Welcome to the new school year! It’s been a great first month of the school year so far – here’s a few of the things that have been happening around Saint Paul’s from welcome week festivities to retreats to volunteer events, it’s been busy!
Welcome Week Kick-Off
The beginning of the school year meant that there were a lot of new faces on campus, and it was our goal to get as many of them into Saint Paul’s as possible! Staff and students handed out thousands of root beer floats and offered tours of the student center to show people who came by how much is offered here.
We also held freshman events like pizza nights and a bonfire with yard games to help freshmen get to know each other and give them something to invite their friends to right away once they got to campus. Our student band even played a Thursday night concert!
Leadership Retreat
Before Welcome Week even began, about one hundred students had already begun to prepare for another year of living and spreading their faith by going on our Student Missionary Getaway. This retreat happens at the end of every August and is a way to prepare and inspire students to share their faith on campus.
Knights of Columbus Host Service Event
Recently the Knights of Columbus council at Saint Paul’s partnered with Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a nonprofit that provides beds to children in need. Over 40 students came out and worked to build 20 beds that will be delivered to those who need them!
SPK Sells Out
SPK (which stands for Saint Paul’s Koinonia) is a semesterly retreat and is one of Saint Paul’s most popular events. This fall’s SPK is coming up in just a few weeks, with registration opening at last Thursday’s at Newman Dinner. It took just two minutes for the retreat to sell out!
Saint Paul’s Podcast Launches
Want to hear more about what’s happening at Saint Paul’s from the perspective of those who are most involved with it? We just launched the Vox Pauli podcast, where you can listen as our pastor Fr. Eric Sternberg chats with students and staff of Saint Paul’s about their experience in Madison, how to pursue holiness in their day-to-day lives, and whatever other subjects pop up. You can find the podcast on our Youtube channel here or on Spotify here!
Crowdfunding for Saint Paul’s Freshman Ministry
There’s a new way to support Saint Paul’s, and it’s through UW! Saint Paul’s has a discretionary fund within the UW Foundation, and with the new crowdfunding platform called Jumpstart, your gift will support the freshman ministry at Saint Paul’s! 100% of what you give through our Jumpstart page will go to Saint Paul’s.
Click here to go to our Jumpstart page.
Saint Spotlight:
Each newsletter this year we’ll be taking a closer look at the lives of the saints–but not just any saints. Specifically, we’ll be learning more about the lives of the saints who are displayed on mosaics in our chapel. And, since tomorrow happens to be her feast day, we’ll be looking at the Little Flower herself, St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
Born Marie-Francoise-Therese Martin on January 2, 1873, Thérèse was a sickly child who was not expected to survive long after her birth. She was the youngest of nine children, but four of her siblings had already died before she was born, three of them in infancy.
Despite the odds, Thérèse survived. She grew up in a loving household with her four sisters. Her parents, St. Louis and St. Zelie Martin (who were both canonized together in 2015), were very devout and had both tried joining religious orders before realizing they were called to marriage. Growing up in a faithful household with such loving parents helped her to develop a very deep love for Jesus and the Virgin Mary from a very young age.
St. Thérèse (right, 8 years-old) and sister Celine
Thérèse’s life changed drastically when she was four years old and her mother died of breast cancer. The usually-happy Thérèse became more timid and prone to temper tantrums, but in the wake of this she grew closer to her father and grew deeper in her faith. Every day after her classes ended she would go for a walk with him and the two would pray before the Blessed Sacrament at a different church.
Another great difficulty in her life arose when her sister Pauline, who had been as a second mother to Thérèse since their mother died, became a cloistered nun and entered the Carmel monastery in Lisieux. Thérèse said that at that moment life appeared to her to be nothing but a “continual suffering and separation.” Several years later, her sister Marie also entered the convent as well, further agonizing Thérèse.
Throughout these years of her life Thérèse greatly desired to join the convent but was told she was too young. At age 14 she tried to enter the same convent as her sisters but was told by the superiors she had to wait until she was 21. At this, she appealed to the bishop and asked that she be allowed to join; and when he couldn’t give a definitive “yes,” she went to the pope in Rome and asked him herself. She was escorted out of the room by the Swiss Guard, but the superiors acquiesced and allowed her to join the convent at age 15.
St. Therese at age 15
As Thérèse continued along in her life as a nun, she felt increasingly small and insignificant. She saw herself as far removed from the saints and became very aware of her own limitations. Many of the same struggles she grew up with persisted at the convent, including her lack of aptitude for manual work and sometimes sickly health. But it was in the midst of these struggles that she developed what has been called the “Little Way.” Knowing that she couldn’t do the greatest deeds, she resolved instead to do what small things she could do with great love.
Thérèse lived a very simple life of holiness. Nothing about her stood out from the outside; even her fellow nuns did not think her exemplary in every way, and some did not treat her well. But Thérèse had a very childlike relationship with God and sought to do everything out of love for him, putting every aspect of her life entirely in His care. It was this simplicity and fervent trust that made Thérèse such a great saint, and one whom countless people turn to for intercession now.
In 1897, Thérèse died of tuberculosis. In the aftermath of her death, her autobiography (written at request of the prioress of the convent) was published and quickly began to increase the awareness of this previously-unknown cloistered nun. The canonization process was opened in 1914, and Pope Pius X even dispensed with the typical 50-year waiting period between death and beatification to beatify her in 1923, 26 years after her death. When she was canonized in 1925, 60,000 people attended in St. Peter’s Basilica, with over 500,000 in the square.
St. Thérèse mosaic in our chapel
St. Thérèse, pray for us!
Thank you for making our mission at UW-Madison possible and able to flourish year after year!
God bless you!
