July 8th, 2020
/Wednesday Words 7-8-20
Psalm 119: 1 – 24 Deuteronomy 1: 1 – 18 Romans 9: 1 – 18
Psalms 12, 13, 14 Matthew 23: 13 – 26
Eva Lee Matthews
February 9, 1862 - July 6, 1928
Monastic
Born in Glendale, Ohio, in 1862, Eva Lee Matthews was part of a devout Presbyterian family. From childhood, Eva Lee showed great interest in helping others, so it came as no surprise when she founded a monastic order for women that she named the Community of the Transfiguration.
In 1877, Eva Lee’s father was elected as Senator from Ohio and the family moved to Washington, D.C. Three years later her father was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Rutherford B. Hayes. That same year Eva Lee entered Wellesley College, though she never graduated.
Despite her Presbyterian heritage, Eva Lee was attracted to the Catholic Church, but she found her home in the Episcopal Church. She traveled to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1891 where she worked with poor families and taught children attending a parochial school. Returning home, she and her brother undertook a trip to Palestine in 1895. That trip seemed to cement her call to help mothers and children. The next year she moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where she began working at Bethany Mission House, an Episcopal Charitable organization.
Another young woman, Beatrice Henderson, also worked at Bethany Mission House, and she and Eva Lee became friends. Both women felt a call both to live as monastics and to help children in poor families. On August 6, 1898, the Episcopal Church gave formal approval for the holy order the two had established. Eva Lee chose the name Community of the Transfiguration. She became Mother Eva Mary and Beatrice became Sister Beatrice.
The Sisters accepted vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They lived and dressed as nuns, desiring to model their lives on Mary and Martha of Bethany who served Jesus and the Apostles in their home. As other women joined the order, the Community moved back to Mother Eva Mary’s hometown of Glendale and purchased land for their Mother house.
The order has continued to grow and expand around the world, serving the needs of mothers and children to promote education and teach basic sanitation. The Community of the Transfiguration now has missions radiating out from Glendale to the Dominican Republic, California, Hawaii, even China.
Mother Eva Mary died on July 6, 1928. She is buried under the altar of the chapel that she had commissioned for the Bethany Home for Children in Glendale. Eva Lee Matthews’ desires as a child to serve others were fulfilled in her life of service to God and to children in unfortunate circumstances. We remember and celebrate her life as a faithful witness to God’s kingdom.
