Sisters of Saint Joseph of Annecy

The Inauguration and Blessing of the Sculpture representing our Charism

On Tuesday September 24^th about thirty people gathered in the garden around the magnificent sculpture designed especially for our Congregation.   The society ADIM who had bought and transformed our Mother House building, wished to thank us and to leave us with a souvenir of our collaboration with them.  The director of the society proposed a sculpture that would be made of local stone portraying our Chrism.  This sculpture would be carried out by the artist with the desires of us, the sisters, expressed and then realised by him.   So, the work was the result of discussions between us and the artist.  We quickly opted for two hands:

• Open hands to receive the gift of God’s love
• Entwined fingers to symbolise the relationship of love lived among us
• Hands extended to transmit the gift of love received to the “dear neighbour”

The three verbs; Receive, Live, Transmit are inscribed on the base of the pedestal, as are the words Union and Communion which are central to our charism.  In the hollow of the hands, an outline of the world is engraved in gold leaf, symbolising the mission of the sisters of St. Joseph at the heart of the world and our internationality. The planet in the centre of our hands is confided to us - all is one, joined together.

This sculpture, as tall as a man, is situated between the building Fontbonne and the Sacred Heart one, so it catches the eye of visitors who come to visit us.

At the time of the inauguration and following the presentation of the work by a sister who was part of the reflection group, the artist and the donors expressed their happiness in working with us to realise the sculpture and to learn about our charism. Their joy was clearly obvious.  In response to their sharing Sr. Breda expressed our deep gratitude for their gift.  After Fr. Samuel (MSFS) had blessed the sculpture we celebrated together with a drink of friendship.  We now recall this event as a special moment of gratitude to God for the gift of our Charism.