Six of Swords

Designer: Amy Hamlin

Artist: Megan Ellingson

In the winter between 2022 and 2023, a young deer took up residence at St. Kate’s. When he wasn’t bedded down beneath the pine tree on the southwest corner of the quad, he strolled campus grazing on patches of frozen grass or eating whatever handouts students, staff, and faculty offered (much to the chagrin of Public Safety). Photographed here by Megan Ellingson (Nursing Major, Class of 2026), this button buck went by many names, including Geraldine. The deer’s presence invited ironic reflection on a signature charism of the Sisters of St. Joseph, whose love of the dear neighbor without distinction is axiomatic in the history and culture of St. Kate’s. To practice this love requires a capacity to both extend and receive empathy. As a more-than-human pilgrim, the deer taught most everyone that winter much about care, boundaries, and sacred visitation. The Argentine feminist philosopher and activist María Lugones observed: “Only when we have travelled to each other’s ‘worlds’ are we fully subjects to each other.” This Six of Swords asks: Are you willing to give yourself over to the care of another? How do you know when it is time to move on?

Further Resources: Hospicing Modernity: Facing Humanities Wrongs and the Implications for Social Activism by Vanessa Machado de Oliveira; Mercy Street by Peter Gabriel; Frankincense incense.