The Congregation of the Servants of Mary...

Save the heritage of the Servants of Mary... 

During the year, Nora teaches at the ECORE school in Barcelona (conservation and restoration of furniture, art and heritage), a course that takes place over 4 years (paintings, murals, metal, painting techniques), and is punctuated by workshop sessions, as at Notre Dame du Refuge in Anglet, where she comes to work every summer with her team of interns.

"I met Sr. Graciela in 2008, when she was taking my classes in Barcelona. Like her, I am from Argentina, but I have been living in Catalonia for over 40 years. A real friendly bond was established between us and, at her invitation, I came to spend my summer vacations with my family at the Monastery of Saint Bernard in Anglet. This is how I discovered the Congregation of the Servants of Mary and, during my stays, a kind of spiritual relationship was created with the Sisters, but also with this unusual place; and, together, we decided to organize the conservation of the sculptures of the sites of Notre Dame du Refuge and the Monastery of Saint Bernard.

Thus, in the summer of 2018, the first on-site workshop was organized. Since then, every summer, I come to spend a few days in Anglet with a team of trainees, to work on the restoration of sculptures and other objects to be preserved. With Sr. Graciela, we decide on the works to be saved, then we work together in a dedicated room in the heart of the Gardens of Notre Dame du Refuge.

We are housed on site, which allows us to share a little of the life of the Servants of Mary, to live at their pace, especially during meals, served on French time, which, for us, used to living on Spanish time, is always a little strange! Especially dinner, served at 7pm, when the light is beautiful and the temperature milder! 

Each intervention is a new adventure, a real time of sharing and a true enchantment, in this energetic site so favorable to creation. I am very happy to benefit from such a privilege and to be able, each summer, to live such a human and spiritual experience, and to participate in the safeguarding of the heritage of the Servants of Mary."

Anglet, August 2022

"We share the joys and hopes, the anxieties and the trials of the men of our time... Everything that touches Man has an echo in our hearts." (rules for living)  

I. My story with the Bernardines' Convent began in 2007 (15 years already), when I came for a few days retreat. I was touched by the peace that I felt in this troubled period of my life. After analysis, several ingredients made this possible. 

First of all, I would place the welcome and the accompaniment of the Sisters of the Community. I remember that in the refectory, the kindly Servant of Mary who served the meal on those days, brought me a packet of tissues. I can still see the kind looks and the discreet smiles that accompanied me throughout my stay. The prayers of the Community in the straw chapel, in particular, and the Ignatian advice of the Sr (Mother Superior at the time) gave me confidence and peace. Secondly, I would put the silence and the solitude that allowed me to refocus, to hear that inner voice that speaks to the heart, to reconnect with myself and to understand that I was not alone on the path of life.  

After this unprecedented experience, many things changed and, in 2009, I came to live closer to the Sisters and the convent, because I felt called and somehow "grateful" for the love received and shared here. I was called to come and pray daily, to be nourished by the Word, to be recharged with divine energy through the Eucharist and to recharge my batteries in a natural, preserved and rural environment. I believe that I have drawn a lot throughout these years, and I am infinitely grateful to you. 

Quite naturally, when I felt better, I wanted to give back, and that is how I proposed to do Home and Accompaniment, at first once a week, then twice. Then, I had the opportunity to deepen the life of Father Cestac, within the Cestac group, to help in the writing of the Charter in 2017, to reread and share the Letters to Elise, to co-animate the workshop of the Faces of Mary... The highlights at Saint Bernard are the reception, twice a week, and the cemetery.

II. My mission here (as I feel it and practice it) is:

    1) to make Father Cestac, his work and the Congregation he founded better known to people who pass by. I feel called to speak to them about his great devotion to Mary, his spirit of openness, of welcoming the poorest. I explain to them that this place is a place of silence, of prayer, of renewal where one can always be welcomed for a short spiritual stop or for a retreat of a few days. I also introduce NDR when I see that they are really interested.

    2) to rekindling the flame (giving a taste for life). By listening attentively, because sometimes people come to confide in me, to seek comfort, advice, prayer. And, through sharing proposals open to a wider public (supported by Sr. Annie Houssin and Sr. Arantza): lenten spiritual stop at the cemetery "Doing and undoing", since 2019; meditative walks in 2020, resumed with Sr. Arantza in spring 2022; workshops Letters to Elise and Faces of Mary, mentioned for the record since they take place in NDR. 

