Sister St. Pierre of the Blessed Sacrament.
The Heavenly Bridegroom, on Apr. 27, 1915, while the joyous Alleluias were ascending to His throne of love, and during the octave of the Patronage of our glorious Father St. Joseph, came to take another of His brides from our Carmel, to the celestial nuptial feast prepared for her in the mansions of eternal bliss.
Sister St. Pierre of the Blessed Sacrament, nee Anna Blair Lancaster, was in the 55th year of her age, and the 27th of her Religious Profession. She was born Jan. 10, 1861, in New Orleans, La., of pious Christian parents, her Father being William P. Lancaster, and her Mother Josephine Morgan. She was educated at St. Simeon’s select school, by the Sisters of Charity, and ever showed herself deeply grateful for the thorough Catholic training she received there.
She was a very pious child, and at an early age she heard the Divine Master calling her to a life of detachment from all that passes away and of union with Him, which she would find in the holy solitude of Carmel. She was directed by a Reverend Jesuit Father, and on May 18, 1885, in the 25th year of her age, her holy desires were realized. Owing to circumstances over which Superiors had no control, she did not receive the holy habit until Oct. 21, 1886. Another sacrifice was asked of her because of the same circumstances, and her longing desires to pronounce her holy vows could not be realized until Nov. 21, 1888.
Before she left the Novitiate, the malady which was ultimately to take her from us, manifested itself; yet through all the intervening years, she worked generously for her community, and kept up to all community exercises with admirable and most edifying fidelity. When her failing strength obliged her to lie down, she either wrote or sewed. She was very orderly and remarkably industrious, considering it contrary to holy poverty to lose a minute.
For a time she was Sacristan, and during her entire Religious life she mended the stockings, a charge which she fulfilled with edifying generosity almost to the last day of her life. Gifted with marked literary ability, she was a valuable help to all her Prioresses, in the correspondence, in which duty she showed much prudence and discretion. She helped greatly with the work of the Holy Face, and manifested much zeal in spreading devotion to Sister Teresa of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, “The Little Flower of Jesus,” thus, may we hope, hastening the day of her Beatification.
Sister had a marked devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and a great love for prayer. When she knelt in the Divine Presence, her face was seen visibly to light up, as it were, and she seemed lost in her communings with her Beloved.
Although she had a tender affection for her relatives, yet she manifested a truly supernatural detachment from them, which greatly edified the community.
In May of 1914, our dear Sister’s condition became such as to cause alarm, and she herself realized the end was not far off. Yet she continued to work generously, and to follow community exercises until November of the same year when her heart became weak. For four months longer, she struggled on heroically, keeping up to all the community acts her strength permitted, and working, as ever, incessantly.
In the month of March, 1915, her state became quite serious, although she worked on until her strength failed her utterly. She went to the Choir for Mass the last time, Sunday, Apr. 18th; our Divine Lord was taken to her the following day; and on the next morning, Tuesday, Apr. 20th, she received, in full consciousness and edifying fervor, the Last Sacraments. The plenary indulgence in “Articulo Mortis” was imparted; Holy Viaticum that day was her last Communion. She lingered on for a week longer, and on Tuesday morning, Apr. 27th, at 2 o’clock, her pure soul flew to the bosom of the Divine Spouse for Whom she had given all.
Later in the morning, her holy remains were carried to the Choir, and there exposed until the Requiem Mass the following day. On the evening of Tuesday, the entire Office of the Dead was chanted by the community. The Requiem Mass was sung at 10 o’clock, the Celebrant Rev. Father Cyril, the Deacon, Rev. Father Joseph, and the Sub-deacon, Rev. Father Gabriel, all being Discalced Carmelites. The funeral sermon was preached by our devoted Confessor, Very Rev. Father Columban, O.S.B., who paid a touching tribute to our departed Sister, and urged all present to follow her beautiful example, that they might like her, enjoy a holy and happy death.
After the Last Absolution, her remains were carried to our community tomb in new St. Louis Cemetery. R.I.P.
Sr. Saint Pierre of the Blessed Sacrament – profession, Nov 21, 1888
1888. Profession of Sister St. Pierre of the Blessed Sacrament, choir-sister.--- This Profession was made in the year of our Lord, 1888, on Wednesday the twenty-first of November, at five o’clock A.M., at the Monastery of St. Joseph and St. Teresa of the Discalceated Carmelite Nuns in New Orleans, Louisiana. Secular name: Anne Blair Lancaster; religious name: St. Pierre of the Blessed Sacrament; birth-place: New Orleans, Louisiana; her father’s name: William Blair Lancaster; her mother’s name: Josephine Morgan. In the twenty-sixth year of her age, she received the Holy Habit of Carmel on Thursday the twenty-first of October 1886, and made her Profession under the Most Rev. Archbishop Francis Janssens in the hands of Rev. Mother Teresa of Jesus, Prioress of said Monastery, in the Choir before the Blessed Sacrament, the Community being present. Sister St. Pierre made her Profession in the following words written and signed by herself:
“I, Sister St. Pierre of the Blessed Sacrament, make my Profession and promise Obedience, Chastity and Poverty to God, to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and to His Grace the Archbishop of New Orleans, the Most Rev. Francis Janssens, and to his successors, representing our Very Rev. Father General of the Congregation of St. Elias of the Discalceated Carmelites, according to the Primitive Rule of the Order, without mitigation until death. I, moreover, do make the Vow of Humility, and promise never directly or indirectly, by myself or by another, to seek for any dignity or office in the Congregation, as is prohibited by our Constitutions. (signed) Sister St. Pierre of the Blessed Sacrament.”
The said sister made her Profession when she was in the 28th year of her age.
(signed) Sr. Teresa of Jesus, Prioress, D. C.
Note at end of page: Sr. St. Pierre of the Blessed Sacrament died April 27, 1915.
It is worth noting that three other sisters of Joseph B. Lancaster became nuns. William Blair Lancaster and Mary Ellen Wells had five children: Laura and Marie (Maisey), both of whom died in childhood in the 1870s; William Blair Lancaster Jr. (Willie, 1873-1925), who was married and had three children; Mary Ellen (Nellie) Lancaster (1876-1954), who entered the Daughters of Charity and took the name Sister Apolline; John Robert Lancaster (1879-1945), who was married briefly but had no children.
William Blair Lancaster and Marie Delery Lancaster had five children: Elizabeth Lancaster (1887-1980), who never married; Cecilia (Celie) Lancaster (1890-1977), who entered the Daughters of Charity and took the name Sister Mary Austin; Armantine (Tena) Lancaster (1892-1986), who entered the Daughters of Charity and took the name Sister Vincentine; Armand Delery Lancaster (1894-1968) who married Katherine Denechaud and had five children; John Lancaster (1895), who died at birth.
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