By: Christine Schreck
Many hands made light work on a cold but clear Saturday morning two days after Thanksgiving last year in Fremont. More than 100 volunteers gathered for the olive harvest, an annual tradition at the Motherhouse for the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose since 1999.
At least half of those assembled were first-time volunteers, including a group of four students and their service learning coordinator from Mercy High School in Burlingame. New and returning elementary and middle school students from St. Edward School in Newark were also present, buzzing with excitement, eager to pick olives and perhaps catch a glimpse of the resident turkeys.
The Motherhouse property is home to between 200 and 300 olive trees, including some historic trees that date back to the mission era, planted by the Franciscans and the Ohlone Indians. The harvest season for olives is between October and January.
Sister Jane Rudolph has spent 25 years studying, observing and reading about the olives under her care. She generally chooses a harvest date for the year by July. Last year, the harvest was in mid-December. “I realize that Mother Nature and God are in control. When I worry, I think God provides, and let it go,” she said. She notes that the sisters’ olive oil is special because the trees grow on holy ground.
Thanks to the generosity of Sciabica Family Olive Oil, the sisters’ olives are transported to their facility in Modesto where they are pressed, bottled and labeled at no cost. A portion of the oil from the sisters’ olives is blessed as sacred Chrism for the Diocese of Oakland each year and is used during the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and holy orders. The rest is sold at the annual Holiday Boutique, raising money for the ministries of the Dominicans.
Photo by Justin Cardona
The olives grown by the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose are made into oil by Daniel Sciabica’s family company and brought to the annual diocesan Chrism Mass. There, Bishop Michael C. Barber, SJ, blesses the oil of the sick and the oil of the catechumens, and consecrates the sacred Chrism. The oil of the catechumens is used during baptisms of children under age seven and in the rite to bring those seven years and older into the church.
The Chrism Mass, which [the bishop] concelebrates with priests from various regions of the diocese and during which he consecrates the sacred Chrism and blesses the other oils, is among the principal manifestations of the fullness of the bishop’s priesthood and is considered to be a sign of the close bond of the priests with him. For it is with the sacred Chrism consecrated by the bishop that the newly baptized are anointed and those to be confirmed are signed. It is with the oil of catechumens that catechumens are prepared and disposed for Baptism. Finally it is with the oil of the sick that those who are ill are comforted in their infirmity.
—The Order of Blessing the Oil of Catechumens and of the Sick and of Consecrating the Chrism (OBO), no. 1