Who was Sister Marie Celinie Joubert, SSJ?
Sister Marie Celinie Joubert, SSJ Who was Sister Celinie Joubert? Why does the Diocese of St. Augustine have a Catechetical Award for Excellence in Forming the Faithful named after her since 2014?
On April 20th I attended the Sister Marie Celinie Joubert, SSJ Catechetical Awards held at St. Luke Parish, Middleburg. Erin McGeever, Director of Christian Formation of the Diocese of St. Augustine, explained in her welcoming remarks that she had researched all of the eight pioneer French Sisters of St. Joseph who were recruited by Bishop Verot in 1866 to teach and evangelize the children of the freed slaves following the Civil War, as the State was not educating them. She said she chose Sister Marie Celinie because she served in the most locations - St. Augustine, Jacksonville, and Fernandina.
From what I was able to find, primarily from Beyond the Call written by Sister Thomas Joseph McGoldrick, SSJ, and other on-line sources, Sister Marie Celinie Joubert (Virgine) was born in small town named Felinas outside of Le Puy, France. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph in Le Puy at age 19. She was said to have had delicate health. She was chosen to be one of the eight Sisters to travel to Florida in 1866.
From the letters the Sisters sent back to France we learn that she asked for patterns for making lace collars in black and white (selling French bobbin lace was a way they supported themselves financially), and that she worked with others in making an altar cloth for their first chapel in St. Augustine. Correspondence notes that Mother Sidonie and Sister Celinie taught classes for the younger children in St. Augustine in the 1860s. In 1869 Sister Celinie was one of the four sent to open St. Catherine’s School in Jacksonville for colored children, which would eventually relocate and be renamed St. Pius School. In 1870 the pastor of St. Michael’s in Fernandina asked for two Sisters to prepare children to receive first Holy Communion. “Two Sisters were sent - Sisters Celinie Joubert and de Sales Kennedy. They lived and taught in two rooms behind the church sanctuary. p. 181, Beyond the Call)” By 1873, Sister Celinie’s health had declined so much that she was sent back to France to recuperate and regain her strength, but she soon returned to Florida.
In August, 1877 Sister Celine was with her Sisters on their annual retreat in St. Augustine when yellow fever broke out in Fernandina. Bishop Moore of St. Augustine asked for Sisters to send help for the care of those stricken with the disease, as the healthy were evacuated. Sisters Celinie and de Sales Kennedy went to Fernandina , both knowing they would most likely not return to their Sisters. They tended the sick day and night for a couple of weeks until they themselves caught it and died within hours of each other on Sept. 21 and Sept. 22, 1877. Sister Celinie died at the age of 33.
Program from this year's Sr. Marie Celinie Joubert Awards.
Thank you to Erin McGeever and Bishop Felipe Estevez for starting this annual award and to Bishop Erik Pohlmeier for continuing it. The life of Sister Marie Celinie, like the rest of our founding French Sisters, was a powerful witness to self-sacrificing, unifying love of God and the Dear Neighbor. May her story continue to inspire catechists in this diocese.