Servant of God Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange, was the foundress of the Oblate Sisters of Providence. Elizabeth was born in 1784, a native of Cuba, her country of birth is not documented but oral tradition says she was born in Haiti and moved with her family to Cuba.
The Oblate Sisters of Providence were founded by Mother Mary Lange, OSP, and Rev. James Nicholas Joubert, as the first congregation of women religious of African descent. Mother Lange died on February 3, 1882.
This was the beginning of a legacy that has thrived over the past years in 25 cities in the United States, Cuba, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and most recently Africa.
In 2005 three schools (St. Dominic School, Shrine of The Little Flower and St. Anthony of Padua) combined themselves into Mother Mary Lange Catholic School, thus becoming the first school named after her in America. 2008 will mark the 180th anniversary of her founding of St. Academy.
Famous quotes containing the words mary, elizabeth and/or lange:
“Miss Mary Emerson is here,—the youngest person in Concord, though about eighty,—and the most apprehensive of a genuine thought; earnest to know of your inner life; most stimulating society; and exceedly witty withal. She says they called her old when she was young, and she has never grown any older. I wish you could see her.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“...we avoid hospitals because ... they’ll kill you there. They overtreat you. And when they see how old you are, and that you still have a mind, they treat you like a curiosity: like “Exhibit A” and “Exhibit B.” Like, “Hey. nurse, come on over here and looky-here at this old woman, she’s in such good shape....” . Most of the time they don’t even treat you like a person, just an object.”
—Annie Elizabeth Delany (b. 1891)
“We do not regard Englishmen as foreigners. We look on them only as rather mad Norwegians.”
—Halvard Lange (b. 1918)