On October 1, 2020, the feast of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Most Rev. David Kagan of the Diocese of Bismarck established the Servants of the Children of Light, a Public Association of the Christian Faithful for Women. The community has the apostolate of Catholic Montessori education rooted in a life of contemplative prayer. The Servants currently serve at Christ the King Catholic Montessori School in Mandan, North Dakota, just west of Bismarck.
Many people do not associate Montessori Education with the Catholic Church, but it was Dr. Maria Montessori’s dream to have a religious order promoting her vision of childhood education. “An individual working alone can be compared to a man digging by himself in a field whereas the work of a religious Order, by comparison, is like that accomplished by a bulldozer,” she said. Dr. Montessori was a Catholic medical doctor who devoted her life to a child-centered approach to learning. Her first childcare center in poor, inner-city Rome was called Casa dei Bambini, the “children’s house.”
Foundress Mother Chiara Thérèse received her childhood training in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, a catechetical program for children ages 3-12 rooted in Sacred Scripture, the Liturgy, and the educational philosophy of Maria Montessori. Mother also obtained an AMI Montessori Assistants to Infancy diploma (birth to 3) from the Southwest Institute of Montessori Studies in Mesa, AZ, a bachelor’s degree from North Dakota State University, a diploma in Spiritual Theology from the Teresianum in Rome and a Master’s in Theology and Christian Ministry from Franciscan University of Steubenville, OH. Her religious name is tied to their charism. “I chose Chiara because it means ‘light’ in Italian and Thérèse for her childlike abandonment, a desire to live a childlike obedience.”
The new community, in addition to the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, take a fourth vow—to serve Christ in the child. The sisters who enter the community will “pursue an AMI Montessori diploma, according to the age of the children they feel called to serve,” said Mother Chiara Thérèse.
“We know that Dr. Montessori was a devout Catholic,” said Mother. “In fact, she said, as E.M. Standing recounts, that ‘her own method could only find its fullest expression when applied to the teaching of the Catholic faith.’” She also noted that “Dr. Montessori also believed that ‘the true respect of the child is only possible when one respects God in the child.’”
The daily conventual Mass of the community is celebrated, where possible, in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. The sisters pray in community the Extraordinary Form of the Divine Office. They wear a modified Benedictine habit and a medal of the “Madonna of the Chair” (Madonna della Seggiola) by Italian artist, Raphael, that depicts Our Lady holding the Child Jesus.
“Bringing back a deep and Faithful Montessori-Catholic education is indeed something we desire to spread,” wrote Mother Chiara Thérèse. “Dr. Montessori’s method is so deeply rooted in the Catholic faith that we have seen a beauty in the children when the method is given its fullness.”
Servants of the Children of Light
Christ the King Catholic Montessori School
505 10th Ave. NW
Mandan, ND 58554
vocations@servantsofthechildrenoflight.org
servantsofthechildrenoflight.org
You can also read more on the Diocesan website: