The Stephens sisters — including Anne Therese (left) and Maryclare (second from right) — are pictured in Loreto, Italy, a place linked to prayer and vocation. (Submitted photo)
There is a well-known quote: “Sisters are flowers in the garden of life.”
A better metaphor for Anne Therese and Maryclare Stephens might be candles in the sanctuary of Christ.
The sisters, both born and raised in Brookfield, share many traits: a joyful and infectious smile, a love for Christ and his Church and a passion for candle making. But most striking of all their similarities is the unique vocation embraced by both: consecrated virginity.
“If you think about it, there really is beauty in the fact that we are consecrated virgins who make candles,” said Anne Therese. “Christ is the light, and from candles come light.”
Anne Therese, the older of the two, was consecrated by Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend in October of 2021. Six months later, Maryclare was consecrated by then-Archbishop of Milwaukee Jerome Listecki at St. Mary’s Visitation, Elm Grove.
“A consecrated virgin living in the world is the oldest consecration of women in the Church, predating religious life,” Maryclare explained.
This ancient vocation, often associated with virgin martyrs like St. Lucy, St. Agnes and St. Agatha, is embraced by a woman who offers her virginity for consecration to Christ in a ceremony performed by the local bishop. Consecrated virgins are united to their particular diocese, tasked with praying the Liturgy of the Hours and lifting up the local Church in constant prayer.
The Stephens sisters had discerned their vocations independently, though in parallel. Anne Therese, a canon lawyer for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, considered hers first, encouraged by the suggestion of her spiritual director. She spent several years “opening (her) heart” to the possibility.
In that time, she also inspired her sister Maryclare.
“I had discerned religious life since I was about five years old,” said Maryclare, who is the director of evangelization and discipleship for Dodge East Catholic Parishes of St. Andrew, Lomira; St. Mary, Lomira; St. Mary, Mayville; Sacred Heart, Horicon; Sons of Zebedee, Fond du Lac; and St. Theresa, Theresa.
In her late 20s, after facing “many closed doors,” Maryclare had found peace in simply living her life for God. But when Anne Therese shared her developing vocation with her younger sister, “it was so beautiful and for me seemed to be a door our Lord had opened and was asking if I would step through,” Maryclare recalled.
The second- and third-born of nine siblings in a tight-knit family, the two remain very close despite living in different states. In fact, with their younger sister Bernadette (who also works for Dodge East Catholic Parishes), they collaborated in crafting and selling beeswax candles.
It was Anne Therese who first introduced her sisters to beekeeping. An apartment dweller drawn to homesteading practices, she found a local farmer who would allow her to keep apiaries on his property and in 2017 threw herself into researching the care of bees.
“Bees are just very amazing creatures,” explained Anne Therese. “They’re considered livestock, but they’re probably one of the most self-sufficient livestock that you could have.”
The following year, she wanted to make a Paschal candle for her parish in Indiana but decided to experiment with some smaller molds first. She ended up selling those first candles to friends, and their enthusiastic response prompted her to open a shop on the online marketplace, Etsy.
When she temporarily relocated to Rome to pursue her doctorate in canon law, Anne Therese left her supplies with Maryclare and Bernadette, who had begun keeping bees at their parents’ property in Brookfield.
The Artisan Beekeeper online store now offers more than a dozen candles large and small, and the Catholic Ecology Center in Neosho carries their products in its gift shop. Anne Therese and Bernadette are the ones filling the orders now, as Maryclare has taken a step back, though she continues to make candles for her parish, calling it “truly a joy to see the candles I have made burning on the altar where the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is taking place.”
“There’s something so beautiful about seeing the candles that you’ve made on the altar,” agreed Anne Therese.
Her own pastor once gave an Easter homily reflecting on her creation of the Paschal candle and her vocation, drawing inspiration from the words of the Exsultet. This traditional hymn to the Paschal candle is sung at the Easter Vigil, and its words emphasize the beauty that results when “things of heaven are wed to those of earth,” describing the Paschal candle as “the work of bees and of your servants’ hands,” (whose) glowing fire ignites for God’s honor.”
It’s a perfect analogy for the life of a consecrated virgin, which Maryclare describes as “the most hidden of vocations…in a true and beautiful sense.”
“We wear normal clothing, have jobs, live the everyday life of your average person,” she said.
But within their souls, “a beautiful transformation has taken place.” A flame has been lit. A light shines forth.
“Our most loving and generous God has consecrated our life of virginity for himself,” she said. “In this way, in a very organic and silent way, we are able to bring the love of our God to so many people in the world.”
