As the saying goes, “and we are off”! Yesterday we began this Lenten journey with ashes on our foreheads. Today we immerse ourselves in the season of penance and sacrifice with our eyes fixed on the Cross of our Redemption. As these reflections unfold over the course of the weeks, we will hear from various people on the meaning of this important season focused on the Cup of sacrifice that Christ offers us as His followers.
The artwork that you will encounter on this journey comes from the artist Sr. Mary of the Compassion (1908-1977). She was a Dominican nun of the Perpetual Rosary Monastery, also known as the Blue Chapel, in Union City, New Jersey. We chose her work to accompany our daily reflections because she portrays so well the suffering and passion of Our Lord through her Stations of the Cross sketches and other paintings on the Life of Jesus, Mary, and the saints. Sr. Mary of the Compassion produced these works right here in our Archdiocese; several works of her art are on display at the Immaculate Conception Seminary on the University campus. Several of her pieces are of darker tones and themes but others are bright and joyful, a reminder to us of where this Lenten Journey will take us.
Sr. Mary of the Compassion was born Mary Constance Rowe in 1908 in London, England. She grew up in the Anglican tradition and from an early age demonstrated great artistic talent. She studied art and painting at the Royal College of Art in London. During her college years, Mary Rowe converted to the Catholic faith, and it was at this time that she felt called to religious life. She traveled to New York City in 1935 and found her way to Union City where she met the cloistered Dominican Sisters. It was here that she felt her call to live her religious vocation and to further her artistic work and talent. She entered in 1938, taking vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and pledged her life to this monastery taking the religious name Sr. Mary of the Compassion.
Her art career unfolded over the decades she lived in religious life. Her artwork encompasses a wide range of media: paintings, book illustrations, greeting and holy cards, silver and gold jewelry, mosaic reredos and embroidered panels, including secular and non-secular subject matter.
Sr. Mary of the Compassion died in 1977 at the age of sixty-nine and is buried in Jersey City. Most of her work is catalogued and can be found at Hudson County Community College in Jersey City.