24179: Nlbo: (text) Mother Lange -a hardly known Haitian woman (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Nlbo@aol.com

Servant of God
Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange
Founder of the Oblate Sisters of Providence Marie Elisabeth Clarisse
Lange, a model of faith for the world.

Marie Elisabeth  Lange is a great example of faith for Americans of
African ancestry,  particularly  the  Haitian  Catholic community around
the world. This  pious  and  wonderful   woman was born in northern
Haiti in 1782. She left  Haiti  very  young with her family to
settle in Cuba, where she  learned the Spanish and Cuban culture. After
a while, when Cuba became a  Spanish  colony,  she went to Baltimore in
the slavery state of Maryland to live her faith  as a free woman of
color.

Marie  Elisabeth  Lange  was very shocked to see that children of color
did not have access  to education in the state of Maryland. With her own
money and with the collaboration of her close friend
Madeleine Balas, she  founded  St.  Francis  Academy,  the  first
Catholic school for black children  in  the State of Maryland which
 still exists.
With three  other Haitian black women, this servant of God  wanted to give
themselves completely  to  God and lived all their  life in the consecrated life.
 For the Catholic  experts of this that time, this was  like a dream with
open eyes, because the white society and the hierarchy of the American Catholic
church  were  not ready to accept the black women, of black race to become
nuns in the Catholic Church.

Her  meeting  with   the  Sulpician  Father  Hector  Joubert  helped
Marie Elisabeth  Lange  fulfill  her  long-time  dream of becoming a
nun.  Father Joubert was the answer to her prayer.  Reverend Joubert was
very impressed  with  the project of  Elisabeth Lange.    So he went to see
the most reverend Archbishop James Whitfield of Baltimore,   to  inform  him
of the plan for a project of founding the first religious  order  of  black
nuns in the world and  would like to have  his blessing and approval.  After a
while, even with the opposition of the white society, The most Reverend
Archbishop Whitfield gave the Reverend Father  Joubert  his  blessing,
with   these  words: "Monsieur Joubert,  it  is  not
lightly  but  with  reflection  that I approved your project.  I  knew
and saw the finger of God; let us not oppose to his holy will."

Thus,  on  July  2,  1829  four Haitian women: Marie Elisabeth Lange,
Marie Madeleine  Balas,  Rosine Boegue and the young Almeide Duchemin
Maxis, made their  profession  as  Oblate  Sisters of Providence.
Mother Lange was the  founder  of  the  group and the first superior.
They had for Their vocation mission  was  to  educate the children of
color. The Blessed Virgin was the principal patron of the community. In
the liturgical calendar at that time,on  July  2,  our  mother  the
Catholic Church celebrated  the Feast of the Visitation.   In  1831,
Pope Gregory XVI recognized  the new congregation. He  opened   the
door for black Catholics in the USA to become priests and
nuns.

Mother  Lange  did not speak English fluently. But she spoke and
understood enough English to direct the community. She was a very
accomplished scholar in  French and Spanish. Doctor Diane Morrow wrote
In her book, "Person of Color and  Religious  at  the Same Time," Doctor
Diane Morrow wrote: "Lange personally  preferred  French to the English
language, perhaps in response to  her  novel and unwelcome experience of
the pervasive and indiscriminate  racism present in mainland  American
society. To Lange, the English language symbolized most palpably   the
society that rejected her humanity.

We  can  affirm  without  doubt  that the history of Mother Marie
Elisabeth Lange  is a pivotal chapter in the history of African-American
Catholicism. Mother  Lange  experienced  the  call  of God to found the
first school for children  of  colors  and the first black religious order in
the world, the Oblate  Sisters  of  oblate  of   Providence,   according to
her
particular  gifts. Mother Lange was joined by three other  Haitian
women  who had experienced also the same call of God to respond to the
needs of  the church and the children of the African- American
community, who had been relegated to the margins of the society.

This  builder  of  faith  was  not  overcome by the racism of her time.
She refused  to  be  constrained by the limitation imposed by the white
society and  by  the  hierarchy  of  the  Catholic Church. Her militancy
was in the strength  of  character  that  enabled  her  not only to
survive the racial prejudice  of  her time. Nobody could  put her
mind down, even when the Archbishop  Samuel  Eccleston  of Baltimore
reportedly suggested that there was  no  need for black religious in
Baltimore and  that they might do well to  disband  and  become
domestics.  She  always  remembered the sentences  of her
spiritual director, the Reverend Father Joubert: "Even if their  actions
are misinterpreted by certain persons, they should put their confidence
in God. So they must not stop because of the judgment of men who often
judge things though their passions and prejudices."

It is evident that Mother Lange was a remarkable woman who crammed a
great deal into her ninety eight years of her life. So  then we can
consider her as a great model of faith for black African women in the
world. She was both gifted and talented. Mother Lange was one of the
first black nun in the history of the United States.   We can consider
Mother Lange as  a prophet with a great vision for the black community.
She revolutionized the American society and the Catholic Church . She
spent the last year of her life at St. Frances Academy the first black
school for children of color, and died  on February 3, 1882, universally
acclaimed and loved.   In 1991, the cause of her beatification was
introduced in Rome. If she is ever canonized, she will be the first
Haitian woman to become a saint.

Frere Buteau (Brother Tob)
Former Student at the Pastoral College