Jeanne Jugan’s unfailing attachment to the Church and “the Holy Father above all!” has rubbed off on Pat Lo, our administrator who is the Jeanne Jugan Association coordinator here at Holy Family Home.
Pat Lo was going to Rome for a Jubilee Pilgrimage and would be visiting her Augustinian friends adjacent to St. Peter’s Basilica. Pat had a great idea—to bring greetings to Pope Leo from the Residents and Little Sisters of the Poor. They rapidly created cards to enclose their prayerful wishes for the Pope’s well-being, with even a few bits of advice on how he should avoid getting overtired. Thoughtfully, one Resident made a birthday card. As a last thought, Pat brought along a copy of our latest Serenity Magazine.
Pope Leo meets Pat Lo
Here are her own words describing the providential outcome of her great idea:
“My sister and I signed up for a September Jubilee Pilgrimage trip to Italy. It was a wonderful trip with a great group of pilgrims. The shrines were beautiful.
I am on the Board of Augustinian Heritage Institute, which is having all of Augustine’s works translated from Latin into English. It’s been an over 30-year project, consisting of around 40 volumes. We are winding down to our last 3 volumes.
Once we heard that an Augustinian was elected Pope, the publisher wanted to send a whole set of the works to him. An Augustinian board member, who is in Rome, arranged that the books would be presented to the Pope on his birthday. When I looked at the dates, I realized that I would be in Rome on the Pope’s birthday.
To make a long story short, another board member and I, and the publisher, were able to be at the Augustinian house in a private audience with the Pope. The Augustinian board member, Father Joe Farrell, was also there, and we were able to congratulate him in person, as he had just been elected Prior General of the Augustinian Order!
Pat telling Pope Leo about LSPs
We received a blessing from the Pope, he blessed some religious articles, and he signed a copy of Serenity which has an article about him – a nice souvenir for the Little Sisters.
Pope Leo, Fr. Farrell and Pat
The priest in the first photo is Fr. Joe Farrell, who was elected Prior General and who made the visit possible. In the third photo the Pope is blessing our religious articles. In the last photo, Pope Leo is with the signed Serenity.
It was a blessing being able to meet the Pope. He has a quiet demeanor and is very intelligent and well spoken. Let us keep him in our prayers.”
Pat showing Pope Leo LSP Publications
Pope Leo and Pat with Serenity Magazine
