March 26: Investiture

The most intense period for the transfer of the remains began on March 26 with the Investiture.  The body of Mother Scholastica was prepared over the previous five months through the professional and delicate services of Professor Giovanni Arcudi and his collaborators.  It was clothed in a new habit lovingly prepared by Sr. M. Clementina Dragone: the tunic in white linen, the habit of blue wool, the scapular and the blue mantle…  Thus the “bride” was ready to be placed in the plexiglass urn in a suitably prepared location to receive the visit of her daughters, the Pauline Family members, relatives and friends before the transfer.
Officially, the beginning of the visitation period was scheduled for Sunday, March 30, but as soon as she was prepared and placed in the urn, the word spread rapidly and the room in which the remains of Mother Scholastica lay never remained without visitors.  The atmosphere surrounding her was interlaced with expressions of affection, emotion, silence and prayer as her projected images flashed on the screen and helped all to review her life measured by the light of “Lord, you alone are enough!”.  The musical background of our polyphonic hymns of “long ago” – Coelestis urbs Jerusalem, Dominus pascit me, etc. – favored this atmosphere by nourishing the reflection and the remembrance of her sanctity and its irradiation.

In small groups from the various communities of the Italian province, the sisters came by train, by car or by airplane to stop beside their Mother, while those residing in Rome and its surrounding areas were drawn like a magnet and went to visit her in a continuous stream.  Relatives and friends were notified of this event.  The response, in person and through messages, of those who were among the Pious Disciples at one time and had felt the spiritual contagion of Mother Scholastica, was truly moving.

In the meantime, as for the funeral in 1987 around the time of the IV General Chapter, the entire world was represented by the sisters participating in the second session of the VII General Chapter in the universality of languages, colors and songs.