III. My experience: I am at Mary's school.

She teaches me 

• fidelity, adherence to the commitment I have made
• patience (her time is not ours) 
• abandonment (her will and not mine) 
• humility (renunciation, self-effacement, acceptance)
• welcome (of the other in his difference)

I receive graces 

• the joy of sharing with the Sisters who visit me, with the people who pass by, with the chaplain who is always kind and encouraging,
• the grace of silence, of community and personal prayer,
• the grace of feeling welcomed, supported, encouraged and expected 

I live sometimes in silence, sometimes in sharing, according to the will of "the Mistress of the place"; sometimes I welcome, sometimes I am welcomed.

IV. Conclusion 

Remember, what drew me here in 2007 was the comfort, the listening and the welcome that I received from you. This is what we have to offer today, as Father Cestac did in his time. I was looking for comfort, today I am comforting in my turn. I am grateful to you for being able to ensure, in the confidence that you give me, the welcome of all those who pass by. The welcome of visitors, of those who discover by chance, at the bend of their vegetable purchases, the welcome of those who come to pray, to rest, to recharge their batteries, sometimes of pilgrims of Saint James, of those who participate in the repair of the cemetery, in the days of recollection proposed, in the walk in the forest. This place cannot be understood without welcoming people in a precarious moral or physical situation, those who are searching, for it is indeed the spirit of Father Cestac to welcome in love. It is a place of reconstruction, of healing of hearts, a place of peace, of meeting and of silence. 

Anglet, 20/08/2022

Today's society needs consecrated people... 

I felt the call when I watched a film showing nuns taking care of orphans. In my childish mind, I thought that I had to be a nun to work in the world of children

I was drawn to the Congregation of the Servants of Mary after reading the documents (the comic strip and a vicar goes down the street) I was struck by Father Cestac's attitude towards the different situations that presented to him. His desire to restore women in society

The event that marked me the most was the first vows... I was entering into a new history with God and I said that I have a challenge: never to back down but to go all the way

I bear witness to God through the small and simple things I do, making myself close to everyone, sharing the daily life where I am, giving back the taste for life like Father Cestac. In my mission with the little ones, I make myself small

The message to young people: today's society needs consecrated people, saying yes to the Lord does not mean that I have failed in the business world! There is no need to hesitate, it is a favor that God does us by calling us to his service to witness to his love.

December 2021

Do and walk and never be discouraged. Take Mary with you... 

The question of God has always been an important question for me. I loved catechism and the call of the Lord became clear to me around the age of 10-12.

In France, in the Pas de Calais, in Harnes, there was a community of five Sisters Servants of Mary. What attracted me to them was their closeness to the modest families of the workers and their creativity with the children through the sponsorship, the summer camps... their concern for the growth of people through their joy of living.

There have been many moments of grace in my life. I will give three of them.

The first, at the age of 40, during a session on discernment, God spoke to me not at the level of understanding but at the level of the heart. This changed my way of praying and loving others.

The second is accompanying adults in the catechumenate.

The third, at the age of 64, my departure on mission for the Ivory Coast: the opening and my integration into a new culture.

Celebrating my 50 years of religious life, the Word of God that dwells in me: "How can I repay the Lord for all the good he has done me?"

A message for each of us and in every circumstance, God says to you: "Do not fear, I am with you" and with Father Cestac, the Founder of our congregation: "Do and walk and never be discouraged. Take Mary with you." 

December 2021

Give back the taste of their lives by answering the call of Christ... 

I felt the call of the Lord during an evangelization in the parish of Saint Charles Borrome, my home parish, that day, the father present asked that the young people who heard the call of the Lord go forward to receive the blessing, I went forward and everything began, of course I grew up in a Christian family, but that day was a special day.

What attracted me to the congregation of the Sisters Servants of Mary, I would say that they work in discretion, especially in their mission with great efficiency. That is what attracted me.

 I have several significant events in my religious life, but I remember the meeting with the older sisters of the congregation, the visit to the source of the congregation. During my stay in France for the session in Spain.

