USA > Ohio > Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state, Volume II > Part 12
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Father Bihn visited the farm home frequently. He made known his plans. Mrs. Schaefer and her sister-in-law had assisted the pastor in the educational and religious program of the parish and became equally interested in this new program of their pastor. They reasoned that the work had better chance of success, if it could be conducted by members of a religious com- munity. Miss Lucinda Smith, a neighbor became interested also. Finally Mrs. Schaefer, her daughter, Mary Ann, her sister-in-law and Miss Smith, decided to seek the necessary permission of Church authorities to form a religious community. The Schaefers pooled their resources, which amounted to $5,000. With this money they erected a three story brick building, which when finished became the convent, an orphanage and a home for the aged.
Mrs. Schaefer became superior of this community and was given the name of Sister Mary Francis of Assisi; her daughter, Mary Ann, received the name of Sister Mary Alacoque; her sister-in-law, Sister Mary Nativity. Her second daughter, Ann, who entered the community a year later became known as Sister Mary Bonaventure.
Father Bihn transferred the deed of this property, and incorporated it under the name of "the Citizen's Hospital and Orphan Asylum." It is known today as St. Francis' home. Additional property was purchased, until today the Sisters own a 560 acre site, part of which is a farm. Products of the farm help to sustain and to provide an income for the Sisters and their work.
From the very early days the Sisters helped with the farm work. The early records reveal that "the Venerable Mother Francis who shrank from no hardship, headed the Sisters, in their charitable work amid hard labor, self denial and sacrifice, shrinking from no work in the house, field or school- room, working solely for the honor of God and the welfare of those whom His infinite wisdom brought to their care; although many an obstacle pre- sented itself. Men laughed at the undertaking, predicting its dissolution, but God's help was not wanting."
In 1935 the Catholic Charities of the Toledo diocese, through its child- placing department, made other provisions for orphaned and dependent chil- dren, so that this phase of the work of the Sisters was discontinued. From 1869 until 1935, 1,650 orphans had been given care.
In 1931 a new building for aged men was built. During the 70 years that the Sisters have maintained the home for the aged, 650 aged men and women have been given care.
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With the development of the parish school system in Ohio, the Sisters met these new needs by preparing their members for classroom teaching. Today members of this religious community are on the faculty of Central Catholic High School in Toledo and teach in the parish schools of Carey, Frenchtown, New Washington, Millersville, Miller City, Ft. Jennings, Custar, Blakeslee, No. Auburn, Edgerton, Reed and Landeck.
It is noted that the schools are all in rural communities-this is by choice, as the Sisters cherish the privilege of serving in small communities, where the remuneration is likely to be less than in the larger urban com- munities.
In 1889 the Sisters assumed charge of the domestic work at the Pontifical College, the Josephinum in Columbus and continued here until 1913.
Hospital work in Lorain, Ohio was undertaken in 1892 when St. Joseph's hospital was established by Sister Alacoque, daughter of the foundress.
A training school and a free dispensary were added to the hospital. This service was continued until 1927, and under Sister Alacoque's administration. Sisters of the Holy Humility of Mary at Villa Maria, near Lowellville, Ohio, purchased the hospital at that time, and have continued its administration since.
Although in the beginning it was predicted by many that this religious community could not survive, because of the rules it laid down, it has been and continues to be a growing institution. It has witnessed its greatest growth since 1900, from which time until now, 110 young women have been received into the community.
The Sisters maintain their own high school for the education of those who enter the service of religion, and whose high school work has not been completed. They are not assigned to schools for teaching until they have qualified for their State teachers certificate. In preparation for this, higher studies are pursued in DeSales College, Toledo; College of St. Francis, Joliet, Ill .; DePaul University, Chicago; Notre Dame University, South Bend, Ind .; and Catholic University, Washington, D. C.
A new activity is the hospitality house at Carey, Ohio, which was opened in 1918 to accommodate the many pilgrims who visit the famous shrine of Our Lady of Consolation.
SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS OF THE CONGREGATION OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES
In Portsmouth, Ohio, Mercy Hospital conducted by the Sisters of St. Francis of the Congregation of Our Lady of Lourdes, serves as a mission from the religious foundation of the same name at Rochester, Minn. Members of this community in Rochester own and conduct St. Mary's hospital, more familiarly known as the Mayo Clinic. The Sisters who staff Mercy Hospital and its School of Nursing, in Portsmouth, received their training for nursing
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and for medical social service in the famed Rochester hospital.
