 We remember our French roots—the small town of Tours where three young women: Pauline Bazire, Athanais Hainque, and Julie Therese Chevrel, inspired by the Carmelite Way, and encouraged by their pastor, Fr. Charles Boutelou, formed a new religious community, a Carmelite community that would “reflect God’s presence and concern for ‘the suffering members of Jesus Christ.’” We remember the profound struggles of those early years: the poverty, the political turmoil, the misunderstandings within and without. We celebrate today the vision and courage of those three women and their priest-friend, and we believe with all our hearts the prophecy of M. St. Paul to M. Therese: “Carmel will live in another country. God will use you; you will cross the sea and Carmel will not perish.”
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We remember the subsequent journey across the sea by M. Therese Chevrel and Sr. St. Augustin Clerc. Disembarking in La Nouvelle Orleans on Nov. 2, 1833, they entered a new world—mercifully a French-speaking world. Invited to administer a school for free girls of color, the Sisters were sent instead by Bishop Leo de Neckere to Plattenville, a place which M. Therese remembered as “a place of such peace and happiness.” Called back to the city in 1838, New Orleans became a permanent home for the Sisters of Mount Carmel. The St. Claude Street School, another school for white girls, our motherhouse in St. Augustine Parish, later the beginnings of Mount Carmel Academy, all these formed the center of the community for many years. Even today, one can read above the main altar at St. Augustine’s Church: “Si to savais le don de Dieu.” If you knew God’s gift!”
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