A reflection on some memories – Janet Baxendale, SC (NY) – additions by Regina Bechtle, SC(NY), 6.2025

My Role: Chair of the Liturgy Committee for the Canonization

• Recent degree in Liturgy from Notre Dame U. – made it logical
• BUT, Canonzation itself was based in Rome
  • +Papal MCs and Liturgists at Vatican
  • +Ancient Traditional Rite

In large part determined the nuts and bolts of the service assisted by the – Major Superiors of the SC Branches who determined who would be involved in the Ministerial roles of the Canonization Mass

SO -Neither I nor the Liturgy Committee had much to do with the planning for the canonization ceremony itself, apart from assisting with some organizational details when needed.

2. Our Principal Responsibility was for what was called the Triduum of Masses: Three Masses held on the 16, 17, 18 of September in the beautiful basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. For these Masses we were responsible for

• General Organization;
• Overseeing choice of texts; music; ministerial distribution among the various branches;
• Together with many other details

Each of Masses was presided over by a different bishop (Ordinaries of dioceses in which the oldest foundations of S.C.s were established):

• September 16 – Lawrence Cardinal Shehan, Archbishop of Baltimore, the Archdiocese in which Emmitsburg is located

• September 17 – Terence Cardinal Cooke, Archbishop of New York, diocese of Elizabeth Seton’s birth and to which she sent at the request of Archbishop John Hughes, a group of Sisters to assist in service to the poor

• September 18 – Archbishop Joseph Bernadin, then Archbishop of Cincinnati, Ohio, the home of the third oldest of the Sisters of Charity foundations in the US.

Each Mass was focused on a different aspect of the life of Elizabeth Ann Seton:

Mother Seton as wife, mother and widow

Mother Seton as Religious Foundress

Mother Seton as Apostolic Minister in the Church

Sept. 18

As with entire celebration of the Canonization:

There was strong collaboration among the branches of Daughters of Elizabeth Seton

• really for the first time in their history
• collaboration which began years before with the establishment of the Federation of the Daughters of Elizabeth Seton and the movement for Mother Seton’s canonization
• and climaxed by this week of celebration in Rome

Program for the Triduum of Masses lists the Sisters from the various branches who carried out ministerial roles:

Reading the Scriptures

Proclaiming petitions in the Prayer of the Faithful

Presenting the Gifts at the Offertory

Leading the Song of the assembled congregation

Serving in the choir, enriching the beauty of these Masses

These ministerial lists made it very clear that these celebrations were the joint work of all of the branches.

3. Most outstanding moment of this entire event for me – took place on the morning of the day before the canonization

• Sr Mgt Dowling [President (Major Superior), SCNY].- lobby of hotel with the news that Pope Paul VI had given permission for one of the Sisters to do a Scripture Reading at the Canonization Mass.
• Followed many petitions to Rome from the Federation and from friends of the Federation – all having received a negative response UNTIL the Holy Father intervened on September 13
• And so, the first reading, the reading from the Book of Sirach on the Valiant Woman – was read by Sr.
  Hildegarde Mahoney, President of the Federation and Major Superior of the Sisters of Charity of Convent Station, NJ
  For me – particularly happy choice:
• in my role on the Liturgy Committee, – person with whom I had worked most closely was Sister Hildegarde
• Genuinely impressed by her firm, wise and gentle leadership
• There will inevitably be rough patches when a large number of people from different backgrounds collaborate on a project of such significance
• were not many – but WERE some and in each of them Sr. Hildegarde was a quiet, peaceful influence that was invaluable to the spirit of collabortation necessary to the work in which we were engaged.

SO – I was delighted that Sister Hildegarde became the FIRST WOMAN IN HISTORY TO PROCLAIM THE WORD OF GOD AT A PAPAL MASS IN SAINT PETER’S SQUARE

The other noteworthy and similar event was the permission given to the Emmitsburg Chorus, a group of Sisters and Lay Persons under the direction of Sr. Jane Marie Perrot, a Daughter of Charity, to sing with the Sistine Choir at the Canonization Mass.

In 1975 which was the International Women’s Year these were important milestones in the recognition of the role of women not only in secular society, but also in the life of the

4. And finally – for me, – another very significant aspect of the pilgrimage experience was

• my first experience of the full majesty, dignity and reverence of a major celebration in St Peter’s Square,
• and my first opportunity to see the Holy Father in person.

One of the Sisters on the pilgrimage who was privileged to participate in the private audience with Pope Paul VI held for the Major Superiors of the branches, their Councillors and some others, immediately following the canonization ceremony observed later:

I must confess that I have always thought of Pope Paul as a rather distant person, cool and aloof, but in that moment when I was presented to him and our eyes met, I had a tremendous awareness of a person who was, in that instant, totally present to me. I knew that I was not simply someone on a reception line, but that I was to him an individual, a soul whom he had touched. I shall not easily forget that moment, or that day.

Similar thoughts came to me as the Holy Father began his homily He spoke, – not just from words on a paper in front of him, but from the heart: -“She is a Saint! Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton IS a SAINT!!”

At that moment I had the sense that he really understood just how much that declaration meant to those who had come from near and far to celebrate her sainthood. He was celebrating for us but also WITH US!

The Liturgy Committee had determined – a plan destined never to be carried out – that at the conclusion of the Mass the closing hymn would be Holy God, We Praise Thy Name, sung by each person present in his or her own language.

What we had not anticipated was the response of those gathered in the square as the Holy Father made his way down the steps in front of the altar to the apron and walked, with some difficulty due to his age, from one side of the apron to the other, raising his arms in a gesture of greeting and affection. The enormous crowd stood and cheered and cheered… no hymn, just cries of appreciation and affection for the man who had led us in this wonderful day.

As I look back on that day forty years ago, I rejoice again in that extraordinary experience of faith, pride, gratitude and perhaps above all, unity which washed over us then.

Forty years later I wonder whether we do not need

• to be reminded of the spirit which animated us on the day of the canonization
• to rise above those things which, in the intervening years have confused and sometimes divided us; to become aware, once again, of the higher, greater truths of our faith which unite us, allowing them to draw us together once again.

In these forty years, we all have experienced joys and sorrows, triumphs and failures, events that have shaken our foundations – and perhaps been life-changing.

I am reminded of some words of that familiar, well-loved American hymn, Amazing Grace:

The Lord has promised good to me, his word my hope secures; he will my shield and portion be as long as life endures

Through many dangers, toils and snares we have already come.

Twas grace that brought us safe thus far, and grace will lead us home.

May we, in our journey to God, in which September 14, 1975, played so significant a role, be once again engulfed in awareness of the rich ties of faith that bind us together with one another, and with the whole of God’s Church.