1975
In celebrating its Centenary in 2025, the Society continued its tradition of marking special anniversaries. Fifty years earlier, the Society and its members organised a plethora of events and activities worldwide for the 1975 Golden Jubilee, including Thanksgiving Masses, reunions, receptions and dinners. Anniversary cards and pamphlets were published; artworks and displays were created. Many took as their theme, ‘So Let Your Light Shine’.
The images on the left showcase two albums made for the 1975 Jubilee by sisters in East Asia and South America. They were intended as gifts for Mother Anna Dengel and are typical of the beautifully crafted photo albums and scrapbooks produced by Medical Mission Sisters over the years, using a variety of materials.
The MMS archive collections also hold many letters and accounts describing the different golden jubilee events.
Sister Fidelis from The Philippines was in South America at this time. In October 1975, she wrote a letter reflecting on the celebrations in Venezuela, Peru and Brazil:
‘…… In the evening, we had our Golden Jubilee Eucharistic Celebration where we shared personal reflections and the theme of our celebration being Mother Dengel’s favourite… “So let your light shine…”. I cannot help thinking of this as I went visiting our Sisters and witnessing their involvements…. Truly, they radiate the light of love, joy and understanding among these people who seem to be so much in the darkness of ignorance, sickness, misery, injustice. I could see the golden thread that binds us as this…being light by our love… and by the light of love and joy that we radiate, we and others are healed…. Our Eucharistic Celebration was continued with the meal… festive and joyful. In Peru… while I was there, we had our own celebration with a prayer service, having as our theme Fidelity, Oneness and the Gift We Are to Each Other. After our personal sharing reflection, we went out to have supper at a Chinese restaurant and we enjoyed it not so much for the food, but for the opportunity of being together and for being able to celebrate with joy our 50 years of YES as a Society through Mother Dengel’s YES’.
She went on to describe a festive lunch hosted by the Bishop in Rubiataba, Brazil: ‘Everyone wanted to give me 50 abraços [hugs] for our 50 years! Can you imagine! In other countries, it is handshakes but here, it is abraços!’
Sister Fidelis was in mission in Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia and Nicaragua until 1992, when she returned to the Philippines.
Opposite you can listen to Sister Miriam Therese Winter’s much sung and loved song, ‘Let Your Light Shine.’