The Mother Teresa of Osceola

The side altar where I often celebrate daily Mass. The statue is a copy of a miraculous statue from a shrine in Quebec.

Dear Friends and Family,

The above photo gives you a glimpse of what I see whenever I lift my eyes up as I am offering the Holy Sacrifice at 6AM on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays here at St. Clement's parish. The photo doesn't do Our Lady much justice as the statue is quite beautiful. I like very much offering the Holy Sacrifice with Her gazing down upon me, opening Her arms as if to receive the offering of Her Son and all my poor prayers, and then to pour out graces upon the world. Most Saturday mornings the first blessing of matins (in the traditional Divine Office), asks the Virgin Mary to bless us. It is always nice to ask for Her motherly blessing.

It was a beautiful Sunday here: sunny, crisp and clear. I went to the hospital in the afternoon to give some parishioners Holy Communion, and to visit with them. As usual I think I received more than I gave. There is something about being with those who are ill, or with the elderly, or with the handicapped, that helps put life in perspective. When you look at life from the perspective of those who are no longer (at least at the time) able to participate in a "normal" life, or who are preparing to meet their Lord, knowing their time in this world is at an end, or who will have throughout their life the mental ability of a little child, so many things that can seem important in this world seem to fade: what others think of us, whether or not we are "successful" in our work, studies, etc. Visiting the hospital today reminded me of the visits I used to make, while an undergrad at Notre Dame, to the one they called the "Mother Teresa of Osceola."

Osceola is a tiny town in Indiana, not far from Notre Dame. A group of us students used to drive out there on Saturday mornings to assist this good lady: Dolly Donahue. Dolly passed from this life a few days ago, after having lived her earthly pilgrimage extremely well. Married relatively young, she was sadly abandoned by her husband some years later while her children were still relatively young. Faithful to her marriage vows she dedicated herself to raising her children, and then--I don't recall the details of just how--she at some point welcomed some children in need, or perhaps it was a handicapped person, or perhaps it was an elderly person with nowhere to go, under her roof and cared for them.

This led to another knock on the door, and then another. For the next 40 years of her life she would have between 15 - 25 people living under her roof: abandoned children, the elderly, special needs children, convicts who had just gotten out of prison, the homeless, and so on. She received no funding from the government, and much of those 40 years was the only "caregiver" living there. Caring for 15 - 25 people whom she knew might (at least some of them) try to steel from her, or who might get into squabbles with each other, or who had significant needs, such as the wonderful down syndrome young woman who needed her diaper changed regularly, or troubled teenagers, and many, many other special needs, largely all on her own...

Since people would give her donations of clothing, not all of which she needed for her guests, she would constantly iron the clothing and box it up to be sent to the Missions. She also maintained a large garden in the back (by large I mean perhaps an acre), with vegetables and flowers. She would dry the flowers and hang them, and would can vegetables and fruits.

When we would show up on Saturdays to help out with the children or with some work in the yard I invariably would find her peaceful and smiling--even if she would also speak frankly about some of the problems she was currently facing with this or that guest. She would do so with some laughter and smile and then would continue calmly with her work, or with disciplining whoever needed to be disciplined, etc. I don't think I ever saw her "in a rush." I once asked her, as I was trying to get more organized in my own work, "How do you organize your work so that you get so much done each day?" She laughed and said, "The only thing that gets done around here is the day!" And yet, it seemed semi-miraculous how much got done, and more importantly how much charity and faith there was in that home.

I'm not sure how much sleep she got but I know she would rise early each morning to pray before others were up. And since it was impossible for her to take all those guests out for a Sunday Mass, or for her to leave them in the house while she went, Fr. Edward O'Connor would come each Saturday evening to celebrate Mass in the home. I think Dolly left the home perhaps once a year for 2 - 3 days of retreat. Beyond that it was where she lived, worked, and prayed 24/7.

I'm sure Dolly would ask you to pray for the repose of her soul--and so I would invite you to do so and will do so myself. Yet she is one person who I think has a very good chance of already being in Heaven. May the Lord grant us some share of the charity, faith, and boundless trust in Him that this good lady had.

In Corde Mariae,
Fr. Anthony Pillari