWAYS SHOWED. BUT HER REVERAND BROTHER, FATHER WALTER, MEANT EVERYTHING TO HER. THEIR LIVES WERE CLOSELY LINKED BY THE BONDS OF THEIR COMMON DEDICATION TO CHRIST'S KINGDOM. BOTH DEEMED IT A PRIVILEGE THAT SISTER CATECHIZED IN FATHER'S RURAL PARISH OF TEESWATER FOR SEVERAL SUMMERS. EACH YEAR THE PARISHIONERS REQUESTED SISTER'S RETURN. STRANGE THAT SISTER WHO LOVED HER SSND COMMUNITY SO DEARLY SHOULD BE CALLED HER ETERNAL REWARD DURING A VISIT WITH HER LAST SURVIVING BROTHER, MATTHEW, AND HIS FAMILY IN AJAX, ONTARIO ON SEPTEMBER 20, 1975. A TOUCHING PICTURE AT THE GRAVESIDE WAS A SEMI-CIRCLE OF SORROWING CHILDREN--HER GRANDNEPHEWS AND NIECES, FLANKED BY HER BROTHER, HER THREE SISTERS, NEWPHEWS, NIECES, RELATIVES AND FRIENDS. THE BONDS OF COMMUNITY, HOWEVER, WERE EVEN STRONGER. IN THE SSND FAMILY SISTER LEAVES PRECIOUS MEMORIES OF A BEAUTIFUL COMPANION SISTER AND A DEVOTED LOCAL LEADER. THE EXAMPLE OF HER TOTAL COMMITMENT TO HER SISTERS, AND HER OWN DEEP PRAYER LIFE, WOULD MAKE A BIOGRAPHY IN ITSELF. PERHAPS HER RETIREMENT YEARS SPEAK MOST ELOQUENTLY OF SISTER'S 'ONE NECESSITY'. SHE CHERISHED THE THOUGHT THAT SHE WAS BORN ON THE FEAST OF THE DEDICATION OF OUR LADY OF THE SNOW, HENCE HER GREAT DEVOTION TO THE ROSARY. HER PATRON, ST. THEOPHANE VENARD, APOSTLE OF THE EUCHARIST, PROMPTED HER PREPARATION FOR THE EUCHARIST LITURGY WITH HER COMMUNITY, AND THE STUDY OF THE LITURGY OF THE WORD FOR THE NEXT DAY. HER OWN PHYSICAL SUFFERING AND THAT OF HER COMPANIONS, THE SICK AND THE AGING, DREW HER TO THE DAILY WAY OF THE CROSS. SISTER WAS HAPPY WHEN A COMPANION SISTER SHARED SOME INSIGHTS DRAWN FROM A COMMENTARY ON SACRED SCRIPTURE. SHE IN TURN OFTEN REVEALED WHAT SHE HEARD IN HER INNER SPIRIT AS SHE LISTENED TO HER BELOVED. TO HER, ALL THIS WAS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE BUILDING UP OF THE BODY OF CHRIST, THE CHURCH. MAY HER POWERFUL INTERCESSION DEEPEN OUR PRAYER AND COMMUNITY LIFE, AND BRING NEW RECRUITS TO OUR CANADIAN PROVINCE WHICH SISTER LOVED SO WELL. MAY SISTER REST IN PEACE! |