USA > Ohio > Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state, Volume II > Part 17
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From the Brown County Ursulines, four other foundations have been established, one in 1857 in Springfield, Ill .; the second in 1859 in Charleston, S. C .; the third in 1883 at Santa Rosa, Cal .; and the fourth in 1909 in Cin- cinnati, at 1339 E. McMillan St., where kindergarten, grade and high schools are conducted.
The foundress of the first Ursuline Motherhouse in Cincinnati, Mother Baptista Freaner, died in June, 1939, at the age of 96 years.
She was once described by President Theodore Roosevelt as "a woman in a million." Once a student in Brown County, while there she became a convert to the Catholic Church. Following her graduation she returned to her home in Harper's Ferry, Md. At the outbreak of the Civil War she volunteered as a nurse and ministered to Federal and Confederate soldiers at Harpers Ferry, Gettysburg and Antietam. Following the war she returned o Brown County to dedicate her life to religion and was professed an Ursuline nun in 1870. Archbishop Purcell baptized her in the Catholic Faith
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while a student at Brown County and later he baptized her father. Her father and five brothers served in the Civil War.
Mother Fidelis Coleman also of Brown County was associated with Mother Baptista in founding the Cincinnati motherhouse, which was approved by Rome in 1909.
Their convent site was purchased from the Worcester and Harrison estates in 1910. In addition to the kindergarten, elementary and college preparatory school for girls, they teach also in several parish schools of Cincinnati.
Mother Baptista had an audience with Pope Leo XIII in 1900 and received a special blessing from him at that time. Upon the occasion of her golden jubilee of profession, Pope Benedict XV in 1920 cabled her congratulatory greetings.
The Brown County Ursulines continue their boarding school near Fayette- ville for young girls and their splendid educational program continues to attract young women from many states.
In 1896 the Brown County Ursulines leased and later purchased the Michael Ryan home at Oak and May Sts., Cincinnati, for a day school for girls and boys. This successful venture necessitated another purchase in 1905 of the present property at Oak and Reading Rds .. formerly the Winslow property. It continues to be a day school for girls and boys, the curricula conducting the girls to college preparatory work and the boys in preparation for high school.
Five years after the arrival of Sister Julia of the Assumption from Boulogne-sur-mer, she had the happiness to welcome to Cleveland, Ohio a - party of four Ursulines from Boulogne whom she knew, and one postulant, Arabella Seymour.
In the archives of the Cleveland Ursulines are several documents written in French which tell more than anything else of the contribution of the Ursulines of Boulogne-sur-mer to the development of that part of Ohio in which the Cleveland Ursulines have given nearly 90 years of continuous service.
One document is the contract entered into between the Nuns of Boulogne and Bishop Amadeus Rappe, once their chaplain and now the first Bishop of the diocese of Cleveland. It was a document which had the approval of Charles Cardinal de la Tour d'Auvergne, Bishop of Arras, under whose spir- itual jurisdiction the Ursulines were.
Translated the document reads :
"Here are the conditions proposed and agreed upon on both sides, and submitted to the approval of His Eminence, Cardinal de la Tour d' Auvergne Bishop of Arras.
"1. The Community of Boulogne-sur-mer promises to give for the founda tion of the Ursulines at Cleveland, three professed choir religious of whon two English and one French, a professed lay sister, and a lay postulant.
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"2. The Community of Boulogne will furnish the outfit of the designated religious and all that will be necessary for the establishment of the Sacristy of the monastery; morever she will make a gift of ten thousand francs, she will pay three thousand francs for the expense of the journey, and as much as she will be able an annual sum of 1200 francs for five years.
"The first year of this sum (rent) must fall on the first of September, 1851.
"3. The Religious sent to the new foundation reserve unto themselves ex- pressly the rights that their constitution gives them, relative to the Com- munity of Boulogne, and reciprocally the said Community reserves unto itself those that are granted them by the same constitutions.
