“A house, among the green hills, to make the last years of our elderly nuns more peaceful? Why not?”
Nel cuore lungimirante della Madre Generale, sr. Raffaella Viero, the new project is taking shape. A memory goes to his hometown, where the Pre-Alps slope gently towards the Vicenza plain: Molvena. The parish priest agrees to sell the land adjacent to the parish church: he too likes the idea of having a group of religious women praying next to him! The place from above dominates the small town in the shadow of the bell tower. Another piece of land is purchased from a private individual and work begins during the year 1965.
Il 26 October 1968 the house is finished. The bishop of Vicenza, mons Carlo Zinato, in the archpriest's church he addresses warm words of welcome to the Dimesse Sisters, he is pleased with the new work and exalts the figure of the nun, promising himself a new good for the whole country. Monsignor Alvise Dal Zotto, chaplain of the Mother House, presents the completed project on behalf of the Institute and, immediately after the ribbon cutting, by the new Mother General sr. Bertilla Narchi, the prelate, followed by the authorities and the crowd, enter the house and stop in the small chapel, heart and spiritual fulcrum of the new work. The Eucharistic table is decorated with a bas-relief representing the pelican; in the side altar, the maternal gaze of the Virgin “Mater Ecclesiae”, thus invoked by the Second Vatican Council, watches over the sailing ship of the Church that sails through time. This blessed statue is offered by the mothers of Molvena, grateful to the nuns.
The new retirement home is appropriately given the name “Mater Ecclesiae”. The welcoming structure, airy and elegant, over time it will also be able to accommodate many lay people, valuing and rejoicing seniority, last season of life.
In that memorable October, the first Dismissed Sisters, led by Mother Raffaella, they are ready with much love to provide their service also in the parish and in the nursery school. Already in the first days of November the house willingly opens its doors to a group of young people for a spiritual retreat, indeed, the activity is aimed above all at satisfying the pressing requests for Spiritual Exercises, of withdrawals, of refresher courses for various groups of both lay people and religious. Numerous Dimesse Sisters also spend a week there for their annual retreat in the peace and silence favored by a beautiful park.
