Serving the Swannanoa Valley since 1936
Our Patroness: St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
St. Margaret Mary was chosen by Christ to arouse the Church to a realization of the love of God symbolized by the heart of Jesus.
Her early years were marked by sickness and a painful home situation. “The heaviest of my crosses was that I could do nothing to lighten the cross my mother was suffering.” After considering marriage for some time, Margaret Mary entered the Order of the Visitation nuns at the age of 24.
A Visitation nun was “not to be extraordinary except by being ordinary,” but the young nun was not to enjoy this anonymity. A fellow novice termed Margaret Mary humble, simple, and frank, but above all, kind and patient under sharp criticism and correction. She could not meditate in the formal way expected, though she tried her best to give up her “prayer of simplicity.” Slow, quiet, and clumsy, she was assigned to help an infirmarian who was a bundle of energy.
On December 21, 1674, three years a nun, she received the first of her revelations. She felt “invested” with the presence of God, though always afraid of deceiving herself in such matters. The request of Christ was that his love for humankind be made evident through her.
During the next 13 months, Christ appeared to her at intervals. His human heart was to be the symbol of his divine-human love. By her own love Margaret Mary was to make up for the coldness and ingratitude of the world—by frequent and loving Holy Communion, especially on the first Friday of each month, and by an hour’s vigil of prayer every Thursday night in memory of his agony and isolation in Gethsemane. He also asked that a feast of reparation be instituted.
Like all saints, Margaret Mary‘s gifts of holiness came with her share of the Cross. Some of her own sisters were hostile. Theologians who were called in declared her visions delusions and suggested that she eat more heartily. Later, parents of children she taught called her an impostor, an unorthodox innovator. A new confessor, the Jesuit Claude de la Colombière, recognized her genuineness and supported her. Against her great resistance, Christ called her to be a sacrificial victim for the shortcomings of her own sisters, and to make this known.
After serving as novice mistress and assistant superior, Margaret Mary died at the age of 43, receiving the last Sacraments. She said: “I need nothing but God, and to lose myself in the heart of Jesus.”
Reflection
Our scientific-materialistic age cannot “prove” private revelations. Theologians, if pressed, admit that we do not have to believe in them. But it is impossible to deny the message Margaret Mary heralded: that God loves us with a passionate love. Her insistence on reparation and prayer and the reminder of final judgment should be sufficient to ward off superstition and superficiality in devotion to the Sacred Heart while preserving its deep Christian meaning.
Additional Information:
Margaret Mary was canonized a Saint of the Holy Catholic Church by Pope Benedict XV in 1920, and in 1929 her liturgical commemoration was included in the General Roman calendar. Her day for celebration is the 16th of October, the day before her death.
The Catholic Encyclopedia refers to her as the Apostle of the Devotion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The History of st. Margaret Mary catholic Church, swannanoA
The year was 1933 when a connection between Swannanoa, NC and New Bedford, Mass., brought a migration of Catholics to the Carolina mountain area called “Grey Eagle” by the native Cherokee. Thanks to that influx of Catholics, St. Margaret Mary Church was founded.
A key figure in this migration was Charles D. Owen, whose family’s Beacon Manufacturing Company was part of New England’s industrial landscape. Owen purchased a farm in Swannanoa in 1923, and two years later, the plant he had built in western North Carolina began operations.
As Owen’s family business grew, so did the textile manufacturing base in the south, thereby bringing an influx of northeastern Catholics to the region. In 1933, Beacon began closing its New England plant; the relocation of equipment and personnel to Swannanoa soon followed.
In previous years, eastern Buncombe County Catholics – those already settled and those moving there – were confronted with a 20-mile round trip, mostly on unpaved roads, to go to Mass at St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville. As the roots of Beacon and other industries took hold, the need for a new Catholic church east of Asheville was realized.
In the spring of 1936, Bishop William Hafey of Raleigh purchased a plot of land in the Grovemont subdivision of Swannanoa. Benedictine Father Michael McInerney of Belmont Abbey served as architect, and a timely bequest of $15,000 from the estate of the late Kate Kelly of St. Louis through the Catholic Extension Society made possible the construction of a new church and rectory.
Bishop Hafey dedicated St. Margaret Mary Church on the 11th of October 1936. Father Joseph Federal, who later served the Diocese of Salt Lake City as bishop, was installed as first pastor. The parish boundary was designed to include four townships in eastern and southeastern Buncombe County: Swannanoa, Black Mountain, Fairview and Broad River. The latter two have since been transferred to other jurisdictions, and the parish geography currently includes Swannanoa, Black Mountain and East Asheville.
