Grace Ainslie & Claire Kosewic
Reporters

Students and the special women in their lives gathered in the Flood Mansion yesterday to celebrate the feast of Mater Admirabilis, with the Freshman Class hosting a chapel service and brunch focusing on mother-daughter relationships.

“It’s a good bonding experience for moms and daughters, but also a great time for moms to bond with other moms,” freshman Rosie Morford said.

The Feast of Mater Admirabilis centers around a fresco of a teenage Mary on a wall at Trinità dei Monti Church in Rome and is celebrated on Oct. 20 by the worldwide Sacred Heart community. Sacred Heart schools associate Mater with taking a step back, putting things into perspective, and spending some time with the God within, even if only for a few moments, according to Sister Joanne Fitzpatrick, RSCJ.

“I think it is nice way to bring together the different Mary strands that we have going on in the Sacred Heart community,” theology teacher Rachel Bundang said.“Having it be an all women’s event makes it special. Everyone starts out as a daughter, and we can all relate to that.”

Senior Anna Lyons and her mother gave a reflection on motherhood and daughterhood during the chapel service, talking about how every mother was once a daughter and every daughter can be a mother, even to children who are not her own.

“The service was a nice affirmation of the bond between my daughter and I,” Gayatri Khanna, mother of freshman Asha Khanna said. “Even though we fight sometimes, it made me feel like our relationship is special. I feel especially close to my daughter today.”