The Portsmouth hospital was opened only in 1921, and its first building has been replaced by the present 75 bed hospital which was built in 1923.
The Sisters at Mercy Hospital had the advantage of training under the distinguished Sister Mary Joseph, who for 47 of the 50 years of St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, had been its superintendent. Sister Joseph died in March. 1939. For 25 of the 47 years she served as first surgical assistant to Dr. William J. Mayo. She lived to see the hospital administered by her, grow from a 45 bed hospital to one of 600 bed capacity, and to reach the high plane of being referred to as, "one of the leading hospitals in the world."
Upon the occasion of her death, Dr. Mayo said, "Her management of the hospital has given St. Mary's Hospital an unique position, not only in the esteem of those of the Catholic faith, but also in the esteem of people of all other religious beliefs, and preeminently in the regard and respect of the medical profession."
Ohio had come to know of this religious community, long before the opening of Mercy Hospital. In 1877 the first Sisters came from Rochester, Minn. to teach in St. Mary's and Holy Redeemer schools in Portsmouth and later others came to open a conservatory of music. Since that time, The Rochester Foundation has accepted schools in Ironton and in Sts. Peter and Paul school in Sandusky and Sts. Peter and Paul school, Toledo.
SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS CONGREGATION OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES
The Rochester congregation of the Sisters of St. Francis Congregation of Our Lady of Lourdes is responsible for an Ohio foundation, whose mother- house is at Sylvania, Ohio, on a site purchased by the Rochester Sisters. This Ohio foundation was established first in Toledo in 1916, at the invitation of Archbishop-Bishop Schrembs of Cleveland, Ohio-and at that time, the first bishop of the diocese of Toledo, which was established in 1910.
A Miss Anna Sandusky, daughter of a Polish immigrant family of Cin- cinnati who entered the Rochester community in 1893, became the foundress for this Ohio foundation. In religious life she took the name of Sister Mary Adelaide. Twenty-two Sisters came from Rochester, Minn. with her and from a community of 23 Sisters, this religious community in 23 years, now numbers 299 professed Sisters; 21 novices and 30 candidates.
The World War interfered with development of the 89 acres purchased by the Rochester Sisters, who also gave $10,000 for the erection of a convent building. Temporary buildings were erected however and are still in us ?. They are referred to as "Our War Barracks."
It was not until 1930 that the first permanent unit. now serving as a motherhouse and novitiate, was completed. It follows the Franciscan style of architecture, and is the first of a group of buildings proposed.
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From this Ohio center in its 23 years, convents have been established in Youngstown, Ohio; in Detroit, and Wyandotte, Mich .; Minneapolis, Minn, and Wells, Minn .; Superior, Wis .; North Platte, Neb .; Brenham, Bryan and Liberty in Texas.
This community owns and operates Providence Hospital in Sandusky, which was once owned and conducted by the Sisters of Charity of St. Aug- ustine in Cleveland. It also owns and operates the Gill Memorial Hospital in Steubenville, Ohio; St. Francis Hospital, Hamtramck, Mich .; St. Mary's Hospital, No. Platte, Nebr .; St. Francis Hospital, Brenham, Texas; St. Joseph's Hospital, Bryan, Texas, and Mercy Hospital, Liberty, Texas.
One of its most interesting centers is its school for Mexican children in the famous mission of San Juan Capistrano in California, which was founded in 1776. It was from this mission center that Father Junipero Serra preached Christianity to the Indians and in less than a century and a half later, Franciscan Sisters, mostly Ohio born, went forth to preach the same message to Mexican children.
This famed mission has come to be known also for a phenomenon of nature, which occurs each March 19, the feast day of St. Joseph and each Oct. 23, the feast day of St. John.
On March 19, regardless of Leap Year, the swallows come to take posses- sion of the eaves and walls of this picturesque and historical mission center. They depart, for places unknown, regularly on Oct. 23.
Chapin Hall, a California news writer, on the occasion of the 1939 arrival of the swallows-described the arrival of the birds-and the great throngs of people who have turned out to witness the impressive scene. He writes : "Scientists have never fathomed the mystery nor answered one of California's most intriguing problems. Nor can they explain how the birds know when Leap Year rolls around, for then they shift their schedule by one day-always arriving on March 19."
