台東聖母醫院賣蛋糕  (Sister’s Blessing Cake) (更新版)
 
台東聖母醫院的【修女祈福蛋糕】很有名，常有媒體報導，網路上的推薦也很多。是由一群國外老修女以家鄉的烘焙手藝所烘製，以籌措台東唯一的安寧病房以及永續經營的基金。
St. Mary Hospital in Tai-Tung sells a famous cake called Sister’s Blessing Cake. It is often reported in the media. It is also recommended on the Internet again and again. Sister’s Blessing Cake is made by a group of foreign Catholic nuns according to their hometown bakery cuisine recipes for the purpose of raising enough funds for the only hospice in Tai-Tung area so that the hospice can continue to be in existence far into the future.
 
我吃過，真的好吃，香酥爽口又紮實。但今天我聽到負責接訂單的同仁提起現況，頗讓我傷感，尤其在我更了解這群修女的故事之後。從前台灣窮，聖母醫院缺錢時修女們就到國外募款。如今，台灣富裕了，聖母醫院還是缺錢，沒辦法！老是做別人不做的事，老是救人不計成本。修女們不好意思再向國外開口，只得將偶一為之的興趣變成賺錢的工作。
I have tasted Sister’s Blessing Cake and it is really delicious, crisp, refreshing sweet and very nutritious. But for me personally, from the person in charge of the orders for theses famous cakes, I know more about the long story of the foreign Sisters. In the past, people in Taiwan were poor and the Sisters received financial contributions when the hospital was short of money. Nowadays, Taiwanese are getting richer and richer. But still Saint Mary Hospital is still lacking in fund to manage the Hospice. It is as if we can not do anything about it! But for the Sisters, they insist on trying to do their best – despite the costs- to continue the service of the hospice to the com-munity. The Sisters no longer convince their fellow countrymen to raise funds for the hospice in Taitung when the Taiwanese people themselves should take on this responsibility of raising funds. So the Sisters will do what is necessary to raising funds for the hospice and the service it offers.
 
he process of m一開始即獲得各界熱烈地響應，訂單很多，一天最多要做七、八種，大概也是這幾位七、八十歲老修女所能負荷的最大量了。結果，數量一多，老修女的壓力很大，要趕時間又怕做不好，後來竟累出病來，把大家都嚇壞了。後來只好減量、還限定可選訂的日期（很好笑的經營方式）。其中一位修女，就是第十二屆醫療奉獻獎的得主蕭玉鳴修女，蕭修女今年已經七七歲了，來台四十四年，得獎那一年，當她上台領獎時，竟然問主辦單位獎牌能不能換現金，因為台東聖母醫院真的很需要錢。
In the very beginning, the Sisters got a warm response and there were lots of orders of the cakes. They had to bake about seven or eight kinds of cakes though it was almost beyond their power. Anyway the Sisters themselves were in their 70s and 80s and older. Accordingly as the orders for the cakes grew more and more, greatest pressure was put on the Sisters. On the one hand, they had to hurry up taking cakes and on the other hand, they were afraid the cakes wouldn’t be good enough. As a result of being so busy, some of the Sisters fell ill. They were scared to death. They were forced to cut down the amount and to set a limit to the dates – not an ideal way of running a business. One of them is Sister Matilde Sansolis Serneo, a winner of the 12th Medical Contribution Awards. She is seventy-seven years now. She has been in Taiwan for forty-four years. When she went on to the stage to receive her medal, she asked the organizer whether or not the medal could be changed for cash because St. Mary Hospital is always in dire need of financial assistance.
 
雖然愛錢，但修女的精神還是讓我感動，她們對台灣的貢獻也教我汗顏。另一位同在台東聖母醫院、同為醫療奉獻獎得主的施雅璞修女，幾年前因眼疾不得不返回美國休養，老修女離台前說：【我來台灣是為了幫助台灣人，現在年紀大了、視力也減退了，不希望成為台灣人的負擔，我只好選擇回美國家鄉，這樣還有家人可以照顧我。】
Though they are aware of the need for financial help, their spirit is impressive and touching. Their contributions to Taiwan have made us all feel ashamed. Another Sister in the hospital Shi Ya-Pu is also a winner of the Medical Contribution Award. She went back to America for rest because of eye disease. When it was time for her to leave Taiwan, she said; “I came to Taiwan to help the Taiwanese. Now I am getting old and I do not want myself to become a burden to the Taiwanese. The best way is to choose to go back to the place where I came from. I can be well taken care of by my family.”
 
唉！她們用生命照顧我們的同胞，雖然年邁也不求我們的照顧，只希望我們能一起來幫忙照顧我們自己的同胞。這陣子修女們在避靜，我還沒能看到她們。我想，一定能找出辦法幫她們規劃出做蛋糕的適當流程，我想這件事應該不會比醫生救人困難吧！(台東聖母醫院執行長 陳世賢 先生【真愛烘焙坊】2006 11 21）
Wow! They really have taken good care of our countrymen by offering their own lives. They are old now and don’t expect us to take care of them in the golden years of their lives.  What they do hope is that we can take care of the needs of our own countrymen and women. At present, the Sisters are out for their annual retreat, so I can not see them. I think we can help them think up some better ways of bakery procedures. I do not think it is harder than the doctors who cure the sick.