At 2:00 PM on April 3 everything is ready to transport the urn of Mother Scholastica to the Church of Jesus Master.

It is a beautiful spring day!  The sky is blue, the trees have blossoms that dance in the wind with the white clouds, a concert of birds, the song of the sisters and friends create an environment for the procession that winds its way with great sobriety and dignity.  They enter in church and the mortal remains of Mother Scholastica pause before the altar while the Gospel of the “grain of wheat” (Jn 12:23-28) is proclaimed and all listen to the second reflection of the Postulator who then sprinkles the remains with holy water in remembrance of her baptism and uses incense to recall that the body was a temple of the living God.  Then, at the Magnificat, we move toward the tomb prepared to receive Mother Scholastica.

The tomb, like a new sepulcher, receives the blessing:

Lord Jesus Christ,
you rested for three days in the sepulcher
and enlightened with the hope of the resurrection
the burial of those who believe in you.
Bless this tomb and grant that our sister,
the Servant of God Sr. Mary Scholastica,
who will be placed in it today, may rest in peace
“as she awaits the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come”;
you who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.

The bronze tomb already contains the wooden coffin into which the urn holding the mortal remains of Mother Scholastica is gently lowered.  The assembly pauses for some moments to gaze upon that intact body dressed “in the choral habit of the Pious Disciples” – according to the expression of a person in attendance -, and then everything is covered and sealed.  There remains only the inscription carved into the cover:

“unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit”.

The lamp is lit and flowers are placed almost in the rhythm of a joyous dance, guided by music coming from the heart.  The participants touch the tomb, embrace it, kiss it, or seek a memorial card in order to say “I was there!”

The journey begun in Alba on October 23, 2007 found its culmination in this April 3, 2008, in connection with that important April 3, 1947 which in Alba saw the juridical recognition of the Pious Disciples.  It is a goal which opens the way for a new beginning with the presence of the First Mother who welcomes those who enter and invites them to look upon him, our All, to contemplate and live the great gift of the Eucharist, “in which – as she ardently said – we are reunited with Jesus who is our All”.

At the conclusion of the day, in a church once again packed with sisters and brothers, Mother M. Scholastica, from her station, participates in the Eucharist, presided by Fr. Antonio da Silva, uniting herself in the choral thanksgiving to the Lord who in this admirable Pauline Family continues to weave the wonders of holiness for the edification of his house in our difficult yet marvelous period in history.  In the homily Fr. Antonio underscored that “now the Church entrusts us not only with the responsibility for the gift of having in this temple her mortal remains, but also to seek and recognize the work of God in her, in life and after death.  This is the purpose of the canonical cause.  In her remains we have a sign of that “incorruptible inheritance”, and we are led to rejoice with the words of the psalmist: “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord; happy are those who take refuge in him” (Ps 34:9).