"4. Msgr. Rappe, Bishop of Cleveland, promises on his side, to furnish the new community of his episcopal city with a house suitable for the keeping of a boarding school and proper to the cloister that the religious must keep. He promises beside to provide for all needs, spiritual and temporal."
The other document was also in French and was from the Cardinal Arch- bishop of Arras, granting permission for the Ursulines to come to Cleveland. It reads :
"According to the request which has been made to me on the 22nd of May, 1850, by the Reverend Mother Superior of the Community of the Ursulines of Boulogne-sur-mer, to the effect that she be authorized to send to Cleveland in Ohio, America, these Sisters:
"1. Theresa Young de Seraphine (English).
"2. Victorire Boudalier de St. Charles (French).
"3. Marie Beaumont de L'Annunciation (English) all three professed religious of their monastery.
"4. Lastly one or two lay Sisters of the same house.
The said Religious destined for the foundation of a house of their institute in said city of Cleveland.
"We give obedience and we authorize the above-named ladies chosen for this purpose to go to the said city and to remain there for the time judged proper for the projected foundation, giving permission, however to return to the Community established at Boulogne, as contained in the Constitutions, Chapter XV, 'Of Foundations.'
"Given at Arras, May 23, 1850.
"(Signed) Charles Cardinal de la Tour d'Auvergne Lauraguais Bishop of Arras."
Only two of these, Sister De Seraphine, a professed choir sister, and Sister St. Benoit, a professed lay-religious, took advantage of the privilege of re- turning to the mother house at Boulogne-sur-mer but this was not until 1862, after both had performed heroic labors for a firm foundation of the Ursulines in Cleveland. Sister De Seraphine had founded the Ursulines in Toledo also where she spent six years as foundress and superior. In addition, at the re- quest of Bishop Rappe, Sr. De Seraphine served temporarily as superior of
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a new foundation of the Sisters of Charity, which had been made in Cleveland in 1851 for the purpose of carrying on hospital work. The two Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine who came from Boulogne-sur-mer, to start the work, found it necessary to return to France, and the two postulants who had ac- companied them, having been trained in the novitiate of the Ursulines, were believed to be too young to take over the important work of a new religious Foundation. She left her Ursuline convent to take over her duties at St. Joseph's Hospital in Cleveland's West Side, then known as Ohio City. She served here a year until another Ursuline, Sister Ursula had been professed and had pronounced her religious vows.
The day of her religious profession Sister Ursula was asked by Bishop Rappe to leave the Ursulines and to become the foundress and the first superior of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine. It was a sacrifice which she willingly made in obedience.
Sister Ursula was Catherine Bisonnette of Sandusky, Ohio. She had rendered magnificent service during the cholera epidemic which swept through Ohio in the late forties. She was the first American postulant for the Ursulines of Cleveland and she had for an associate postulant, Arabella Seymour, a native of Oxfordshire, England, who was educated by the Ursulines at Boulogne-sur-mer. Arabella was a convert to the Catholic Faith and for 13 years before coming to America conducted a private school or seminary for girls in Lille, France, in which school the children of the elite of Lille and nearby towns, were enrolled. She was proficient in art and music and was an accomplished harpist. She was given the name of Sister St. Austin.
Cleveland Ursulines, however, were not to be denied the services of the Bisonnette family. Two years later, a niece, Elizabeth Bisonnette, in whose home Bishop Rappe frequently visited in his missionary travels through Ottawa County, came to the Ursulines, was professed an Ursuline nun in 1856 and spent 67 years in the Ursuline Order in Cleveland. She was given the name of Sister St. Ann. Of the other three who came from France to re- main in Ohio, Mother Charles of French birth, died in 1861; Mother Annun- ciation, of English birth in 1881; Mother Austin, also of English birth, fol- lowed in death in 1898. None of these had ever seen their native lands since coming to Ohio-it was a self imposed exile for them.
