THE HAGUE--Ever wondered why the name of most Roman Catholic schools in St. Maarten starts with Sister? Or who the Sister Basilia Centre has been named after? Or how the St. Martin’s Home and the St. Rose Hospital were started?
Historian Mathias Voges, who is a former Acting Lt. Governor, a former Minister Plenipotentiary and a former Director of the Roman Catholic School Board, shares some insights on these questions in his new book Pioneers in Catholic Education and Health Care in the Dutch Windward Islands.
The Sr. Magda School, Sr. Marie-Laurence School, Sr. Regina School and Sr. Borgia School were all named after a Sister of the Dominican order that worked on the Dutch Caribbean islands for decades. The St. Joseph School was named after the convent in which it was started.
Thousands of children were born in the St. Rose Hospital, first on Back Street and later on Front Street, and many of the elderly lived and died at the St. Martin’s Home, formerly also called Sweet Repose. And the Sr. Basilia Center to this day caters to the needs of mentally and physically challenged persons. St. Maarten and the Order of the Dominicans were and remain intertwined. Thanks to Voges’ new book, this important part of history has been saved for future generations.
This is not the first book that Voges has written about the subject of Catholic education and in particular, the large input of the nuns. In 1990, he published a book about the Dominican Sisters. He wrote the book, in Dutch, in a short time so it could be published before the departure of the nuns for the Netherlands.
For the 1990 book, Voges went through the archives of the nuns’ cloister and other archives in St. Maarten. Now deceased publisher of The Daily Herald, Roger Snow assisted him with the type-setting of the book, which was printed by the Curaçaose Courant.
Why a new book? “People asked why I didn’t write the book in English. Time prevented me from doing so in 1990. In 1994, I lost the archive on my computer which was destroyed by Hurricane Luis. I was also too busy as second Lt. Governor and ‘Mayor’ of the Tent City after Hurricane Luis.”
A few years after, Voges decided to get back to his hobby, genealogy, and he wrote a new book, Cul-de-Sac People – A St. Martin Family Series. “But people kept asking me to write an English version of the Dominican Sisters book, including former Saba Senator and Commissioner Will Johnson.”
In 2010, Voges became St. Maarten’s first Minister Plenipotentiary in The Hague, a new concept for St. Maarten which had to be built from scratch. In 2015, Voges retired and finally he had the time to work on the English version of the Dominican Sisters.
Pioneers in Catholic Education and Health Care in the Dutch Windward Islands turned out to be much more than a translation. The new book has more than double the number of pages and almost twice the number of photos compared to the 1990 book. It is an expanded and updated version of the 1990 book.
As the title suggests, the 220-page book with 152 antique photos describes the history of Catholic education and health care in the three Windward Islands, with emphasis on St. Maarten, and gives a glimpse into the work of the nuns in Aruba and Curaçao. It also includes some information on the public schools such as the Oranje School and the John Philips MULO school.
The history book offers a look at the men and women, the pioneers who, through their hard work and dedication, had a great impact on the people of the Windward Islands and continue to do so to this day, with the vast majority of the schools and institutions set up by these pioneers still functional.
Voges said it was not easy to do the research for his book. He lost his own archive, but also the one of the Roman Catholic School Board was destroyed during Hurricane Luis. Voges said he found a lot of material in the Curaçao newspaper Amigoe, which traditionally has strong ties with the Catholic Church.
He worked on the book for two years and had it printed in Florida under the guidance of Raymond Simmons, originally from Saba. Numerous persons supplied Voges with old photos and information, for which he is grateful. As he is grateful for the support of his wife Lillian.
Pioneers in Catholic Education and Health Care in the Dutch Windward Islands is for sale at Van Dorp book store for US $25, and makes an excellent Christmas gift.
