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| Sr. Priscilla Weber, far left, and Sr. Mary Ellen Lewis, far right, welcome people into the new Sisters’ Garden at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison. They presented each person with a bookmark as they walked through under the arch that once marked the old hospital entrance. (Catholic Herald photo/Kat Wagner) |
MADISON — St. Mary’s Hospital held a blessing and dedication of two new gardens at the hospital campus October 8. The event, held 99 years to the day on which the first cornerstone was laid by the hospital’s founding Sisters, also was a farewell to the last two Franciscan Sisters of Mary to serve at the hospital, Sr. Priscilla Weber and Sr. Mary Ellen Lewis.
The ceremony was held in front of the garden gate, an archway that had once marked the entrance to the hospital. It had been painstakingly dismantled and then reconstructed to honor the 168 Sisters who have served at St. Mary’s Hospital over the past century. Sister Priscilla and Sister Mary Ellen completed the arch by inserting the final stone during the ceremony.
In addition to thanking the Sisters for their dedication and service, Bishop Robert C. Morlino said before blessing the new gardens the real significance of the gift is to honor the work of consecrated women.