- June 14, 2022 CSJ Institutions
Nazareth Living Center Celebrates 150 Years of Compassionate Care
By Jenny Beatrice
In 1872, Mother St. John Facemaz and a small group of novices moved into a little yellow farmhouse that sat on 57 acres of farmland and an apple orchard in Lemay, Missouri. Facemaz’s growing vision for the purchased land was to create a home for the aged and infirm sisters. This year, we celebrate the fruit of the seeds she planted on this good ground—our 150-year ministry of offering compassionate care for aging persons at Nazareth Living Center.
Numerous commemorations and celebrations were planned, thanks to the Nazareth Anniversary Committee whose members include sisters, associates and Nazareth staff members.
The jubilee year was launched in September with a blessing of apple trees that were planted on campus. A province celebration was held in December at the motherhouse with representatives from the Sisters of St. Joseph, Nazareth and ministry partners Benedictine Living.
In May, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and Nazareth Living Center communities gathered for Mass in Nazareth Chapel with St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski presiding.
In his homily, Archbishop Rozanski spoke of the sisters’ 150-years of faithfulness to the call of Jesus to meet the needs of the times and how they were keenly able to recognize how those needs were to be met.
“And so, from these acres that were bought so many decades ago, 150 years ago, now has come forth with a true home. A home for everybody who is here. A home of safety and of refuge, a place where great care is given to each person and a place where the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet continue in mission and ministry here,” he said.
He continued, “We find that that purchase so many years ago (even though they wouldn’t have fathomed what is here today) has borne much fruit and continues to bear fruit. We thank God for the foresight to those early sisters who were able to respond to the needs of their own times and who thought ahead into the future to vision what needed to be done.”
At the end of the Mass, Sister Donna Gunn presented a check for $10,000 to the Nazareth Benevolence Fund, which supports Nazareth residents in need. The money was earned from the proceeds of the sale of a liturgical reflection book, “On Good Ground,” that was created by sister and associate writers.
When presenting the check to Julie Collins, executive director of Nazareth, and Donia Cameria, the foundation development director for the fund, S. Donna said, “It comes as an expression of our love for Nazareth—our love and deep respect for all those women who have gone before us, all those women who have left behind their memoires of goodness. It comes to prove that ‘together, we are more.’“
Click here to read more about Nazareth's 150-year celebration and history.