Sr. Teresa Joseph Bamford

Portsmouth, Rhode Island

Mary Frances Bamford, as a religious sister known as Sr. Teresa Joseph, was born in Saltney, near Chester, England, on September 29,1901. She received her early education from the Sisters Faithful Companions of Jesus at St. Werburgh School, Chester, and then worked as clerk in a drapery store until 1924 when she entered with the Sisters Faithful Companions of Jesus. After profession of vows she attended the Nursing School at St. Joseph Hospital in Preston, England and then served jointly as infirmarian in her religious community and as primary grade teacher in England until 1931 and then in schools successively in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Since her retirement in 1982, Sr. Teresa Joseph has lived at St. Philomena Convent, Portsmouth, RI where she revels in the beauty of the landscape on the shores of Narragansett Bay.

THE WONDER OF SNOW

In the night it fell; we were fast asleep. While you silently laid a carpet deep, White gift transforming the bleak landscape. A build up of snowflakes unique in shape, A newborn creation, that we might know. Transcendent Beauty - Oh, the wonder of snow.

THE OLD HOUSE WELCOMES THE NEW

To watch you grow in beauty thus,
Dear house of dreams come true.
Was my delight though seeming loss -
Now all I yield to you.
In peace I go by you replaced
A sanctuary blest to hold
The precious heirlooms of the past,
The silver turned to gold.
When footsteps gently o'er you tread
And mark the sweet green earth
In deep contentment I shall lie -
A seed to find rebirth,
So grow and flourish day by day
Fulfill high destiny -
The cherished plans, the hopes repay.
Dear house beside the sea
May God be with you, ere I go
Once more I'll gaze on you
A worthy shrine to give God place,
Goodbye, I welcome you!

LIFE - ETERNITY'S MORNING

Breath of God - life
Bringing infinite yearning
Boundless as ocean's surge
unsatisfied pain, exquisite,
Strife insistent.
Reaching for peace
Caught in earth's tentacles
Longing for freedom,
Locked in , ice bound
Struggling for light
Beaconed by faith
Upheld in hope
Sighting Tabor's glory -
Eternity's morning!

THE TREE OF LIFE

From smallest marvel of the Triune God,
From tiny seed lost in earth's fragrant sod.
Decaying, dying, that from thence must rise
A mighty tree uplifted to the skies.
Deep rooted in a vast humility,
Yet trembling with each breeze in ecstasy,
Thine very fiber reaching to the sun
In strife and yearning till the goal be won.
Lashed by the storm in direst pain
Or softly kissed by gently falling rain
The Master's pruning knife must chasten thee
Make strong they limbs, till thou all perfect be
For thou, O tree must live for aye
In the vast regions of an endless day.

"In the beginning before the day star have I begotten thee".

Ere yet the day star had appeared
To shed its light on earth
Angelic spirits bowed in awe
To great Emmanuel's birth.
Thine only Son, O God most high
From Ageless past revealed,
By king and prophet long foretold
Prefigured type concealed.
All wearied people longed to gaze
Upon Thy beauteous Face.
So too, angelic hosts desired
The flower of Adam's race.
And now exultant spirits still
Proclaim in rapturous strain
The wondrous message of that night
Heard once o're Bethlehem's plain.
May they now bring the precious gift
That each of us may share
The untold blessings of that night
His love beyond compare.