I live the mission that has been entrusted to us, looking at the Virgin Mary our mother as a model, and try to instill in the young girls the values of a good woman for the future by trying to put the gospel into practice every day.

What I can say to the young people today, is that, life with Christ is joy and peace, also the field of the Lord is vast and there is work for all. As our good father lived by giving back the taste of life, I invite them to come and give back the taste of their lives by answering the call of Christ, in order to give in their turn, the taste of life to their brother and sister.

December 2021

My vocation, the mystery of God... 

I was born in a small village in the Basque Country in a Christian family of seven children. Our mother wanted us to continue our studies with the Servants of Mary after the local school. It was there that the first call to religious life arrived, through the Superior of the Community. I took part in the spiritual meetings, I loved the Word of God in order to live it, to transmit it. How did she perceive it?

From 1952 to 1956 I was a student at the Aspirat du Refuge, studying at Stella Maris and Saint Anne. I did the Postulancy and Novitiate from 1956 to 1958. 

I was called to go to the Pas de Calais, to a parish... I found myself in a beautiful community where I knew no one. The youngest of the sisters was at the age of my mother!

I lived there for 13 years...Catechesis, YCWB, community animation in the workplace, factory work. These commitments matured me.

After two years of training and work in the social sector in Paris, 13 years in Béarn, social work, ACO, animation of communities in a working-class environment.

All this committed life in the world could only be lived in me through fidelity to the Prayer every morning... The community prayer services...the Eucharist...Regular rereading of life with a religious...

One day, the message of Saint John passed through me, pushed me around, transformed me (1 John 4:7-16).

A rereading of this new call to leave everything for Him, only for Him.... Five years of journeying through the Solitude of Saint Bernard on weekends and during weeks. It was a reading and rereading of the work of the Blessed Father. Why there? 

Why living this radicality with the Bernardines? Because they are the same Marian religious family that I loved.

35 years of my presence in this place where God has not finished His work in me...here...

"For the love of your People...of this land...your glory dwells with us" and Mary remains our Star.

Anglet, January 2021

Contribute to making the world a little more beautiful every day... 

My path first crossed with the Gardens of Refuge in 2014, shortly after my arrival in the region. As a specialised educator with a passion for agriculture and sustainable development, I was looking for a place of learning to complete an agricultural diploma.

I met Sister Françoise at the shop, who directed me to Mr Trolliet, who is in charge of services for the Congregation. Eventually, a one-year fixed-term contract was set up with support from the employment office to finance the position. After 6 intense and rich months developing a cultivation plan on 5,000 m2 in organic agriculture, I applied for a permanent contract as head of the sales outlet. I felt that “Les Jardins du Refuge” had most of the elements I was looking for in my initial project of a garden for people in social difficulty. 

For about 3 years, we developed partnerships with local producers in order to widen the range of products, while at the same time making our customers aware of the richness of our work and of the regional agricultural world. 

In 2019, a new mission presented to me. Sister Thérèse wish to hand over the rearing of laying hens coupled with the new "drastic" sanitary standards to be put in place, have split my working time between sales and rearing. These changes have had the good effect of bringing the whole team to discover the breeding and to get involved in "keeping watch" 365 days a year!  Nothing better to strengthen team spirit, you may say... But not at all! But think again! We have known much more effective afterwards: a good coronavirus epidemic! Nothing better to test the trust and solidarity within a group. With our good will and great complementarity, we passed these complicated times with great grace, mutual support and shared laughter in the midst of the tumult. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why our team has not been renewed for some time... In any case, after the storm: calm. With the sanitary standards now in place on the livestock farm, I was invited, to my great joy, to put my "educational" skills to use. Once the possibility of welcoming the public had returned, we continued to develop a reception and educational centre within the farm. 

The workshops and farm visits organised since June 2021 have been a great success and have allowed me to better understand the demands in order to refine future projects. The challenge is to open the doors of the farm in order to share our passion for the defence of human, social, agricultural and environmental values (while giving a few tips against slugs and wild weeds!). I have been working on the Congregation site for almost 7 years, in a caring environment, discreetly trying to contribute to making the world a little more beautiful every day...

Anglet, August 2021

My grace is sufficient for you! 

I was called to commit myself more fully to encountering suffering people, not to leave the place of the mission received, to respond to the calls God speaks to us through encounters, through events. 

