REFLECTIONS

As you might guess, Sister Christina’s file notes yielded many helpful facts but nothing much that was personal.  So in order to get at that aspect, I consulted three human sources – Sheila Gibson and Richard Yee, both her former colleagues at then Holy Names College, and her very dear friend for over 50 years, Sister Rita Caulfield.  All were immensely helpful to me.

 So let me begin with two quotes.  The first is from John Henry Cardinal Newman’s “Idea of a University,” first delivered in 1852 as a series of lectures at the medieval university of Oxford:

 A great good will impart great good.  If then the intellect is so excellent a portion of us, and its cultivation so excellent, it is not only beautiful, perfect, admirable and noble in itself, but in a true and high sense it must be useful to the possessor and to all around him; not useful in any low, mechanical, mercantile sense, but as diffusing good, or as a blessing, or a gift, or power, or a treasure, first to the owner, then through him to the world.  I say then, if a liberal education be good, it must necessarily be useful too.

 The second quote is taken from T.S. Eliot’s “Murder in the Cathedral,” set in 1170 at the great medieval cathedral of Canterbury.  The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas a Beckett, is facing what he believes to be his last moments of life, for he anticipates his assassination at the hands of Henry II’s lackeys since he has thwarted the king’s will.

Peace, and be at peace with your thoughts and visions.

These things had to come to you and you to accept them.

This is your share of the eternal burden,

The perpetual glory.  This is one moment,

But know that another

Shall pierce you with a sudden painful joy

When the figure of God’s purpose is made complete.

 I have chosen these two quotes because I believe they both inform each other and Sister Christina’s deepest core – her conviction about the importance of a liberal education, her commitment to teaching in such a setting, and her profound love of the medieval period, in which was rooted her devotion to the Church, to religious life, and to education.  I hope this will become more obvious as we follow her life.

This remarkable woman, Sister Christina Maria, was born Ruth Eileen Weber on January 2^nd, 1909, in Chicago, Illinois, to Dr. and Mrs. Nicholas Paul Weber.  Her father was an individualist and cultivated it in his children. For example, he began his career as a dentist, but when he grew weary of looking at people’s teeth every day, he decided to become an architect instead, and he did.

Ruth was soon followed by Robert, Jean Marie and Richard, the first two having now preceded her in death.  Toward the end of her elementary schooling, the family moved to Southern California  where she  continued her education, elementary then secondary, the latter at St. Andrew in Pasadena and Immaculate Heart in Hollywood.  Apparently Ruth had been thinking about a religious vocation and where to pursue it, for on Sept. 1^st, 1927, she wrote the following to Mother Angeline:

Reverend and dear Mother,

For some time, as you know, I have been trying to come to a definite decision as to where I should enter.  I have decided on the Holy Names Sisters.  Will you accept my application to enter your community?

If you will, I should like to join you as soon as possible or you think best.

         Hoping I may soon be numbered among your daughters,

                                                I remain
                                                      Sincerely,
                                                            Ruth Weber

She had first met the Holy Names Sisters at St. Andrew’ High School and later reflected that she was drawn to religious life by the strong community life she witnessed in the sisters, the evidence of their deep commitment to an ideal and cause, and her conviction of the value of a life emphasizing the spiritual element and dedicated to teaching.

Short and to the point, her letter of application seemed to satisfy Mother Angeline, for Ruth entered the community on Sept. 14, 1927, made her first commitment in 1930,  and her final vows  on August 15, 1934.  The following year, Christina achieved her BA from Holy Names College with a history major and Latin minor.

Meanwhile her many years of vital and dedicated ministry had already begun. She taught grades 3-8 for 15 years in 7 different elementary schools, both north and south, including religion classes in vacation schools in the 30’s, then history, Latin and religion for 12 and a half years in 4 different high schools, again in both parts of the state.  During these years, Christina earned all her teaching credentials as well as an MA from UC Berkeley in medieval history in 1950 and taught some summer school classes at the then College of the Holy Names. .  By then her great passion for the medieval period was well entrenched.

At the beginning of 1956, Christina left high school teaching to pursue a PhD in medieval studies.  She chose the University of Toronto in large measure because of its Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies and the presence on faculty of Etienne Gilson, the great French scholar.  Here she met Richard Yee who, after he finished his studies, came to HNC in large part because of Christina, and who became both her colleague and very dear friend.  Richard was my main source for the Toronto period and told me several good stories.   One had to do with Gilson who was giving a series of lectures in humanism which could be taken for credit.  At the end, he gave one exam which took several hours to write.  Afterwards, he said only two had done well; the rest he could have flunked.  The two—Christina and a Jesuit priest.  As Richard said, she was a brilliant student, beautifully organized with great skills of synthesizing and control of language.

Another story involved artichokes.  She and Richard often talked about missing San Francisco and artichokes.  One day she saw some and got off the streetcar to get them and bring them home for all to enjoy.  Although the cook said she knew how to cook them, she didn’t, and they arrived on the table a total mess.  What a disappointment!  Christina’s commitment to the medieval period was further manifested in her interest in paleography, which dealt with how to read medieval manuscripts.  For a long time, both she and Richard practiced writing with calligraphic pens.  One learns to read manuscripts by imitating what is written, and. the styles of lettering let one know when and where it was written.  Later, on her many travels with her beloved sister Jean, they would visit monasteries so Christina could look at the manuscripts.  Richard heard about these visits in postcards she sent him.

Following the completion of her dissertation, “The English Bishops, 1399 – 1413,” and her orals, Christina received her PhD in May 1962, from the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto.  Meanwhile, she had already returned to CA in 1960 to begin teaching history, Latin, American literature and the History of Education at Holy Names College.