In the diocese of Toledo, these Sisters teach in parish schools in Toledo, Richfield Center, Rossford, Pt. Clinton, Fremont, Sandusky and others are on the faculty of Central Catholic High School and of DeSales College, both of which are administered by the diocese of Toledo. They teach in St. Casimir's school, Youngstown, of the Cleveland diocese.
It was primarily for teaching that these Sisters came to Ohio. The Ohio foundress, Sister Adelaide, through schooling in this country and in Europe was fitted for the educational program which her religious community was to undertake.
She completed her college work in St. Therese's College. Winona, Minn., after she had entered the convent and in 1911 received her B.A. degree from that college, followed in 1914 by an M.A. degree from Columbia University. Special courses in Harvard Summer School, the Minneapolis School of Fine Arts and in European schools, were afforded her. This same principle of thoroughly preparing the Sisters for their various tasks, is continued.
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POOR SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS SERAPH OF PERPETUAL ADORATION
Sister Leonarda and Sister Alexis, members of the religious society known as The Poor Sisters of St. Francis Seraph of Perpetual Adoration, arrived in Cleveland on July 16, 1884. They had come from Lafayette, Ind., the American motherhouse of this religious community. Bishop Richard Gilmour, the second bishop of the diocese of Cleveland, had invited them to come to Cleveland to take charge of a hospital in the southeastern section of Cleveland.
These Sisters had come originally from Westphalia, Germany, where this particular branch of the Franciscan order was founded in 1860 by Mary Teresa Bonzel. The American branch was established in Lafayette, Ind., Dec. 14, 1875.
An eight room school house, awaited the Sisters on their arrival in Cleveland and on July 17, the day after their arrival, the school was opened for use as a hospital. It was the feast day of St. Alexis and the hospital thus received his name. Sister Leonarda was named the superintendent, and she is known today as its foundress.
It is the only institution conducted by these Sisters in Ohio, but through- out the United States they own and operate 22 hospitals, teach in 47 schools; staff three orphanages, one Home for the Aged, spread throughout nine States -Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee, Missouri, Louisiana and Colorado. They own and conduct their own college in Lafayette, Ind. Among their members are many who hold degrees some of whom have degrees of doctor of philosophy, and a number of their Sisters have had opportunities for study in European schools.
When the golden jubilee of St. Alexis hospital was observed in 1934, so much was written of Sister Leonarda that a stranger might be excused for asking, "Well whose jubilee is this?"
Dr. George Crile, eminent member of the medical profession, and or- ganizer of the famous Crile Clinic in Cleveland summed up Sister Leonarda's connection with the hospital in these words, "Where Sister Leonarda was, there was a hospital."
"St. Alexis Hospital," he said, "is a fitting memorial to a great woman, who possessed great courage, vision, indomitable energy, broad sympathy and with it all a saving grace of humor, which carried her through many a difficult moment."
Sister Leonarda frowned upon any praise for herself, but encouraged doctors, nurses and hospital attaches to greater heights each day, in these words which flowed so frequently from her lips, "Blessed be the day when the setting sun sinks to peaceful rest finding kind acts done."
Sister Leonarda and Sister Alexis arrived in Cleveland in true Franciscan poverty-they had $2.00 as their combined resources. They depended upon door to door begging and visits to the produce dealers in the business districts for food for their patients.
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They were known to be without food for themselves on many occasions. To them it was most important that the sick be served.
Today St. Alexis Hospital with its 220 bed capacity sets aside 55 beds for free care patients, carrying out a tradition which has been part of St. Alexis from its inception in Ohio.
In the cornerstone of the first wing of the present hospital building erected in 1897, a record placed therein contained the information that in the thirteen years since its establishment, St. Alexis Hospital had given care to 8,195 patients and of this number only 288 had paid in full. In its fifty years of service, the Golden Jubilee book revealed that 44,000 of the 75,000 patients, were free patients.
The hospital today has a valuation for property and equipment of more than three quarters of a million dollars. The last of three wings in the present building was erected in 1925 and was named Leonarda Hall for Sister Leonarda. A five story fire proof brick Home for Nurses is another important improvement to the hospital.