He calls us to know how to remain attentive to his presence, at the heart of my life. I often say this prayer: "O you who are in my heart, let me hear your voice”.

 The praying of the psalms; the word of God read every day helps me to be enlightened by Christ. Christ is our light. It is a reminder of the commitment to deepen my faith in the light of the believers of yesterday and today; by meditating on his Word, reading the testimonies of the saints. I marveled at the life of the Church Fathers in the early centuries of the Church...                                                                                                                                               

Following Blessed Louis-Edouard Cestac (founder of the congregation), and many sisters, I am called to remain faithful and to be in communion in "service" with all the Servants of Mary in France and in the world (India, Argentina, Uruguay, Ivory Coast, Spain).

I see GOD close to the sick, to their families, in the caregivers... He is there in the ups and downs as a call to find his faithfulness in the face of the unknown. My vocation makes me see life being created, even where today illness seems to prevent or stop it. In the face of the frustrations and revolts that COVID generates, there is the strength of solidarity and responsibility, the call of the Spirit. "Wherever love and charity are, GOD is present! ".

"My grace is sufficient for you!"

Anglet, April 2021

Hello, my name is Blanca Arregui y I am Spanish. 

I met the Servants of Mary of Anglet through the Sisters of Our Lady of Compassion, with whom I work and collaborate, because the two congregations have decided to share in Alliance a part of their way of communion.

Last year, I came for the first time to Our Lady of Refuge, to work with the MNA (non-accompanied minors) of Foyer Cestac, that keeps the name of the Father founder of the congregation, Fr. Louis Edouard Cestac, of whom the tomb is found in the site.

I was impressed to see how, around the religious community of the church and of the contemplative community of Bernardines, so many projects and different works coexist in this vast space.

Social and educative works such as the four homes for children and adolescents, the apartments for one parent mothers or fathers and their babies, the residence for old people in which live the religious and the lay people, home for differently abled adults or again a school and a college… Other ecology aspects such as the "Les Jardins du Refuge", for the cultivation and sail of agricultural products and of animal raring where work the handicapped persons… And of course, different places of prayer, of meeting and get together. Till the famous cemetery with tombs of sand on which the crosses are made of sea shells…

In this place, too close to the Atlantic Ocean and surrounded by trees and greenery, in spite of so many activities, all is peace and serenity; a feeling that is impossible not to feel when we come there.

What touches me more, it is to think that 180 years ago, in this same place, lived the first young girls saved from prostitution, welcomed by Fr. Cestac and his sister Elise, origin of the congregation of Servants of Mary. And how, since then it is always a place where the persons who are in need, find assistance with dignity. A true refuge of love and tenderness.

Anglet, August 2019.

My Vocation, a precious pearl ever cherished! 

"You did not choose me, but I chose you." 

I am extremely glad to introduce myself and my congregation to you all. May the Lord be glorified through my sharing and many of you be inspired to follow Him, more closely and love Him more dearly.

I am Sr. Jhancy, the only daughter to my parents with my 3 brothers. I remember my childhood with gratitude to my parents, my brothers, teachers and friends through whom God sprouted the seed of faith in me. It was God’s abundant mercy and love that added to my growth in faith time to time.

When I was 13 years old, I happened to listen to a song in Malayalam which means "I have died for you, what you have done for me?". It was an inspiration for me to respond to the call of God to religious life. I wanted to offer my whole life to the Lord and His people. But I expressed my desire to no one for the fear that they wouldn’t let me allow joining the convent.

My desire to follow Jesus, the sole Master of my life grew day by day. After my PDC (17 years) I wanted to join a convent named after Mary, our Mother. I came to know about my congregation Servants of Mary. Though I have 8 of my cousins in different congregations, God let me be here in this congregation as I have a special attachment to our Mother Mary.

It was a shock to my parents and brothers and one of them stopped talking to me and my parents, when I expressed my desire. Though it was a painful situation, God sustained me in my vocation with His powerful word time to time, "My Grace is sufficient for you." (2 Cori 12:9) 

My love for religious life and my congregation multiplied as I came to know the meaning of Servant of Mary. To be a Servant of Mary is to be like Mary who always lived according to the Will of God and to partake in her spiritual Motherhood. Our founder Fr. Cestac was always inspired by her to do the will of God all through his life.

