CONGRATULATIONS SISTER HELEN
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There were big celebrations in Melbourne on 25th March, 2017, as the Northcote community of the Little Sisters came together with friends and family from far and wide to celebrate the 100th birthday of Sr Helene.
Sister Helene was born in New Zealand on 28 March 1917, the youngest of five children. Her older sister also joined the order and spent many years serving in the London province. Sister Helene herself entered religious life at the age of 18, took first vows in Sydney in 1937 and then went to Auckland and Adelaide. As well, she was in France from 1939 to 1982, suffering internment by the Germans in a camp in Besancon in 1940. Sr Helene came first to Drummoyne in Australia, then to Perth in 1985 and finally to Melbourne in 1992, 25 years ago. Archbishop Hart, in the homily at his Mass in honour of Sr Helene, congratulated her, not only on her 100th birthday, but on her silver jubilee of service in Melbourne. His Grace recollected, ‘Sister Helene was always very attentive to the residents and their ongoing care. I remember this for the way she attended to my own mother when she was here for two years until her death in 2004.’ The Archbishop also praised the commitment and ethic of humble service personified by Sr Helene. He said, ‘It is good to say that Sister Helene has never lost her individuality and independence, and her readiness to have a view. On one occasion she was seen the carrying the mattress from her own room to that of a resident because she believed that the resident’s mattress was not as good as hers.’ |
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