Alumna Sister Makes Her Final Profession!

Liza Forshaw reports the wonderful news that her daughter, Sr. Maria Battista of the Lamb of God (Maria Forshaw ’07), made her final vows at the Carmel of St. Joseph in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 9. “We are celebrating this morning a holy Mass that is a special occasion of joy and thanksgiving,” said Rev. Brian W. Harrison, O.S., who presided at the profession, “not just for Sr. Maria Battista, who has just now expressed publicly her answer to the call she has received from God; not just for her other sisters as well, here at St. Joseph’s Carmelite Monastery, not just for the Archdiocese of St. Louis, but also, I would venture to say, for the Universal Church.”

Sr. Maria Battista joined the Discalced Carmelites as a postulant in 2012, entered the novitiate in 2013, and made her first vows in 2015. As a member of this cloistered, contemplative community, she is dedicated to the prayerful service of the Church, and she is particularly involved in the musical life of her monastery.

“A young daughter of God is committing herself to a life which, in the greatest degree possible here on earth, anticipates the life of the Blessed in heaven,” continued Fr. Harrison. “And Sr. Maria Battista has answered this noble calling in the specifically Carmelite vocation — a way hallowed by some of the most outstanding and holy women in the history of the Church.”

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Forshaw, Maria’s parents, have made a special gift to the College in honor of her solemn profession. Her mother, Liza, said, “Maria is so grateful to the College for its profound influence on her and her religious vocation.”

Deo gratias!