LEWISTON — Maine’s first Catholic hospital was rededicated Wednesday, celebrating 125 years of service to Lewiston and Auburn.

St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center — which was known as the Sisters’ Hospital, the French Hospital and the Catholic Hospital over the years — was founded in 1889 and dedicated in April that year.

Maine Bishop Robert Deeley, who was installed in February and who led the rededication ceremony, called St. Mary’s hospital and its affiliated practices an “impressive house of charity” that remains true to the original mission of its founders.

The hospital was opened by the Sisters of Charity of Saint-Hyacinthe 10 years after the sisters, including Sister Marguerite d’Youville, came to Lewiston from Quebec to open a French-speaking school. While working and living in the community, the sisters and d’Youville — who founded the order of the Grey Nuns — cared for the sick, opened a home for orphans and provided food for the hungry.

When the original hospital opened on Sabattus Street, the sisters made it clear that their mission was to tend to the physical, spiritual and psychological needs of people living in the growing cities of Lewiston and Auburn, regardless of ethnicity, religion or ability to pay.

Pope John XXIII called d’Youville the “Mother of University Charity” when she was beatified in 1959; she was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1990.

Deeley noted that some who attended Wednesday’s rededication ceremony had attended the canonization and had heard Pope John Paul II say God’s love called d’Youville “to an active life of service to others,” including her work in Lewiston and Auburn.

In his remarks Wednesday, Deeley said the commitment and vision of d’Youville and her Grey Nuns to help the poor remains strong in the ministries of St. Mary’s Health System.

Today, Deeley said, “is the start of the next 125 years of Catholic health ministry” at St. Mary’s, and its continuation to follow the example of the Good Samaritan “who offered mercy, compassion and care to someone in need and who showed us that work is our call to do, regardless of religion, race or ability to pay.”

He challenged the community to understand that everyone is called to be a Samaritan and that when people follow that call to care for the poor, and those with mental illness, immigrants, the sick and the hungry, “the end result is a charitable organization such as the one that gathers us here today.”

Lee Myles, chief executive officer for St. Mary’s, called Wednesday a “really great day.”

“We take so much for granted,” he said, “and then when we hear the history of this hospital, it really pumps up” the staff.

“Other issues, including problems with the state and federal governments, pale in comparison to what the sisters had to go through, and this event brings it all home,” Myles said.

“People have to remember,” he said, “that there were once 100 sisters working at the hospital and now there is one, (Sister Claire Pouliot).”

Motioning with his hands to note dozens of administrators, physicians, nurses and other staff in the room, he said, “Now, we are the sisters. We’re an institution and we will continue their work.”

St. Mary’s Health System includes the hospital and d’Youville Pavilion, both on Campus Avenue, and St. Mary’s Nutrition Center on Bates Street, plus various elder care, preventive and acute medical practices.

As part of the rededication ceremony, health system employees offered prayers of thanks and healing, including Susan Keiler, chief operating officer; Craig Gunderson, chairman of the St. Mary’s board of directors; Sr. Suzanne Beaudoin, director of pastoral care; Dr. Michael Kelley, chief medical officer for the hospital’s behavioral health unit; and Karen Clark, vice president of patient care services.

In her remarks, Clark said she and the staff stand united in partnership to honor St. Mary’s mission of respect, excellence, compassion and stewardship into the future, and Keiler thanked employees “for living our mission every day.”

Deeley said he finds St. Mary’s such an “impressive” organization because the staff doesn’t wait for people to arrive at the door. “Like a good Samaritan, they go out to offer help” to prevent illness, to provide safe homes and to ensure people have enough food.

Deeley reminded the crowd attending the rededication that the words, “We shall continue to love and to serve,” are engraved over the entrance to the hospital’s emergency department.

“But,” he said, “they are also certainly engraved in the hearts and spirits of the people who work here,” and he urged them to continue the legacy brought to Lewiston by the Sisters of Charity of Saint-Hyacinthe.

As the ceremony ended, visitors were encouraged to view some of the historic artifacts from St. Mary’s history, including its original articles of incorporation on display in the Lepage Conference Center.

jmeyer@sunjournal.com

St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center

1889

• 30 hospital beds

• Staff of 4 physicians and 15 sisters

• Average length of hospital stay: 29 days

• Population of Lewiston and Auburn: 35,000

2014

• 233 hospital beds

• Staff of 89 employed physicians, 327 physicians with privileges, 2,104 health system employees and 1,387 hospital employees

• Average length of hospital stay is less than a week, usually no more than 2-3 days

• Population of Lewiston and Auburn, nearly 60,000