Sr. Katie Mifsud rscj

It was a time of poverty and widespread ignorance in Malta. It was a time for new ventures, new initiatives when the Society of the Sacred Heart opened its convent in Malta.

 

One hundred years ago a new life was born, a life that grew throughout a century, and is still flourishing. It was a four-fold life, with four different, yet strangely similar faces. All four sets of eyes fixed on the one focus; four pairs of ears listening to the same beckoning voice; four hearts responding to the same incessant beating by that one drummer, moving to the rhythm set by him, at times fast, at times more slowly.

 

It was a time of poverty and widespread ignorance in Malta, yet a time of grace for the people and their Church. It was a time for new ventures, new initiatives, new life, when four different religious congregations had their beginning in Malta in that century-old year, 1903. Two congregations of female religious, two of male, one having its very roots planted in our soil. Of the three others, two had already been established in France, one in Italy, their beginnings spanning some two centuries.

 

The Daughters of the Sacred Heart, founded in Hamrun, the Christian Brothers, the Salesians of Don Bosco, and the Society of the Sacred Heart, opened their first convents in Malta in that same grace-filled year of 1903.

 

The founders of the last three were all canonised in due course, that of the first is on the way to beatification. All four had one aim in common &endash; the education of youth. Both the Christian Brothers and the Society of the Sacred Heart were also entrusted with the training of teachers, a task they carried out in mutual collaboration. The two female congregations were both dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

 

So as the Society of the Sacred Heart brings to a climax its centenary celebrations, it does so knowing that three other religious families are having similar celebrations.

 

Seven religious of the Sacred Heart, of five different nationalities were sent to Malta. They were Mothers Rumbold, who was to be superior, Cloran, Mqler, de Montlivault and de Castries, as well as Sisters Gonella and Cinti. They arrived in the early hours of the 13th August 1903, and set up house at Villa Portelli, Sliema. Six weeks later, towards 6pm of October 1st, the first seven boarders arrived. Tessy, Lola and Consuela Francia, Agnes and Helen Asphar, Mary and Nellie Ullo Xuereb were accompanied by their parents. Before leaving their daughters, the parents admonished them to "behave, and study and never to speak Maltese," an exhortation which applied only to the children, for the parents spoke nothing but Maltese all the time. An eighth child, Josephine Bugeja Caruana, arrived two days later, on 3rd October.

 

The school desks had not yet arrived, but somehow enough chairs for the girls were procured, although the children had to share the only four tables available, and to keep their books, copybooks, aprons and sunbonnets near them until the desks were eventually delivered.

 

A year later a bigger group of children had their first day in the "poor school", immediately named Rosary School.

 

The journals of the first years of both schools are vibrant with details &endash; so many activities went on, besides the actual teaching, that one wonders at the nuns' energy. Sports and games were a sine qua non right from the beginning; music, dancing, drama played a major role in the education programme; outside lecturers spoke on a wide range of subjects; competitions galore; celebrations for all sorts of reasons.

 

One hundred years on &endash; and as the years rolled by, the school grew and changed according to need or circumstances. 1907 saw the move to the new school building, today educating one thousand children. In 1920 a new block went up, to house the Rosary School, as both schools had grown too big to be under the same roof. During the war years the schools did their best to continue, but the boarding school was disrupted when the premises were taken over to become a hospital. The bomb which fell on the school grounds shattered thousands of window panes, but fortunately injured no one. December 1944 saw the beginning of teacher training, in small groups, for a ten-week crash course &endash; teachers being desperately needed with compulsory education coming in force in 1946. With no spare rooms available, lectures were held in the two rooms on top of the sacristy. When the yearlong course commenced, an extension to the Rosary school was built to accommodate sixty students. In 1949 the course became a residential one, with the subsequent need for more space. So the Rosary school closed its doors temporarily to make way for the training college. The new college was opened at Tal-Virtù, Rabat in 1954. This building saw generations of often timid girls leaving it as mature women after two, later three, years of residential training. It was with deep regret that the news of its closure by the government was received in 1973. In the meantime, with the college move to Tal-Virtù, the Rosary School re-opened its doors in 1955, becoming a state school with the proviso that its head would always be a religious of the Sacred Heart. The school had long become the model for other primary schools, both state and private. With the introduction of compulsory secondary education in 1970, this school became a secondary one.

 

It was a sad day for all at the Sacred Heart when the government decided to move that school to other premises in Sliema. The Rosary School closed its doors in 1978, never to open them again.

 

This school had an offshoot, which is still going strong. The Duchesne Library for children has greatly expanded from its modest beginnings in 1969, and has seen generations of children borrowing its books and attending its special literary activities. A similar library was opened at Fgura some years later, and it too grew and expanded its young membership. Unfortunately this library had to close when the sisters decided to move out of Fgura.

 

The boarding school, which had become a day school some years previously, continued to flourish and grow. With the introduction of scholarships, many who would not otherwise have afforded private education could enter that school, thus indirectly helping to achieve the desired social mix among the pupils. Other changes took place, in line with developments in education on the island. The Sixth Form has long closed its doors, the Sacred Heart students going for their post-secondary education to bigger schools, where a wider choice of subjects could be offered. New subjects were introduced, a fully equipped gymnasium built, a modern hall is nearing completion. It also passed through very difficult times, including the trauma of 1984, with its doors closed for a number of weeks while the church-state dispute over schools raged. The number of religious teaching in the school grew progressively smaller, that of lay teachers bigger.

 

However in the midst of the changes, some things remained constant. The Society is still dedicated to the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, through a life of prayer and the service of education. It still aims at an all-round, child-centred education, where the imparting of Christian, human values are given first priority, where each child and person is valued for what she is, not for what she can achieve academically, and where each and every one, including the staff, is encouraged to give of her best. And in our shrinking, globalised world, where injustice, war, violence of all sorts and at all levels of society, seem to be the order of the day, the Sacred Heart child is helped to reach the stage where she will be able to commit herself to work for justice and peace, in whatever sphere she will find herself as an adult. Many are the "Old Girls" of the Sacred Heart who today are leaders in their chosen careers and in philanthropic activities.

 

Today education is seen in its broader sense, going beyond school and classroom. The Society's educational vision covers a wide range of activities, all aimed at promoting the dignity of the human person, precious in the sight of God, and for whom his Son's Heart was pierced on the cross. This led to the religious moving into smaller houses to be among the people, sharing their daily life, welcoming them in their convents, one with the people's joy and pain, sharing meals, prayers, and the vision of a better world. The Society's vision is today, more than ever before, being shared by its lay collaborators, an increasing number of whom are becoming Associate members of the Society, sharing its spirituality and mission.

 

As the Society of the Sacred Heart in Malta celebrates its centenary on 27th June, feast of the Sacred Heart, it does so with a deep sense of gratitude for its past, joy in the present, and hope for the future.