A Poem by Sr. Anna Mae Marheineke, RSCJ

Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture.  Today's blog post is a poem taken from the book"Smile the Sun Around My Heart" The Collection of Poems of Anna Mae Marheineke, RSCJ.  Sr. Marheineke is a 1934 alumna of the Academy of Saint Charles and currently resides in California at the Oakwood Retirement Community. 

Ecce...Lux!

There's a forsythia beneath my window - 
second story.
Three bushes in a row,
and one all by its golden self
next to a stubborn elm, slow-
greening to Spring.
That frail yellow finery is more 
than a little brave, daring 
a sudden icy wind whipped loose
from the West.  The noose 
of winter urgently yields
to kite-crowded skies and expectant fields
turned to a timid sun. Dark, long
months my heart has hounded the dawn.
Now, breathless it catches Resurrection joy
resolute, buoyam, in the throng
of golden bells lacing slim
forsythia branches bright
below me. Deal kindly, O season
of life. Behold the handmaid of Light!

                                  --- Anna Mae Marheineke, RSCJ

Note:  If you wish to purchase a copy of Sr. Marheineke's collection of poems look under the heading on the right "Books by Sacred Heart Alum Authors" and click on the link to her book.

Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - also International Literacy Day

Today we celebrate the Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary 

September 8, 1818 ~ On this feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Bishop Du Bourg offered the first Mass in the little convent at St. Charles.

Taken from the book:  Through the Year with Philippine Duchesne

September 8th is International Literacy Day.  The United Nations (UN) International Literacy Day annually falls on September 8 to raise people's awareness of and concern for literacy issues in the world. The theme this year is Literacy for Peace.


Below is a reprint of a letter received from Cecile Meijer, rscj ~ NGO Office.  To learn more click here.

Our Commitment to Literacy and Growth for All

Wherever we as members of the Society of the Sacred Heart are present, we are engaged in education of many kinds and at differing levels. From early childhood care and education, to formal education in schools and universities, to vocational training as well as non-formal education for the excluded and marginalized, RSCJ are educators at heart.

Our educational work often also includes basic literacy – for women who never had a chance to learn or for migrants and refugees who need to study a new language but who lack the basic reading and writing skills even in their own mother tongue. As an ingredient of education, literacy is part of our service as educators, one of the many manifestations of our “walking with humanity” towards a more inclusive and equal world.

As the cornerstone of education, literacy too is a human right and, as such, a matter of justice. Literacy means empowerment and, as our experience as RSCJ has shown repeatedly, it is the most fundamental contributor to human and social development which leads to reduction of poverty, improvement of child mortality rates, gender equality, peace, as well as other social and sustainable development gains.

In the Ministerial Declaration entitled Implementing the internationally agreed goals and commitments in regard to education, which was unanimously adopted at the High-level segment of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) session on July 8, 2011, governments expressed their concern about the slow progress on certain Education for All (EFA) goals. The governments, gathered in Geneva, reaffirmed

“the need to redouble efforts to drastically reduce the intolerably high number of the non-literate population, with a special focus on women, including the further implementation of the International Plan of Action for the United Nations Literacy Decade, and promote lifelong learning with the ultimate goal of preventing and breaking the cycle of low literacy and creating a fully literate world.”

These Education for All goals, six in total, were concluded at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, in April 2000, and address the learning needs of children, youth and adults. UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, is the lead agency for the UN’s educational efforts and has a leading role in implementing the Education for All goals.

For more information about UNESCO’s work in regard specifically to literacy, please see:

•      the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012) (UNLD) which has “Literacy as Freedom” as its motto.

•  the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE), which serves as the framework for implementing the goals of the Literacy Decade, LIFE focuses on 35 distinct countries in which the vast majority of the world’s non-literate people live.

Cecile Meijer, rscj

NGO Office – July 2011

To: St. Madeleine Sophie Barat

 Artist rendering of the First Brick Convent 1835
by Beverly Zoellner Groneck, SC'69

August 19, 1851 ~  Philippine writes to Madeleine Sophie Barat: "I beg you never to close this house of St. Charles.  If you could only see the pretty place we have here, standing beside the church, you would not have the courage to take it from us. I sympathize sincerely with all the crosses you have to carry, but I beg you, take mine away by safeguarding the existence of this, our first dwelling-place in America." 

Taken from the book: Through the Year with Philippine Duchesne


The mural above can be seen as you enter the Academy of the Sacred Heart Archives lower level.  Artist and alumna Beverly Zoellner Groneck, SC '69 was commissioned to draw murals featuring significant historical buildings and quotes as you descend the staircase leading into the archives.

To: Father Charles De La Croix

Potawatomi Indians

August 7, 1842 ~ Mother Duchesne writes to Father De La Croix, "As I lead a very solitary life here at St. Charles now, I can employ my time in making reparation for the past and in preparing for death; but I cannot put out of my mind the thought of the Indians, and my ambition carries me even to the Rockies.  I can only adore the designs of God Who has taken from me the thing I had so long desired."
Taken from the book:  Through the Year with Philippine Duchesne

St. Philippine’s Second Home ~ Florissant, Missouri

Last Saturday morning after a bit of reflection, prayer and a brief history of the Round House, the AASH Board traveled with Sr. Margaret Munch, RSCJ to Florissant, Missouri.  The commute is less than thirty minutes from the Shrine in St. Charles. It is here in Florissant that St. Philippine made her second home in America and spent nearly fifteen years of her life.  This is the first permanent convent-school building in which Philippine lived. It was here that she laid the cornerstone, which read, “My Heart will abide here.”  It was here that she slept in the space under the convent stairs, adjacent to the chapel, where she spent many hours in prayer.

I would highly recommend that anyone interesting in learning more about Philippine's early years come and visit the Old St. Ferdinand Shrine and become a friend of the shrine.


Click here for a news clip featuring Sr. Munch talking about Old St. Ferdinand Shrine on Local News 4.

Greetings from AASH President 2011-2013

I have been "on the job" as President of AASH for almost one full month. Today, I have decided to take the plunge and start a blog. I hope to keep you updated with current news and events, as well as share my experiences serving as President of the Associated Alumnae & Alumni of the Sacred Heart. Our first board meeting of the biennium was hosted last weekend at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in St. Charles, MO. Margaret Munch, RSCJ took this photo of AASH board members and our new National Office Director at the steps leading up to the front entrance of the school. I will post more on our weekend in St. Charles so be sure to check back!