Sisters honor Mary with names

The name "Mary" is sprinkled liberally throughout the orders of women religious in the Albany Diocese; in fact, some orders routinely add "Mary" to their members' names.

Doing so is both a way to honor the Mother of God and a reminder to those named for her to emulate her, according to sisters from two orders dedicated to Mary.

All Marys

Many of her fellow Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary are also named for feast days that honor Mary. Since the principal was the first postulant received into her community the year she joined her order, she was named "Presentation" after the community.

Rev. Mother Mary Suzanne Sapa, O.Carm., said that her order has always had the practice of naming its members for Mary. Just last year, the sisters were given the option of returning to their baptismal names, but the majority chose to keep their "Mary names."

The Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm (whose motherhouse is in Germantown) add "Mary" to their names "in order to remind us that we are devoted to Mary in a very special way," said Mother Mary Suzanne. She noted that the sisters try to emulate Mary's "pilgrimage of faith."

Connections

"We foster not just a communal devotion, but a special personal devotion to Mary," Sister Presentation explained. "She's very special to me, and to us as a community."

In addition to being an example for the order, Mary is a role model for the sisters on a personal level. Sister Presentation recently lost her brother and sister within a three-month period. In her own grief, she said, "I've been thinking of Mary as the grieving mother at the foot of the cross -- how she handled that."

'Wonderful example'

BY incorporating her name into their own, said Mother Mary Suzanne, her fellow Carmelites hope to emulate "all Mary exemplifies. Our Lady was at the disposal of her Son.

"That's what led us into religious life: to embrace the will of God for us. For Mary, the answers were not always clear, but she went forward in faith."

(10-01-98) [[In-content Ad]]