Memories of Sancta Sophia

By Sister Mary Cecilia Delaney

Sometime before 1930, Pope Pius XI issued an appeal on behalf of the Russians who had escaped to China after the 1917 Revolution. The Jesuits responded and several of them came to Shanghai, among them Frs Wilcox, Mavriki, Milner and Brangan. All were fluent Russian speakers and were also trained in the Byzantine Rite. At the time there was a school in Shanghai run by a Miss Brennan. When, in 1939, she decided to retire, she offered the premises located at 100 Rue des Soeurs to Fr Wilcox. He contacted the Congregational Leader of the Columban Sisters, Sr Mary Patrick, and the latter agreed to send Sisters to Shanghai to run the school which was named Sancta Sophia. Fr Wilcox stipulated that pupils who were accepted should have at least one Russian parent. During the war money was scarce so Sr Mary Dolores couldn't adhere to this arrangement as the Russians were refugees and often penniless, so she accepted other nationalities who were able to pay tuition. In this way the school flourished with a mixture of Koreans, Japanese, Filipinos, Russians, Chinese, Armenians and Czechoslovakians. Sr Mary Patrick assigned Srs Francis de Sales Hogan, Oliver Peel, Ignatius O'Keeffe, Angela Meagher and Laurence Meaney from Hanyang and Kiangsi. From Ireland came Srs ImmanuelSynnott, Annunciata O'Byrne and Catherine Laboure Murphy. In 1946Srs Maura Ryan, Mary Nathy O'Beirne, Joan Gumbrielle, Eucaria McElligott and I arrived.

Sr Cecilia surrounded by her pupils in Sancta Sophia.

The School
By this time the location of Sancta Sophia had moved to 90 Rue des Soeurs. The students loved the school and went home very reluctantly in the evenings. Most were very poor, and their homes consisted of one room with facilities shared by three or four families. Many of the children had sad stories to tell. They often expressed fears for the future and I tried to reassure them saying that I would always be there, little realising that the net of Mao Tse Tung was closing in on all of us.

One day a Korean girl came to our door accompanied by a little boy of seven years. His father, a GI was now back in the US. Around his neck he had a locket with a picture of Jesus. The little girl asked if someone would tell her of the Lord. Sr Oliver began to instruct her and gave the little boy to my care. When I explained about heaven he smiled beatifically so I asked him what he was going to do in heaven. After a pause he burst out, "I'll watch God because I don't know what he is at now". Sometime later one of the Californian Jesuits baptised him. We never tried to influence our students as we respected their various beliefs. Most were Orthodox Christians but some were pagans.

The Orthodox Liturgy
The Sisters in the community adopted the Slav Byzantine Rite. Our chapel was fitted out with Russian icons and emblems. A beautiful iconostasis, or screen bearing exquisite representations of saints, angels, and episodes from the Scriptures, divided the sanctuary from the rest of the room. Only the priest and the sacristan were permitted to pass to the other side of the iconostasis. The normal posture for prayer and Eucharistic celebration was standing. Holy Communion was given under both species, the celebrant using a longhandled spoon to dip the particle in the chalice. Babes in arms also received the sacred species. As the sacristan, I baked the yeast bread for the Holy Sacrifice. The Sisters sang the Liturgy every morning - standing. A Russian lady conducted the four-part choir without accompaniment. It began at seven and continued until almost nine.

The iconostasis in the convent chapel.

Hard Times in Shanghai
There was great unrest in China so it was a difficult time to be in Shanghai. There was a new power in the land as Mao had overthrown the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai Chek. Many came to us seeking food and our house became a haven for many seeking some form of security. We were never short, though inflation was so bad that Monday's money often had little value by the following Friday. In 1949 we all knew that we were living on a volcano of unrest, yet we went to our classes each day with enthusiasm and even joy. The students often expressed their very real fears. Many were trying to get visas to other countries, to the Philippines, Australia, USA, the Dominican Republic, Czechoslovakia, anywhere they could find a toehold. Stalin had issued a pardon to all White Russians so many returned to their "Mother Russia". Many of them continued to correspond with me for years afterwards from various corners of the world.

Departure
In the end there was a great deal of panic as crowds sought berths on any kind of transport before Mao's forces reached Shanghai. In May 1950 we received a telegram, "Cecilia, Annunciata go Hong Kong". When we were leaving Sancta Sophia, the girls lined the streets wailing, so that many rickshaws paused to see whose funeral was passing. It was difficult also leaving the other Sisters of the community but they followed a week later. Berths were found for us on the SS General Gordon, where even the hold was packed with terrified people. At that time it was usual to show items of interest in the newsreels at the cinema. My sister Annie was at a show in London when to her surprise and delight she saw two Sisters make their way up the gangway of the SS General Gordan. She recognised me and was able to give the good news to my mother.

Leaving those students was a heartbreak for me, but I found many others to minister to in the years that followed in Hong Kong, the Philippines and Ireland.

The above article was adapted from Cecilia Come Back, a memoir by Sr Mary Cecilia Delany, published by Hillgate Publishing Ltd, Batterstown, Co. Meath in October 2008.

[Far East Magazine]