Sister Leonarda won praise from many as being far in advance of the times. She is credited with having preceded the present hospitalization in- surance plan, by using that means in 1884 for raising funds with which to carry on the hospital program. The American Steel and Wire Co., plant nearby employed many workmen. On pay days, Sister Leonarda visited the plant and stood at the gate, collecting 25 cents in dues. This assured free hospitalization for contributors should they need it.
She is also credited by Dr. Myron Metzenbaum, Cleveland physician, as having inspired the present accepted form of administering anaesthetics. Necessity is the mother of invention, and it was the necessity of finding some satisfactory way to subdue a refractory patient, who would not yield to the old form of administering ether that today's accepted procedure was dis- covered. He became quite obstreperous. Sister Leonarda patiently worked with him, until he finally agreed to return to the operating table. She con- ceived the plan of administering the ether, drop by drop, through a cone shaped utensil. The patient finally succumbed to insensibility and the opera- tion was performed. According to Dr. Metzenbaum, this experiment was called to the attention of the American College of Surgeons and Drs. Charles and William Mayo of the Mayo Clinic at Rochester, Minn., and Dr. John B. Murphy, Chicago, came to Cleveland to observe this new method of ad- ministering ether. The experiment was further developed until today it is accepted in hospitals throughout the country.
FRANCISCAN SISTERS OF BLESSED KUNEGUNDE
A Polish immigrant girl, Josepha Dudzik, a native of Prussian Poland, who came to Chicago in the latter part of the 19th century, founded another Franciscan Order, whose members are engaged in teaching in Ohio. The
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foundation was established in Chicago, Dec. 8, 1894, by Josepha and two companions. Josepha was given the name of Sister Mary Theresa. The religious community today numbers 400 professed Sisters; ten novices and nine postulants.
Their first work was to care for the poor and indigent and particularly the crippled and aged poor. In 1899 work among the orphans was begun in Chicago and in 1901 the Sisters responded to the appeal for teachers in the Polish schools. Today some 150,000 children in 22 Catholic Polish parishcs in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Illinois and in Washington, D. C. are taught by these Sisters.
They came to St. Casimir's parish, Cleveland in 1902; St. Stanislaus Parish, Youngstown in 1904; Sacred Heart Parish, Cleveland in 1905 and in 1936 a beautiful site was purchased in suburban East Cleveland, which is planned as the location for a Provincial house and House of Studies for Sisters in the Eastern area. The Sisters are prepared for teaching in their own convent schools and in Catholic University, Washington, D. C .; Catholic Sisters College, Cleveland; DePaul and Loyola Universities, Chicago, and the American Conservatory of Music, Chicago.
SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS OF CHRIST THE KING
Another teaching order of Franciscans is that of the Sisters of St. Francis of Christ the King. Only ten of these work in Ohio and teach in St. Christine's and Sts. Peter and Paul schools, Cleveland. Other schools are conducted by them in the industrial centers of Indiana, Illinois and Pennsylvania. The American motherhouse is at Kansas City and was founded there in 1909 to meet the educational needs of the Slovenian and Croatian colonies. It dates its origin to the year 1869 in Maribor, which at that time was under the Austrian government.
CONGREGATION OF THE THIRD ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS OF MARY IMMACULATE
Six cities in Ohio, Cleveland, Columbus, Shelby, Payne, Toledo and Mansfield, share in the services of the Sisters of the Congregation of the Third Order of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate. The motherhouse of this religious community is at Joliet, Ill., established there in 1865. Sisters from Joliet came to Toledo in 1870 to teach in St. Peter's School and remained in Toledo until 1878. It was not until 1931 that they returned to Toledo to staff Immaculate Conception School. They accepted St. Peter's School in Mans- field, Ohio, in 1871 and have been in charge since of the elementary and secondary schools. St. Mary's grade and high school in Columbus was accepted in 1875; St. Procop's grade and high school, Cleveland in 1895; Holy Family grade school, Cleveland in 1922, and Immaculate Conception school, Columbus in 1922; Corpus Christi grade and high school, Columbus, 1929; Most Pure
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Heart of Mary grade school, Shelby, 1932; and St. John the Baptist school, Payne, Ohio in 1936.
Since 1930 three of the Sisters have been on the faculty of Central Catholic High School in Toledo and in 1938 a fourth member was added to the staff.
In 1931 these Sisters opened a private day and boarding school at Gran- ville, Ohio, owned and operated by them. From 1879 until 1920, they taught in St. Joseph's and St. Patrick's schools, Galion and for brief periods taught also in St. Mary's school, Delaware and St. Malachy's school, Manchester.
