{"id":4930,"date":"2013-09-15T08:49:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-15T08:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/2013\/09\/15\/pilgrimage-to-the-south-island-day-four-milton-invercargill-and-bluff\/"},"modified":"2023-05-10T02:55:03","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T02:55:03","slug":"pilgrimage-to-the-south-island-day-four-milton-invercargill-and-bluff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/2013\/09\/15\/pilgrimage-to-the-south-island-day-four-milton-invercargill-and-bluff\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilgrimage to the South Island: Day Four: Milton, Invercargill and Bluff"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nEarly Thursday morning we set off for Milton on our way to
\nInvercargill. This was a most wonderful spot and was well worth the time we
\nspent there. We met an ex-pupil who is currently the secretary for the
\nPrincipal. Both were delighted to see us and it was wonderful to see that they
\nwere trying to keep their Dominican heritage. There were pictures of St Dominic
\nup, as well as old pictures of the founding Sisters in the front foyer. We were
\nshown the old church which was used by the Sisters as a church\/school and
\nincluded some old furnishings, as well as the new Church, which was dedicated
\nto the Immaculate Conception. Our guide gave us great delight as all the
\nstories from the past came back to her. She showed us the side chancel were the
\nSisters used to hear Mass, the old confessional, the old convent and gave us
\nmany insights into life as a pupil at that time. Apparently when working the
\nSisters used to hoist their habits up and tuck them into their belts to keep
\nthem from getting dirty and when Mother General came on visitation all the
\nstudents would line up to give her posies and for their efforts would get a day
\noff the next day.  <\/span>All students were
\namazed at the hard work done by the small communities of Sisters, some of whom
\nwere only teenagers at the time \u2013 they taught, they prayed, they tended the
\ngarden, they cleaned, they cooked, they organised fundraisers.
\nThe Principal then asked us to visit the school so we made our way from
\nclassroom to classroom, giving small talks, answering questions and singing
\nsongs. We were most impressed with the children who were very polite, well
\nbehaved and well receptive to us.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/object><\/div>\n
\n<\/o:p><\/span><\/span> <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nNext it was on to Invercargill where we first paid a visit to
\nCalvary Hospital to visit two Dominican Sisters still in habit \u2013 Sr Eugene O.P.
\nand Sr Gertrude O.P. A pleasant time was spent there singing songs and catching
\nup on news and then it was on to St Catherine\u2019s Convent which unfortunately had
\nbeen turned into a student hostel. There were also two other Convents in
\nInvercargill – St Albert\u2019s and St Bertrand\u2019s but sadly they no longer exist.
\nNext it was on to Bluff where we paid a visit to St Mary Star of the Sea and
\nhad a little adventure of our own. Owing to a lack of time and our need to be
\nback in Dunedin for evening Mass, we leisurely made a u-turn on a grassy patch
\nof field and unfortunately, forgetful of the added weight, the result was we
\nfound ourselves stuck in the mud. To cut a long story short, a guardian angel
\ncame in the form of a farmer driving a tractor, providentially with a big
\nchain, and we were rescued from our plight. We venture to say we left our mark
\non Bluff.<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/object><\/div>\n

<\/o:p><\/span><\/span> <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Early Thursday morning we set off for Milton on our way to Invercargill. This was a most wonderful spot and was well worth the time we spent there. We met an ex-pupil who is currently the secretary for the Principal. Both were delighted to see us and it was wonderful to see that they were … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-convent-life","infinite-scroll-item","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4930"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5260,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4930\/revisions\/5260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}