Sisters of St Joseph New Orleans Choir Private Press LP SOLO BY SR HELEN PREJEAN

$

20

Up for sale is a most unusual 12 inch, 33 RPM, private press vinyl record.  It features the choir of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Medaille (now known as the Congregation of St. Joseph) singing a very eclectic mixture of songs, ranging from the secular to the sacred.  In addition to the choir's fine performance, this record is of interest because it contains a solo (on a lovely traditional lullaby) by Sister Louis Augustine, who would later become well known as Sister Helen Prejean, one of the nation's leading voices against the death penalty (capital punishment) and the author of Dead Man Walking and The Death of Innocents!

Album Title: Sisters of Saint Joseph, New Orleans Province (self-titled)
Artist:  Sisters of Saint Joseph Choir (Sister Peter Chanel, Director; Sister Mary Augustine, Accompanist)
Recorded By:  Century Custom Recording Service, 35 Caribou Court, Metairie, LA 70003
Manufactured By:  Century Records, Custom Recording Service, Saugus, California
Date:  Not stated.  Please see discussion for clues as to the date.
Side 1: 1.  Nocturne (Zdenko Fibich) Solo:  Sister Frances Cabrini  2.  Ah, Lovely Meadows (Czech Folk Song arr. by Lee Kjelson)  3.  To A Wild Rose (Edward MacDowell)  4.  Kentucky Babe (Adam Geibel)  SOLO:  SISTER LOUIS AUGUSTINE  5.  Rain and River (Oscar J. Fox)  6.  Carve Dat Possum (Sam Lucas)  Solo:  Sister Paul Christopher  7.  Woman in the Shoe (Freed-Brown)
Side 2: 1.  Praise Ye The Father (Gounod)  2.  Come Unto Him (George Handel) Solo:  Mother Aloysius  3.  My Life Is Like Weaving (Dorothy Dawson Lowell)  4.  A Mighty Fortress (Martin Luther)  5.  Hope Thou In God (G. F. Handel)  6.  Psalm 150 (Cesar Frank)
According to the essay "Look Out For Nuns:  Sister Helen Prejean", by Liz Scott Monaghan, our soloist was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and attended the St. Joseph Academy there, where she was President of her senior class.  After graduating in 1957, she became a Novitiate of the St. Joseph Sisters on Mirabeau Avenue in New Orleans.  She dropped her birth name (Helen) and became Sister Louis Augustine, while earning her college degree and teaching parochial school.  Inspired by the Second Vatican Council in Rome, she was sent to St. Paul's University in Ottawa, Canada where she studied for and received her Masters degree.  Upon her return in 1972, she changed her name from Sister Louis Augustine to Sister Helen, while turning from teaching to parish ministry.  [Comment:  This chronology would suggest that Sister Helen Prejean, as Sister Louis Augustine, certainly sang for this recording prior to 1972, and possibly prior to when she began her studies in Canada.]  Her focus was drawn to the incarcerated, particularly those on death row.  She became deeply involved in the cases of Elmo Patrick Sonnier and of Robert Lee Willie, both of whom were eventually executed.  These experiences led Sister Helen to write the book Dead Man Walking, which was adapted into a 1993 movie of the same name, starring Susan Sarandon (who won the Oscar for Best Actress).  Sister Helen remains a vigorous and indefatigable opponent of capital punishment through her "Ministry Against the Death Penalty".
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille can trace their history back to Le Puy, France in 1650.  The order was temporarily disbanded during the French Revolution, then revived in 1807.  In about the 1830s, the order, then known as the Sisters of St. Joseph of Bourg, came to the United States, initially in Mississippi and Louisiana but later through much of the Midwest and into Canada.  In New Orleans, the Sisters of St. Joseph, CSM, for many years ran a novitiate and a high school (St. Joseph Academy) located on Ursuline Street.  Later (about 1960) the school was moved to Mirabeau Street in the Oak Park neighborhood.  Over the years, the Sisters declined in membership and advanced in age, forcing the Order to retrench its extensive teaching commitments to area parochial schools.  In 2005, the Mirabeau Street campus was badly damaged during and after Hurricane Katrina.  (The initial insult was flooding; later, a lightning caused fire completed the destruction.) The site was abandoned and the remaining nuns were relocated out of New Orleans.  However, the order remains very active in Baton Rouge.
I have emphasized Sister Helen Prejean because she is probably the most well known of the nuns who sang on this record.  The other soloists were also highly regarded in the New Orleans area.  For example, Mother Aloysius  was a fixture at Cabrini High School and is credited with instituting a policy that students who became pregnant should not be expelled (or transferred to a "special" school) but instead be allowed to continue at their home school.  This record would be of interest to anyone who interacted with the Sisters of Saint Joseph in New Orleans, as well as to those who have been influenced by the work of Sister Helen Prejean.
Attention US Buyers:  I will ship by USPS Media Mail or by USPS Priority Mail, your choice.  Please note that if you have a Military Mail address (e.g. APO), I must ask that you choose USPS Priority Mail as it is my understanding that USPS Media Mail is not reliable to Military Mail addresses.
Attention International Buyers:  I will ship using USPS First Class International Parcel (to selected countries with e-Delcon service) or USPS Priority International Mail (worldwide), your choice.  Please note that the buyer is responsible for any customs charged by the country to which this is delivered.  (There are about 35 countries that have e-Delcon service. You can find a list by searching the web for “USPS e-Delcon”. If your country is on the list, but you are not being given the option of purchasing by USPS First Class International Parcel, please contact me before purchasing and I will attempt to change the settings.)