Sisters from St. Genevieve-of-the-Pines in Asheville began offering catechetical instruction for parishioners in the fall of 1936. As the parish grew over the next three decades, the need for more space became evident. Ground was broken for a multi-purpose building in 1965, with a Fellowship Hall and kitchen downstairs, and classrooms upstairs, and after a delay, the addition was dedicated by Bishop Vincent Waters in 1969. The property remains virtually the same today.
Bishop Hafey was the Bishop of Charleston, SC which included North and South Carolina at the time.
Stained Glass Windows
For centuries churches have showcased Christ, Mary and the Saints in stained glass windows. Statues, paintings and stained glass has been used to teach and share the Gospel to millions of generally illiterate people throughout the ages. The life of Christ comes alive in the stained glass windows at St. Margaret Mary. Here is a brief story about our stained glass windows:
One day after Mass, a long standing parishioner, Mary Wilke, commented that “having stained glass doors behind the altar would look much better than the curtains that had been used for many years.” After some discussion, our then Pastor, Father Andy Latsko, turned the “Stained Glass Project" over to Mary Wilke and Julie Howachyn.
Stained glass artist Rich Leech moved to the area in 1997. He graduated from Armstrong State University in Savannah in 1986 with a degree in art and historical archeology, and he worked in printmaking for 20 years before deciding that he enjoy stained glass art. Mr. Leech was having trouble finding a job so he talked to Father Latsko, who suggested he join the stained glass committee of St. Margaret Mary. After several meetings with the committee, Mary and Julie asked Mr. Leech to turn in a bid for the stained glass project.
To raise money for the project the parish had many ice cream socials, sales of items made by the Heart and Hand Crafters group, bake sales, 50/50 drawings, and a chili tasting festival! The parish really wanted to see this project completed and many dedicated parishioners worked very hard giving their time, talent and treasures to make it happen.
The project was completed in May of 2002 producing 25 beautiful windows! The windows in the Nave tell the story of the life of Christ through the Mysteries that are meditated upon during the prayer of the Holy Rosary.
True Craftsmanship for Religious Art
Created entirely by hand in copper by Mike Schnekster, these Stations of the Cross clearly evoke the torturous Passion of Christ.
How they came to be:
Every Catholic church has Stations of the Cross, and they are represented in many, many different forms. The Stations of the Cross at St. Margaret Mary are unique; not only in style and material, but also because of where and how they were created and produced.
The Stations of the Cross is a popular devotion (also called Way of the Cross) in honor of the Passion and death of Christ; it consists of meditating on fourteen “stations” or “stages” in the Passion of Christ, such as his condemnation by Pilate (Station #1, pictured at left), his scourging, his journey to Calvary, and the tomb.
Back in 1955, the Black Mountain Neurological Treatment Center, now the Neuro-Medical Center was known as the Swannanoa Rehabilitation Center. Our Stations of the Cross are the product of a physical therapy project proposed by an art program instructor, Renee Kantor, who was also the wife of the hospital pathologist. Mrs. Kantor noticed that Mike Schnekster, a patient recovering from two years of treatments and surgery, liked to work with copper, and so she proposed making a set of Stations of the Cross out of hammered copper. Mike was reluctant to accept such an extensive project, but she overcame his reluctance by suggesting that they become a team, she would design and he would work the copper.
Once the team got started the magnitude of their project became evident and they were almost overwhelmed with the possibilities and questions. Many hours were spent in discussions to identify the meaning of those terrible events. Mrs. Kantor discussed the various station scenes with her husband and other doctors to identify certain details, such as the proper sag of muscles and body. A cross large enough to support a man was built, and with patients as models, it was used to demonstrate the nailing to the cross, the carrying and the three falls. Once, Renee even suspended herself before a mirror to accurately identify the proper sag of various muscles and the body as a unit.
After many sketches of others, she finally used her husband’s face as a model for that of Christ. The only tools and materials available to be used were those already on hand in the hospital shop. Techniques had to be developed for each situation as no precedent or professional instruction was available.
Finally, at the end of six months, the project was completed – the stations were finished. Renee Kantor suggested offering them to St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church with the stipulation that they be returned if the church was ever closed. Formal documents to that effect were actually drawn and executed with the Diocesan office and the stations were delivered to the church for installation in June of 1955. These unique stations can correctly be regarded as a permanent fixture at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church.
Note: Renee Kantor died, a cancer victim, in the early 1960’s. Mike Schnekster retired from the Air Force in 1968 as a Colonel, and moved out west, and is now deceased.