God who calls us to be with Him and to be sent out to carry out His mission, has got a plan and purpose for each of us and He knows and discerns where we have to be and that’s why I am here as a Servant of Mary in our congregation where we breathe a real family spirit supporting and encouraging one another to spread the message of love through our different apostolate like education, upliftment of the downtrodden particularly women and the children, and health care. Every human being has got a vocation to be a child of God. Another call He gives is either to family life or to religious life. Every call is divine for it is God who calls and it is challenging because we need to witness to His own very life which was totally selflessly self-giving.

Dear friends, you are most welcome to imitate Jesus, our Master being a Servant of Mary. God who is ever faithful in His promises and merciful in His deeds (Ps145:13) will always be there with us in all our ups and downs of our life.

"By the Grace of God, I am what I am." (1Cori 15:10)

My experience, this week of translator and interpretress among the religious women who have nothing to see with those of my childhood, all "in civil dress" living in small communities of 2, 3, or 5, not more than this, in Argentina, Ivory Coast, India, Spain and in France, gathered together here in the Mother House of their founder, it is too strong. These are the Servants of Mary, a kind of G5…

All are "social workers" in their country, they had to choose, in the light of the Gospel, the orientations for the 5 years to come. They also work in the world and for the world. They repair family disasters, they help the women in distress, they educate the children, adolescents, they nurse the sick. They pray.

In an attitude of simplicity and humility that contrast strongly with the unfolding of the forces invested in our region during this week at the occasion of the meeting of the political leaders of this world, they question the values that motivate our actions.

Anglet, August 26, 2019

Gabriela Portale (coordinator of Escuela de Vida du college "La Milagrosa" at Llavallol) & Guillermo Somaschini (legal representative & pastoral coordinator of college "Nuestra Señora de Monte Grande" at Buenos Aires), in Argentina

Gabriela: Good morning! How are you? We are Gabriela and Guillermo, the lay people who do pastoral work of 2 colleges of Servants of Mary in Argentina. La Milagrosa and NSMG.

Guillermo: The general Chapter of the Congregation starts in few hours; it is a time of great responsibility that we are very happy and impatient to participate in it.

Gabriela: Since our arrival here, we feel the hospitality of the sisters without ceasing, attentive to all our needs… They helped us to discover their various activities and we could observe the permanent presence of their deep social commitment.

Guillermo: It is amazing to see the joy and happiness with which they do their activities, accompaniment of women with psychiatric problems, giving duties to handicapped persons, shelter and access to education for the immigrants without shelter, among others…

Gabriela: The Bernardines who toil and pray in silence are equally remarkable.

Guillermo: Everywhere, whether it is in the activities or near the persons met, one feels the spirit and the charism of Fr. Cestac.

Gabriela: This year the Sisters asked us to put together the pastoral activities of the two colleges. So, we started to meet regularly in order to know each other better.

Guillermo: Following these meetings, we stepped into a new stage, during the first semester. We then proposed to gather youth groups of both the colleges so that they meet together.

Gabriela: The youth groups are formed of students who wish to participate freely in these meetings.

Guillermo: As you can see in the video, we pray, we share our reflexions on the theme of service, we play and we take our lunch together… And we have sent an invitation for the future meetings and we pre-plan to realize a common mission for the year ending.

Gabriela: We hope to continue to weave links with these youth and as Fr. Cestac said, we try to "give to others the taste to live".

The two: Bye see you…

Notre Dame du Refuge, Anglet, August 3, 2019

A most valuable encounter! 

It was during the Beatification of Father Cestac, on 31st May 2015, that I met the Servants of Mary; what a beautiful meeting!

At this time, I was the assistant of the General Vicar of the Diocese, Father Lionel Landart and, as professional of event management, I had the mission to organize this extraordinary ceremony in the cathedral of Bayonne. A difficult but exciting challenge, crowned by the happiness and smiling faces of the Sisters, who came from all over the world.

Since then, we haven't left each other! Neighbour of Notre Dame du Refuge, I assist them in their communication actions and the organization of their events, but also share with them, exceptional friendly parentheses!

Anglet, August 15, 2019.