Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions 1861-2011

Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions

Treasuring our Past: Shaping Our Future

1861-2011

Along with the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, our school celebrates the 150^th anniversary of the founding of this order of Sisters, the same order which established St Joseph’s Ashburton.

The order was founded by an inspiring French woman, Euphrasie Barbier in 1861,    as she followed her devotion to the Trinity and her desire to devote her life to the foreign missions. Euphrasie called her new Congregation Our Lady of the Missions, a name which expressed the group’s special character and spirit. In 1864  Euphrasie sent the first four Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions from Lyon in France to the Congregation’s first mission in Napier, New Zealand. From this time on many foundations grew and the order and its schools continued to flourish throughout New Zeaalnd, Sydney, Australia and the Pacific Islands .

The Sisters of the Mission came from France to the Christchurch Diocese in 1868. The Sisters arrived in Ashburton in 1884 and the Sacred Heart School opened on 21^st May 1884, with 17 girls as the first students. In 1894 the school was moved from its original site on Wakanui Rd. to its present site. While the Sisters have long since left our school, the history of the school should be remembered and celebrated and the three fundamental beliefs of Euphrasie Barbier reflected in our own school’s special character. They are  Contemplation (prayer and reflection), Communion (loving union with God and others), Mission (living the Gospel and taking the Good News to others).

Euphrasie set out often, enduring long sea voyages, sickness and shipwrecks to visit the various groups before she died in 1892. The primary work of the Sisters whether in NZ, India, France or England is the empowerment of women and the care of children. Euphrasie Barbier’s passion was to take the gospel to far places in the world and to bring education and opportunities for all peoples particularly women and children and the marginalised.  Education is central to the missionary work of the Congregation.

In the world today RNDM’s take courageous and prophetic positions which confront situations of injustice and exploitation.

Sisters of the Mission can be found in Kenya and Senegal, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam, British Isles and Ireland, France and Canada, Bolivia and Peru, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and New Zealand.   We have individual sisters on mission in Cambodia, East Timor and Sudan.

Now in 2012 there are about 100 sisters living in New Zealand and some 20 sisters living in the following countries: Australia, Canada, British Isles, France, Kenya, Philippines, Rome, Samoa,and Sudan.

Our children will be studying the life and work of Euphrasie Barbier as well as developing an understanding of the work  of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions today. We will welcome Sister Imelda Lindsay into our school to talk with the children, and we will come together with the Parish on August 15^th to celebrate Mass in honour of our Founders.