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Her assignment as portress gave her the opportunity to share Therese with many others. Until Sister Stanislaus died in 1911, aged only 31, she corresponded with Mother Agnes of Jesus, Therese’s sister Pauline. The letters from Mother Agnes are posted on this site. As a result of this correspondence, the Carmelite Monastery in Philadelphia became the “depot” for thousands of booklets, pictures, and articles promoting devotion to St. Thérèse [as well as relics].
The new arrivals “are all in their 20s and 30s and they are all devout, intelligent and talented, and many were home-schooled,” the Prioress said. “They want an authentic Carmelite vocation. We will have a solemn profession for several of them in January and one is still a novice.”
For many years, the Philadelphia Carmel had been part of an association. When our Nuns arrived, it was assumed that withdrawing from this association would be a small matter. After all, the Nuns had been invited by the community and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia with the clear understanding that they were part of a young, thriving, dedicated Order who loved the Extraordinary Form of the Holy Mass and the time-honored traditions of the Discalced Carmelites. As attempts were being made to not only interfere with but to obstruct their way of life, the Nuns tried one way after another to gracefully bow out of this pre-existing commitment. When it became painfully clear that the freedom to maintain their identity as originally promised by the Archdiocese was not being honored, the only option left to the Nuns was to return to the monastery in Valparaiso, Nebraska. They did this in the most correct way possible, fulfilling all canonical requirements.
In the case of the Carmelite Nuns who left Philadelphia, there was obviously a serious problem between two parties: the community of Nuns coming from Valparaiso, NE, and Fairfield, PA, to rejuvenate the Philadelphia Carmel on the one hand, and the Archdiocese, Father General, and the Association of St. Joseph on the other hand. If the Congregation was unbiased they would investigate BOTH sides of the problem – but instead the Congregation has already decided that the traditional Nuns are in the wrong and this is obvious because instead of using a third party to investigate both sides of the story the Congregation chose people on one side of the problem to investigate those on the other side of the problem (the Visitator [Father Rafal Wilkowski] is one of Father General’s right hand men – a Definitor on Father General’s Counsel, and the Co-Visitators are the current and former President of the Association). The Co-Visitators actually sent spies; they discussed the need to stop me from bringing the Sacraments and to switch the [Fairfield] Nuns over to the Novus Ordo Mass; they discussed strategies for turning the benefactors away from these traditional communities.