On Sept. 8, the Church throughout the world celebrated the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. While giving thanks for that special day, friends and family of the Bridgettine Sisters in the Diocese of Columbus had reasons also to give thanks for a rich history, an anniversary of vows and signs of new life.

In 1911, Maria Elizabetta Hesselblad refounded the Order of the Most Holy Savior of St. Bridget of Sweden in Rome at the House of St. Bridget on the Piazza Farnese on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In 2016, when Maria Elizabetta was made a saint, I traveled as the diocesan vicar for religious along with Mother Eunice, local superior of the Bridgettines community in Columbus, to be present with thousands of others in Rome for the Mass and canonization.

Six years later in Columbus, on Sept. 8, 2022 at Holy Family Church, former Diocese of Columbus Bishop Robert Brennan, now the bishop of Brooklyn, New York, offered Holy Mass for more than 100 people who gathered to celebrate the 25th anniversary of vows of Sister Faviola, a member of the Columbus community of Bridgettine Sisters, one of only two convents of the order in the United States.

Meanwhile, in Rome, Laura Ruffner, her parents and two aunts celebrated the rite of investiture in the holy habit of the Order of the Most Holy Savior of St. Bridget. Ruffner attended Ohio State University and was an active member of St. Paul’s Outreach as a student. While in Columbus, she started discerning a religious vocation, eventually entering the Bridgettine Sisters.

In celebration of the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin and mindful of the refounding of the order on that date, Ruffner and three other women were received into the novitiate of the order, receiving new names and the holy habit. She is now known as Sister Jose Mary, and her classmates are known as Sister M Angela, Sister M Anna and Sister M Theresia.

One cannot overstate the importance of celebrating the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and yet for those who are members of the friends and family of the Bridgettine sisters, the joy of Sept. 8 brings us to silence as we contemplate the great abundance of blessings the Lord has showered down upon these sisters. 

One marvels at the spirit of fidelity and perseverance of Sister Faviola celebrating 25 years since she professed vows while also praying for the purification and strengthening of the vocation of Sister Jose Mary, who enters the novitiate before she will process the same vows.

The entire diocese is invited to rejoice in the steps our dear young people take when they pursue Jesus as their all. 

It is important for every household in the diocese to understand and appreciate there is a strong wind blowing through the Church, and this wind is the Holy Spirit. He is stirring many souls to listen to the voice of the One whose voice the world has tried to silence, Jesus. 

Our dear young people are responding with generosity, and we must pray for them. We must pray with them, and we must celebrate the life and vocation that Jesus has bestowed upon them.