The month of November in the Canadian Church Calendar begins with two observances which invite us to remember those who have gone before us; All Saints on November 1st followed by All Souls on November 2nd.
I think of All Saints as a day when we remember the inspirational figures from our shared past and All Souls, a day we remember the faithful departed, to be a day for the rest of us. We can’t all be saints but we can all be faithful.
One inspirational figure SSJD remembers regularly is Hannah Grier Coome, our Mother Foundress. Mother Hannah is not technically a saint (according to the church) but she is certainly one of the communion of saints.
Every year on September 8th SSJD celebrates its Foundation Day – the date our community was founded in 1884. It is a day of joy and thanksgiving when we look back with gratitude. We give thanks for all the people who have gone before us, not only all of our departed sisters but also the women and men who had a vision of the religious life in Canada and worked to make it a reality.
This past Foundation Day, September 8, 2022, shortly after we had celebrated the Holy Eucharist, we received word that Queen Elizabeth had died. Foundation Day is about looking back but also looking forward. We honour our past while considering the course we want to set for the future. Once the Queen’s death was announced a great deal of the news coverage looked back at her long reign and her longer life. The coverage looked back but it also looked forward because the reality is that once the Queen died her son was automatically King.
Neither Mother Hannah or Queen Elizabeth could have imagined as young girls the lives they would eventually have.
Queen Elizabeth only became heir to the throne when her uncle abdicated and her own father became king. As a 10-year-old girl at her father’s coronation she could not have imagined that her father would die at a young age and she would become queen while still in her twenties.
As a young widow, in 1881, Hannah Grier Coome was on her way from Chicago to England to try her vocation in the Community of St. Mary, Wantage. She stopped in Toronto to visit her sister Rose Grier and was introduced to a committee of Toronto Anglicans who were committed to the idea of establishing the religious life in Canada. They were sure Hannah Grier Coome was the answer to their prayers but Hannah needed some convincing! She was eventually persuaded and “Two years later, on September 8, 1884, Hannah made her profession vows…She earned the distinction of being one of the few women in history to be professed as a sister and simultaneously become the Mother Superior of a community.” (A Journey Just Begun)
During the committal service for Queen Elizabeth the Imperial State Crown, Sovereign’s Sceptre, and the Sovereign’s Orb were removed from the top of her coffin and placed on the altar. Her Household Chamberlain broke his Wand of Office and placed it on top of the coffin. It was a powerful image of the transfer of worldly power and a reminder that we enter the world with nothing and leave it the same way.
Those three items will be seen again at the coronation of King Charles. He will wear the crown and carry the sceptre and orb as symbols of his worldly power.
At a sister’s funeral her life profession ring and community cross are displayed on the pall covering her casket. The cross and ring will be used again for another sister. It is not a transfer of power but an acknowledgment of the continuity of community; one lays down her burden and another picks it up.
Every year on All Souls Day we read a list of all of our departed sisters, beginning with Mother Hannah. We also remember all those dear to us, all those whose lives were inspirational or meaningful to us in some way who have died in the past year. This year Queen Elizabeth’s will be one of the many names read out loud as we remember and give thanks.
Both Queen Elizabeth and Mother Hannah were sustained in the roles they were called to inhabit by their faith in God, their decision to follow Jesus Christ. Both were buried with an acknowledgment of the role they held in life but both entered God’s presence simply as God’s beloved daughter. Neither will ever officially be saints but both will always be included among the faithful departed.