POOR CLARE COLETTINES
The first permanent American foundation of Poor Clare Colettines was established in Cleveland, Ohio, in December, 1877, when five Sisters came from Harreveld, Holland. They had been exiled from Dusseldorf, Germany during Bismarck's historical kulturkamp. Their first abbess, Mother Ver- onica, was the former Baroness von Elmendorf.
Bishop Richard Gilmour, third bishop of the diocese of Cleveland had invited the Sisters to come to Cleveland, stating in his request that, "we have Sisters engaged in, teaching the young; nursing the sick; caring for the aged and looking after the orphans, but there is need for one more community whose occupation it would be to pray, and thus to insure the spiritual as well as the temporal welfare of the diocese."
Two Franciscan Poor Clares had come to Cleveland in 1875 from the monastery of San Lorenzo-in-Panisperna in Rome. These Sisters were living in accordance with a religious rule that had been modified considerably, since the beginning of the Poor Clares in 1221 as founded by St. Francis of Assisi. The Franciscan rule that governed the Poor Ladies of St. Francis, in the fervor of the early days of the Franciscan movement was marked by great austerity and severity.
St. Colette who was born in Picardy, France, in 1380, was living the life of a recluse and sought in vain for a religious community that followed the severity of the original Poor Clare rule. She was directed to reform the order of Poor Clares and to restore the original rule. This she did in the early part of the fifteenth century, and it is this rule, the original as practiced by St. Clare, that governs all monasteries of Poor Clare Colettines. The name Colettines distinguishes the Poor Clares of this rule from the Franciscan Poor Clares who follow the revised rule.
The two Italian Poor Clares were directed to come to America by Pope Pius IX, who in his concern for the growth of the Church in America, stated, "The want of the American Church is religious orders of prayer. America is a young country ; she has passed her infancy and is now in her youth, but before she arrives at maturity one thing is necessary-the extension of con- templative orders, without which she will never reach perfection."
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The two Poor Clares of the Franciscan rule, were Italian countesses. They were sisters and were known as Sister Maria Madalena Bentivoglio and Sister Maria Costanza Bentivoglio. They tried to adjust themselves to the more severe rule of the Poor Clare Colettines and this, together with the difference in language, proved a difficult task, although not an unsurmountable one. An offer from Mr. and Mrs. John Creighton of Omaha, Nebr., to establish a monastery in Omaha, accompanied by an invitation from the ecclesiastical authorities of Omaha, prompted the Italian Poor Clare to accept the invita- tion and in 1878 they left Cleveland for Omaha.
The Poor Clare Colettine rule calls for extreme poverty, strict observance of perpetual fast and abstinence, the midnight recital of the Divine Office, and complete isolation from the world.
Their artistic work with pen and brush occupies part of their time and provides an income for the bare necessities of living. There is Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the convent chapel.
Despite the severity of the rule, the Cleveland community prospered and from this monastery, three other foundations were established, one in Chicago in 1893; another in Rockford, Ill., in 1916 and the third in Oakland, Cal., in 1921.
Today there are 32 professed Sisters in the Cleveland monastery; four novices and four postulants.
FRANCISCAN MISSIONARIES OF MARY
One Franciscan religious community whose members are few in Ohio, but whose memories of their foundress are innumerable and whose traditions for service and growth, seem to be a part of a prophecy, is known as the "Fran- ciscan Missionaries of Mary." There are just eleven Sisters, one postulant and one novice at work in Ohio. They live at St. Anthony's convent, 1113 Budd St., Cincinnati and six of them do social work among the negroes. Five teach in St. Anthony's School.
They have been in Ohio only since 1930 and in America since 1904. When this community was founded in France in 1877, a French cure said to the foundress, Helen de Chappotin, who in religion became known as Mother Mary of the Passion, "do not be discouraged; your Institute will be like an oak, a long time in taking root, but it will become eventually a great tree which will see the centuries go by, will extend afar its branches and cover the earth."
Today its members are to be found in every country of the world. Pope Pius IX commissioned Helen de Chappotin to found a religious community which would be known as the "Missionaries of Mary."
Mother Mary of the Passion drafted the religious rule which she basec upon the example of the life of Christ. Into the rule she wrote: "Poverty is to be their lot, since the Divine Model was born in a stable; obedience and
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