Anyone who has seen the film “Cabrini” knows that religious women jumped into the fray to provide Catholics in America with schools, health care, social services and, of course, sacramental preparation. Anyone who has read the history of our diocese knows that its first bishop, Rt. Rev. John England, founded a community called the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy. They built schools, an orphanage, hospitals and outreach centers; served white children and families along with free and enslaved African Americans; and received recognition from the Congress of the United States for their service to ill and wounded soldiers, both Confederate and Union, during the Civil War. 

Then there were the Ursulines of Columbia, whose 19th century academy was the forerunner of today’s Cardinal Newman School. Mother Baptista Lynch had a standoff with Gen. William T. Sherman when Columbia was burning in February of 1865, and she managed to save hundreds of students from the ravages and wildfires of the Civil War.

There are two saints, both religious sisters, who have left a mark on the state: Mothers Katharine Drexel and Teresa of Calcutta. The first, with her family fortune and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, provided funds and services for the construction of a number of our historically Black parishes and schools, in addition to outreach to Native Americans. The second, founder of the famed Missionaries of Charity, spoke at the Citadel in 1982, raising consciousness and urging concrete action on behalf of the poorest of the poor.

Despite the long history of religious sisters, a growing number of Catholics have limited understanding of who we are, why we live as we live and do as we do and what distinguishes one group of sisters from another. In South Carolina alone, there are at least 18 distinct religious communities of sisters present. Each has its own founding inspiration, tradition, governance and history. We have an alphabet soup of initials — OSC, CSJB, OSU, DJBP, OP, DW, HM, OLVM, HCJS, MHJE, DIMG and so on. In response to the bishop’s recommendation, this column will feature for the next year the communities that minister here and share some of their unique spirit and history.

Just the basics

First, there are some foundations to lay. The idea of women banding together for the love of Christ and the Church has its earliest manifestation in what some have called the “order of widows” noted in St. Paul’s first letter to Timothy. These were women aged at least 60 years old who were dedicated to service of the faith community. Paul described requirements of character and zeal. In the next few centuries, we find consecrated virgins and women who were the counterparts of the “desert fathers” — women who, for the sake of Christ, devoted themselves to lives of solitude and contemplation.

But the real beginning of the life of sisters in religious orders and congregations has its origin in Sts. Benedict and Scholastica and the monastic movement of the early sixth century. The Rule of St. Benedict elucidates a way of life for people dedicated to a single-sex community, bonded by vows and committed to a regimen of prayer. They offer hospitality, and live an all-around common life with their own structures of authority.

In South Carolina, the Trappist monks at Mepkin Abbey in Moncks Corner are inheritors of the Benedictine tradition as they live a life of simplicity and contemplation. Their contemplative counterparts, the Poor Clares — the Order of St. Clare located in Travelers Rest — spring from the tradition of Sts. Francis and Clare.

Francis founded a band of brothers, friars, in the 13th century who were devoted to prayer, evangelical poverty and service. The female Franciscans, founded by St. Clare, were required by Church law at that time to live a cloistered life. Later Franciscan women were able to establish active apostolic communities. In the post-Reformation era, more and more religious communities devoted to prayer and active service were founded. 

Charisms and vows

There are some common characteristics of the many orders and congregations (communities) of sisters: founding inspiration or charism; vows made to God, the Church and their community; spiritual tradition with required practices of personal and community prayer; focused sense of mission and ministry; commitment to life in community, pooling resources and talents and sharing in household responsibilities; emphasis on training that precedes vows (initial formation); and continuing education in spirituality, theology, Church documents and professional preparation and excellence (ongoing formation).

Charism is a scriptural term that refers to gifts and graces. When sisters speak of their community charism, it tends to be a broad reference to the founding spirit, the inspiration that impelled them and the gifts they offer. St. Katharine Drexel had a charism of eucharistic devotion that extended in a special way to racial minorities. St. Teresa of Calcutta clearly expressed her community’s charism in their very name. The Missionaries of Charity are based on the Eucharist, meditation and an austere lifestyle to serve the body of Christ in the very poorest of the poor.

When a woman joins a religious community, she must be drawn to its spirituality, charism and mission. The Church’s canon law establishes rules concerning the period of training, eligibility for vows and order of life in general. It also allows considerable variation in daily practices, dress and convent life. 

Common to all communities are the three core vows. Occasionally some communities, according to their charism, may have members take an additional vow (stability or mercy, for example).

Vow of poverty: An individual sister does not retain personal control over income or wealth. Any salary or stipend which she receives becomes payable to, and pooled with, the funds of the community. Any personal inheritance or trust must be administered by others. The community as a whole, however, may and should retain funds and establish trusts or foundations in the name of the whole community for the sake of ministry and the sisters’ needs. Vowed poverty is not a vow of destitution. It is a vow of communal sharing.

Vow of chastity: This requires a sister to live a chaste and single life. She does not have an exclusive intimate relationship, a sexual relationship, with another. The vow of chastity means that the “love life” of the sister is one of single-hearted devotion to the Lord, prayer, sharing in a familial way with the sisters in her community and serving others lovingly.

Vow of obedience: It obliges a sister to be obedient to community superiors, sent on mission (not necessarily of her own choosing) and observant of the community’s constitutions and directives. She understands that the will of God for her life is mediated by those who have authority over her. God’s call doesn’t simply come from her own imagination or will. Even an inspiration or impulse to a new initiative, no matter how noble, must be discerned with those who lead her community and have authority in the Church.

As we spend this year looking at the charisms of our religious in this state, I encourage readers to ask questions, recall their favorite nun stories and check out how the media portrays or misrepresents religious women. In a life that can seem stringent, many sisters manage to become colorful and profoundly effective characters — just check out Mother Cabrini.