Feature News
More than a dream, 'a miracle'
Archbishop Wenski's gift to his 'Haitian mom'
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Ana Rodriguez-Soto - Florida Catholic
DANIEL SONE | FC
Archbishop Thomas Wenski receives his pallium June 29 from the hands of Pope Benedict XVI.
ANA RODRIGUEZ- SOTO| FC
Resilia Lucien receives Communion from Pope Benedict during the pallium Mass. She and Nathaniel Winters of Orlando were the two Miami/Orlando pilgrims chosen by Archbishop Wenski for the honor.
VATICAN CITY — Archbishop Thomas Wenski received his pallium June 29 from the hands of Pope Benedict XVI. In the process, he gave his “Haitian mom” a priceless gift.
Marie Lucien met the future Archbishop Wenski back in 1985. She was living in Miami and attending church at Notre Dame d’Haiti, where he was pastor.
Sometime later he traveled to her hometown of Les Cayes, where he had first studied Creole, and paid a visit to Marie’s mother, Resilia. Something clicked between them.
“I feel a connection with your mom,” Marie recalls then Father Wenski telling her. “She’s his adopted mother.”
Eventually Resilia — who raised six children and never went to school —came to Miami to live with her daughter. The bond between Resilia and Father Wenski grew.
Marie remembers telling him that she was afraid her mother would fall because she had trouble walking but she insisted on going to church by herself. The future Archbishop Wenski solved that problem.
“He took her to church every morning, holding her on his arm,” Marie recalled. “He said one day she would walk okay.”
Resilia rejoiced when Father Wenski was made auxiliary bishop of Miami, and again when he was named bishop of Orlando. She even spent some time there with him when she felt lonely in Miami.
“She follows the bishop everywhere,” her daughter said. “She says a rosary for him every day.”
The feeling is mutual, she added. “He loves her. You can’t imagine how much he loves her.”
Because of the pallium pilgrimage, Resilia, 78, saw Rome and Assisi for the first time in her life — something she never imagined she would do. Archbishop Wenski was often at her side, holding her hand, helping her to her seat or taking her to dinner.
On the morning of June 29, 2010, Resilia walked well enough alone to receive Communion from the hands of Pope Benedict, an honor bestowed on her by her “adopted son.”
Archbishop Wenski held back tears as he watched her go up for Communion. Resilia, who only speaks Creole, seemed pleased and totally at peace throughout the two-and-a-half hour ceremony. (She also sat for nearly five hours in the blazing sun the next morning to attend the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square.)
She said later through her daughter that she was “happy.”
Perhaps that’s an understatement.
“I cannot say it’s a dream come true because we never dreamed about it,” Marie said. “I would say it’s a miracle.”
Photos of the pilgrimage are posted — and can be purchased — at www.dotphoto.com. Sign in as a guest,
then put in the username “flcmiami” to go to the pallium pilgrimage
albums.
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