Sister Ignace Goethals, SNDdeN, third superior general of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur
First Mother General
St. Julie, as the first Mother General, was in office from 1805-1816. According to the Rules of the Congregation she was charged with visiting the houses, naming the local Superiors, and watching over the spiritual and temporal interests of the Congregation.
The principal foundations made by St. Julie were:
- Namur, 1807
- Jumet,1808
- St. Hubert, 1809
- Ghent (Nouveau Bois), 1810
- Zele, 1811
- Gembloux, 1813
- Andenne, 1813
- Fleurus, 1814
Trust in the good God prevailed….
Second Superior General
Mother St. Joseph, the second Superior General, 1816-1838, was elected according to the Rule which required that “ten days after the death of a Superior General, the Electresses chosen from every house in the Institute should meet at the Mother House, and in the presence of the Bishop of Namur, after solemn prayers, should elect by ballot the Sister deemed most worthy.
Since the year 1921, when the Constitutions were brought into harmony with the New Code of Canon Law, the Superior General is elected by a General Chapter.
Mother St. Joseph’s greatest work was the compiling and collating of the Rules and Constitutions of the Sisters of Notre Dame. Besides the common Rule, Mother St. Joseph left an Explanation of the Rule; the particular Rule of each office; the Directory; and the Customs, in which the details of community life are regulated so that the practice of the various houses of the Institute may be uniform.
The other important issue that Mother St. Joseph handled was the tenure of the Superior General. The term initially was for ten years. In a desire to give greater stability to the government of the Institute, she requested the Bishop of Namur to gather the Electresses and settle by ballot the question of life-tenure of the office of Superior General. The Sisters voted unanimously that the Superior General hold her office for life.
Of great sorrow to Mother St. Joseph, in addition to the loss of her most dear Julie, was the movement on the part of some Sisters in her own household to change the fundamental character of the Institute. They proposed to 1. Make a distinction between Sisters engaged in teaching and those doing manual work, and 2. Boarding schools for the upper classes would be the chief work, Day schools were to be quelled, and only a few Poor schools would be retained.
This movement was not successful due to the efforts of Sister Ignatius. The key “reformers” left the order and the other followers admitted guilt, made reparation, and were readmitted to the community.
Trust in the good God prevailed….
Third Superior General
The third Superior General was Mother Ignace, 1838-1842, the former Lady Thérèse Josephine Goethals. The Sisters were not strangers to her as St. Julie often enjoyed the hospitality of Madame Goethals when passing through Ghent.
Early in life, while still in school, Sister Ignace diligently studied English which she said, “would be useful in instructing the heathen in America.”
In 1835 Sister Ignace was made Superior of Jumet and several years later she was called to Namur to replace Sister Marie Thérèse, the Assistant to the Mother General (Mother St. Joseph). In that role, Sister Ignace saved the Institute during the internal struggle of 1835. Under her guidance, every branch of the order flourished as before. Sister Ignace was unanimously elected Mother General in 1838. After her election, she went to Jumet to make a retreat and made a solemn promise to make God’s name known and loved in America.
Early in her term, Antwerp was proposed as a foundation; that city would be a port for Sisters going out on mission. At the same time Bishop John Purcell of Cincinnati, Ohio, went to Namur and happened to meet Mother Ignace. She showed him the schools and he was impressed with the method of teaching and the spirit of the Institute. Eighteen months later, he asked that Sisters be sent to his diocese in America.
After deliberations with the Bishop of Namur and Fr. Varin, S.J., and assurances from Bishop Purcell, Mother Ignace decided that it was her duty to accept the invitation. Eight Sisters set sail from Antwerp on September 9th and entered the harbor of New York, on October 19, 1840. They arrived in Cincinnati on the eve of All Saints and were met on the wharf by Bishop Purcell. The mission prospered beyond the hopes of all.
Shortly after the Sisters left for America, Mother Ignace’s health began to decline rapidly. She did not leave the house after the fall of 1841. On March 16, 1842, during the evening Angelus, Mother Ignace died at the age of forty-three, in the fourth year of her Generalate.
Trust in the good God prevailed….
-- Sister Raphael of the Sacred Heart Pike, SNDdeN, as found in the Outline History of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur