by Sr. Mary Rose Mormino, O.S.C.

The Order of St. Clare hopes that Servant of God Mother Mary Maddalena, OSC, who brought Poor Clare life to America, will one day be canonized.  Here is an article on her exquisite embroidery skills that were used to support the community and to glorify God.

Mother Mary Maddalena, the foundress of the Poor Clares in America, came from an old Italian family, the Bentivoglio’s of Bologna.  She was born in 1834 and received the name Annetta at baptism. The ladies of the Italian nobility received a genteel education, suitable for their rank in society. Their training included proper deportment and manners, as well as the cultivation of singing and music, such as playing the piano, organ, or other musical instruments. They were often fluent in foreign languages, such as Latin and French. The young women were also known for their fine sewing, needlework and embroidery.  Reading her biography, we learn that Annetta Bentivoglio was proficient in all of these areas.

After her parents died, Annetta joined the Poor Clares of San Lorenzo-in-Panisperna, taking with her the needlework skills she had learned as a girl. She became quite a needlewoman, doing all types of embroidery, as well as ordinary sewing.  There is preserved one of her tunics in which none of the original material remains. In the end, the whole tunic consisted of nothing but a series of patches, all done so skillfully that not a seam is to be seen. Years later, in her monastery in Evansville, Indiana, it is said that even though her sight was failing, she could still sew just by the feel of the thread.

After being sent to America, Mother Maddalena’s needle helped support the little Community of nuns, when they had no other means of sustenance. She was over-joyed when she could do liturgical sewing, and felt that nothing was too good for our Lord.  Gradually young women joined her, and she taught these young nuns how to make the various linens for the altar and for the use at Holy Mass.

Mother Maddalena died in the Evansville Poor Clare monastery in 1905, but some of the nuns who had joined her in Evansville were still alive when our founding Sisters entered there.  Several of them entered within a few years of Mother Maddalena’s death and her memory was very much alive in Evansville. All of our founding Sisters learned the fine, liturgical embroidery that is part of our legacy from Mother Maddalena.  At Evansville, the Sisters also painted exquisite pictures and designs on satin and linen.  We possess some of these palls painted on satin, although we do not know if they were painted at Evansville or by one of our founding Sisters here in St. Louis.

The Evansville Poor Clares founded this monastery in 1959 at the request of Joseph Cardinal Ritter. In his sermon at the dedication of the monastery on August 12, 1959, he observed:

For me, this occasion has a very personal significance. I have been associated with the Poor Clares since my Ordination day in a very special manner, due to my association with the Bishop of Indianapolis, their Monastery being in Evansville, then in the Indianapolis diocese.   Aside from the Community being a source of inspiration to me and of help and prayer for my work as a priest, I have always been impressed with the fact that the Community was a constant source of joy and satisfaction to the Bishops of the Diocese — all of them.

The founding Sisters were truly heroic as they struggled to establish in St. Louis a house dedicated to God. One of the ways they supported themselves was in all types of churchwork, the making of altar linens and vestments. The first members to join in St. Louis all became adept at liturgical work. These in turn have taught some of the younger Sisters.

Although we do not support ourselves any longer by doing liturgical artwork, we still occasionally make altar linens and palls as gifts for newly ordained priests or priest-friends celebrating a Jubilee.  Our main work is the baking of traditional altar breads, which Mother Maddalena also did in her time, and one that we cherish.  All of these are part of our Bentivoglio heritage.

For more information about the Poor Clares of St. Louis, contact:
Monastery of Saint Clare
200 Marycrest Drive
Saint Louis, MO  63129-4813
(314) 846-2618
www.poorclaresstl.org

There is also an Aleteia article on her life.