Christendom College is living proof that if you preach the Gospel and present the truths of the Catholic Faith, the fruits will be there. For the evidence, click here to see a list of the 137 vocations to the priesthood and religious life that have come from their ranks. And let’s be real here – the college has only been in existence since 1977.
Amongst the communities listed that their graduates have entered are many IRL Affiliates, most notably the Nashville Dominicans who have welcomed 11 Christendom graduates and the Carmelite Monastery in Buffalo, New York who on May 26, celebrated the clothing ceremony of Christendom alumna Kathleen Gilbert (’07). Taking the name Sr. Mary Magdalene of Jesus Crucified, Gilbert is the fifth Christendom graduate to enter that particular monastery.
The Carmelite Monastery of Buffalo was founded in 1920 by Mother Mary Elias of the Blessed Sacrament who narrowly escaped execution by firing squad by Mexican revolutionaries in 1914. As Mother and her companion knelt before the executioners, Mother prayed, “Little Therese, if you are a saint, as some people say you are, then deliver us, and I promise to found a Monastery in your honor.” Shots were fired and the nuns were left for dead. When they regained consciousness, they found themselves bloodied but completely unharmed. Mother went on to found the Buffalo Carmel and their chapel was dedicated to St. Therese of Lisieux on the very day of her canonization, May 17, 1925.
Inspired by the courageous example of our Mexican Mothers and the heroic virtue practiced by Saint Therese, we fervently aspire to follow the “Little Way” of spiritual childhood. We rejoice in numbering ourselves among the “army of little souls” whom she wanted to follow in her footsteps, repeating her ardent cry: To be Thy Spouse, O Jesus, and by my union with Thee, to be the mother of souls!
