Mother Matilde Parisi, C.S.JB.

Mother Matilde Parisi, CSJB

     "Everyone has a story!"  For 104 year old Sister Matilde Parisi, hers was a war story. A World War II story of allying herself with an American major to face down the British commander  as she protected and provided for her children - the orphans entrusted to her care in their small, southern Italian town - while the German army advanced through their homeland.

     The Allies had secured the area near Salerno, Italy and US Major Canady arrived to serve as Military Governor. Among the many people seeking his assistance came a group of Sisters of St. John the Baptist led by "Madre Matilde". She was distraught because earlier that day his counterpart, the British Town Major, had ordered the Sisters and their charges to evacuate their building so that soldiers could be housed there.  Whenever Mother related the story, one could still glimpse the steadfast determination with which she presented her case to the Major. She was not worried about the Sisters - they could take care of themselves. But the children? The Sisters could not, would not abandon them to the streets.

    The Major agreed, but normal means of authority and diplomacy did not resolve the situation. So, encouraging the Sisters to invoke "a higher authority" , Major Canady invoked the authority of American General Mark Clark and the evacuation was forestalled.  The Sisters made sure that the townspeople knew what the Major had done for them - and he became a local hero. As the war kept on the townspeople found food for his men and miraculously an old American Buick for his own transportation!  Soon the war effort called the Major to serve in other arenas. After the war, Sr. Matilde and the Major never saw one another again, but for many, many years they kept up a warm correspondence. And to this day Sr. Matilde has never ceased remembering him in her prayers. 

     It was with that same gentle but determined spirit that Sr. Matilde gave 86 years of loving commitment and service in religious life. Seventy of these years were dedicated to the needs of the American people, mostly young children in the urban areas of New York-New Jersey. And also to her Baptistine Sisters through a variety of leadership positions within the Province. Sr. Matilde's "war story" is also a story of Divine Providence. In the most unlikely circumstances God's loving care blossoms within our human situation through the goodness of others.

Sisters Mark Milestone Years

Celebrating 102 Years of Life!

On January 25, 2009, despite the wintry weather and challenging roads, Sisters from every convent in the American Province squeezed into benches and stood in tight spaces at Mt. St. John Convent, Purchase, NY to pray with and for a "gentle giant" in the American Province  -  Mother Matilde Parisi, C.S.JB as she celebrated a life that spanned one hundred years.

Born in Italy on January 20, 1909, Mother, as she is still affectionately referred to, embarked on a life's journey that would embrace two countries, two cultures, but one calling: that of a Sister of St. John the Baptist. As a young Sister, with her country embroiled in World War 2, she found herself steadfastly arguing with British military leaders in order to provide for and protect the orphans in her care. And it was at this time that she met her first American -  a Major who would help her.  [see: The Major and M Matilde

In 1944 Mother embarked on the ocean voyage that would bring her to America - her "second home" for the next 65 years. In the urban areas of New York-New Jersey. a lifetime of loving service was dedicated to the needs of the American people, mostly young children. In later years Mother served in many leadership positions within the American Province. Today, in her gentle face and smiling eyes one can still glimpse the steadfast determination with which Mother presented her case to the Major. Her century of LIFE is a "magnificat" to God of good times, of difficult times, but always of times of God's loving Providence.