One year ago, the prayer flags honoring the one hundredth anniversary of Religious of the Sacred Heart Janet Erskine Stuart adorned the entrance to the Convent of the Sacred Heart Upper School. The closing ceremony Tuesday, October 21, marked the end of the celebrations of her centenary. The flags from last year’s opening celebration traveled throughout the network of Sacred Heart schools before returning to Stuart Country Day School for the closing centenary ceremony.
Janet Erskine Stuart spent 30 years of her religious life at Sacred Heart, Roehampton, outside of London, England. She was elected the sixth superior General of the Society of the Sacred Heart and she made it her goal to personally visit every community in the society throughout the world.
Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart in Princeton, New Jersey presented the celebration through a live video feed. The broadcast was similar to last year’s opening presentation of the year honoring Janet Erskine Stuart by Stuart Hall and Convent of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco, California.
Teachers dismissed Sacred Heart Greenwich students early from their classes as the whole community filed into the gym to watch the live feed celebration, which commenced at 2:00 pm.
Head of Sacred Heart Greenwich, Mrs. Pamela Juan Hayes, reflected on the activities the Network of Sacred Heart schools participated in for Janet Erskine Stuart during the year of commemoration.
“This past year, we have been involved in chapel services and projects that allowed us to learn more about who this woman was, the impact she has had on us, and why we would name our Middle School building ‘Stuart,’” Mrs. Hayes said.
In the live stream, Dr. Patty L. Fagin, Head of Stuart Country Day School gave a welcoming address while Sister Jan Dunn, Religious of the Sacred Heart and executive director of the Network of Sacred Heart Schools, led an opening prayer.
Throughout this year, each of the 24 Sacred Heart network schools in the United States and Canada created stepping-stones. The stones consist of carvings with quotes that reflect the legacy of Janet Erskine Stuart, as well as symbolic objects pertaining to each institute. Sacred Heart Greenwich Middle School students constructed a stepping stone containing a sunflower.
The live feed presentation displayed a video of all 24 stepping stones with a brief explanation from each school. The stepping stones will adorn a garden at Stuart Country Day School and sophie.org plans to upload a video of each stepping stone in the near future.
In addition to the stepping stones, Upper School students created artwork representing Janet Erskine Stuart’s influence, portraying images from the Madrigals trip to England in March. Lower School students also planted a hyacinth garden on the Sacred Heart Greenwich campus to remember Janet Erskine Stuart’s love of the flower.
“I feel like this year of celebrating Janet Erskine Stuart has really brought all of us closer together. She was an inspirational woman and the ceremony today really tied up everything that we did all year,” junior Lucy Alderson-Smith said.
-Katie Nail, News Editor