In 1965, the new president of HNC, Sister Mary Ambrose, appointed Sister Christina Maria Academic Dean, a position she held for the next five years.  At that time she is quoted as follows: "The goal of the college is to form women of profound understanding of the world and to improve that world with the aid of their liberal, humanistic, and Christian principles.”  Certainly we hear echoes of Newman here. Even though they did not always agree, Christina worked well with Sister Ambrose who gave her free reign in her office.  Christina loved being Dean, had a very clear idea of what she wanted to do and worked very hard to achieve it.   During her tenure in this office, Christina began a move toward an idea that was typically medieval; namely, that all knowledge is one and historically grounded.  To this end, she introduced the Humanities Program, a combination of philosophy, history and literature, a dream of intercultural studies which would be required of all, and later she wrote an excellent defense of it in the catalogue.  She worked hard on selling this idea to the faculty and held many lunch meetings where discussion often grew quite heated because some departments thought too many units were being required.  Throughout, she remained gracious as she listened and persuaded.  Her drive for this ideal made it happen, and the result was the genesis of what later evolved into the Core Program in Humanistic Studies, now known as ISAC – Integrative Studies across Cultures.

Christina’s love of teaching was always present, and Sheila Gibson told me what a delight she experienced in team teaching with her.  She said her German sense of order made for clear and well-prepared lesson plans, but she also had a great sense of humor and enjoyed being derailed by student questions.  Though a demanding educator, she was fascinating, enthusiastic, always bringing in relevant current events, and students loved her classes.

In 1975, Sister Christina was invited to join the USF Symposium on medieval heroes and speak on “Joan of Arc, Hero, not Heroine.”  Symposium director William Monahan, S.J. was quoted in the Monitor, “We had been looking to Europe for a scholar of the first rank to talk about St. Joan, and we found her right in the Bay Area.”  In an earlier interview, Sister Christina described Joan of Arc as “a saint for our day.”  She said the 17-year-old Joan “stood up against the establishment,” the feudal lords who were abusing the poor of France.  Christina always had this concern for the poor and even close to the end of her life wanted her things to go to the needy.

Along with her work at Holy Names College, Christina did some teaching at Dominican College in San Rafael and four years at Providence College in Taichung, Taiwan.  She made friends there and enjoyed the teaching, finding the students diligent and intelligent, but was at a loss to get them to think for themselves.  Understandable since, at least at that time, Asian students in their educational system learned to give back what the teacher said.

Christina left the Taiwan position in 1981 and ventured back to high school teaching at Marin Catholic.  That must have been quite a change, but she continued there until 1984, when she and Sister Eileen Marie joined the faculty at Lincoln University in San Francisco in their program for Educational Leadership.  Three years later Christina moved to Los Gatos and began her last ministries – community service, Director of Activities, and in 1993, support services.  Always the teacher, she initiated a current events discussion every Monday morning for which she carefully prepared, bringing maps, providing historical background for the events under discussion, and thoroughly answering any questions.  Also, she began teaching English as a second language to many employees here who needed it for whatever reason.  She loved teaching them and they loved her.  Some even came to visit her in the hospital.

What an amazing array of ministries, the one constant being her great love of education.  But what of the person herself?  From my sources I received several insights.  As mentioned earlier, Christina loved the spirit and time of medieval life.  It was her great tie to the Catholic Church and religious life, even to her concept of education.  No wonder the changes of Vatican II like the diminution of Gregorian Chant and loss of Latin were so hard for her, as well as the changes that took place in religious life, like our participating in the renewal program, no longer chanting the Office or wearing the habit.  Amid all this change, however, she held on to herself and gradually adapted.

She was very close to her family and loved them dearly, and their children and grandchildren, especially delighting in their babies.  She very much liked to travel and did so widely, many times with Jean, and sometimes to study or conduct tours for teachers.

As all who have been at Los Gatos with Christina know, she had a great love of fun and planning parties, especially costume ones (here the medievalist love of putting on another time comes out).  Richard told me this apropos story.  One time while Christina was at HNC, a group from there was having a party in front of the statue of “The Thinker” at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.  All were in costume, including Christina, who was also in habit.  They were having a grand time and drinking champagne when a cop came toward them.  Christina said, “Let me deal with him.  He looks like an Irish cop and I’m a Catholic nun.”  No one knows what she said to him, but he let them stay.  I think the great joy in Richard’s voice as he talked to me about Christina told me more about her than anything else did.

She loved people and dancing (which I understand she engaged in just a couple of months ago.)  She loved drama and even when teaching elementary school, put on educational plays with the children. Many of us can remember her coordination of the operettas at Holy Names High School in the 50’s.  She was a taskmaster and perfectionist, but the end result was a grand success.  Finally, she loved proper clothes and received many from her sister who had a dress shop in southern California.  Who can forget her striking appearance, attractive dress and determined stride as she came down a hallway, looking as if she could do anything she set her mind to?

Only in the last couple of years did all this begin to change, and Christina felt very lucky that she suffered the problems of aging so late in life.  She graciously accepted these changes, gradually letting go, and our loving God did not keep her waiting long to come home.

And so, Christina, as we bid you farewell for now, we once again marvel at your fine mind and your wonderful gifts as educator in whatever way was open to you.  We delight in your talent for analysis, your energy, quick wit and ability to get to the core.  We celebrate your long years as teacher, professor, administrator, and scholar.  We appreciate your creative and graceful way of shifting gears to enter life here at Los Gatos, and so enrich it.

Finally, we admire the totality of your vision, based on your intimate knowledge of the medieval concept of the all-embracing unity of creation, and we admire how it continued to infuse all of your life and understandings.  We will miss you but at the same time rejoice in your homecoming to God, the center of all this unity to which you have been so faithful.

Donna Maynard
June 26, 2007