Diocese of Lafayette
Delicate gown weaves
strong family tradition
By Kevin Cullen (The Catholic Moment)
WESTFIELD—When little Mary Frances Beck was baptized at St. Maria Goretti Church on Sept. 15, she wore the same white gown worn by her great-grandmother in 1905, by her grandmother in 1941 and by her mother in 1977.
It’s more than a piece of cotton. History is woven into every inch. The gown was made when Oklahoma was a territory, Teddy Roosevelt was president and every Mass was celebrated in Latin.
In a throw-away, mass-produced, often crass society, how does a tiny, delicate frock survive for 102 years, long enough to become a precious heirloom?
“I think, probably, the honest answer is that we are a family of pack rats,” the baby’s grandmother, Ann Welch, of Carmel, says with a laugh. “We keep everything. My husband says mean things about me keeping everything, but I think this meant a lot to my grandmother and my mother.
“My mother always kept it very well hidden when we were children,” she says. “I didn’t know about it until I was a little older. It was not something we were allowed to play with. She made sure it was preserved. We kept everything.”
The little christening gown connects the generations in a personal, intimate way. It was first worn by Mary Frances’ great-grandmother, Marion Janssen, then by Welch and then by Mary Frances’ mother, Molly Beck.
Mary Frances, born on Aug. 30, is Molly and Peter Beck’s fifth child, and the gown has been worn by all their children. It also has been worn by two of her cousins at their baptisms.
“It is very special,” Beck says. “My grandmother was kind of the matriarch, in the old sense of the term, a very holy woman. I knew the dress existed, but when my sisters and I started having our own children, it took on new meaning. To have all five of mine baptized in the dress she wore so long ago, to carry on that tradition, is very special. It’s a blessing to be part of it.
“You can tell it is antique, but it is still holding up very nicely. We’re careful when we put it on,” she says.
The dress was made in 1905 by Marion Janssen’s great-aunt, Fidelia Rupiper. Little is known about her, other than the fact that she was married to a Civil War veteran who served in a Wisconsin regiment before moving West and settling in Nebraska—which, in 1905, was only a few years past its frontier days.
“I am sure they were living in a somewhat primitive situation,” Welch says. “I know my grandmother talked about her making the dress, and mentioning her.”
(Go to the website of The Catholic Moment) †