The nuns departed from France, July 16, 1850, accompanied by Bishop Rappe, once their chaplain, and now their bishop in the new field of labors in Cleveland diocese. They arrived in New York, Aug. 6, and were agreeably surprised to be greeted at the pier by Archbishop John Hughes, Archbishop of New York, who welcomed them to America and to Ohio. On Aug. 8, they arrived in Cleveland and took possession of the former Judge Cowles resi- dence on Euclid Ave., now the site of Taylor's store, one of the large mer- cantile establishments of Cleveland.
The Cowles mansion was a two story brick building. Also on the site were a stable, a barn and a carriage house. The carriage house later became the
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convent chapel and the carriage door, for many years was the refectory table in the Nuns' dining room. The barn and stable were fitted up for the first free parish school, one for boys and one for girls. On Sept. 8, 1850, the first free school opened with an enrollment of 300 pupils, boys and girls.
Mother Ursula, superior of the Ursulines at Boulogne-sur-mer, chose well in selecting Mother Mary of the Annunciation as the superior of the first group to come to Cleveland. She served in this capacity 25 years. As Mary Beaumont, she entered the Ursuline school at the age of 14 years, having received her early education from the Dominican nuns in England. She was a member of an old Norman English Catholic family of wealth and culture and every educational opportunity was provided her, another sister and five brothers. Her sister later became a nun in the convent of the Sisters of Providence in England.
Following the completion of her studies at Boulogne, she returned to England, participated in the social life, and then retired from the world to become an Ursuline nun. She pronounced her vows in 1846 before Cardinal de la Tour d'Auvergne, Bishop of Arras, and four years later, this same prelate gave the necessary permission that was to send Mother Mary Annun- ciation to America and to Cleveland.
On board ship, Mother Annunciation set up her academy, to assist some young French seminarians, who were enroute to Cleveland to prepare for the priesthood, and later to serve in the mission work of the new diocese. Classes in English were held daily on shipdeck.
She proved to be a real "mother" to the lonely young seminarians, and in the days that followed their arrival in Cleveland there were many occasions when gifts of delicacies in the French style from the convent to the seminary, helped to alleviate the homesickness which frequently came over the seni- inarians.
She was not only foundress and superior, but took her place in the class rooms as well-and the nuns in charge of the household tasks could always count upon "Mother" lending a hand in preparation for dinner and other household duties.
The story of the pioneer days of the Ursulines in Cleveland and of the establishment of the parish school system is intertwined with the history of Sister St. Austin, for it was Sister St. Austin who sacrificed her entire fortune for the spiritual and material advancement of her religious community.
Sister St. Austin was the eldest child of a wealthy English family of the Anglican Faith. Every advantage that wealth could provide was given her. There was no objection on the part of her family when she embraced the Catholic Faith, in fact, her family, after she had left the European con- tinent to come to America, had continued to send her an annual income. It was her patrimony that enabled the Ursulines to erect on their property the
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first permanent school for parish use, two one story brick buildings, one for boys and one for girls. It was the beginning of the parochial school system for the diocese of Cleveland and for 17 years the Ursulines conducted these schools, financing them and staffing them.
Under Sister St. Austin's direction, a school of music and art was founded with the opening of the academy a month after their arrival from France, and soon became as popular as was her school in Lille. Catholics and non- Catholics from all sections of the state and from beyond the state enrolled as students in the boarding school.
The Gregorian chant, which in recent years is being revived, was the only music sung by the Nuns' choir which Sister St. Austin directed and this chant she introduced into her school of music.
Yet this great artist, woman of the world and woman of wealth, who might have chosen to domineer over the members, because it was her money that was sustaining the Sisters over a period of years, shared the poverty of her community. She was known to use the sand that was strewn over the stone floor of the convent with which to wash her hands, in order to save soap. The tiniest scrap of paper was saved-if not enough upon which to write a letter-at least enough to use for making notes.
She kept a scrap book of verses and in it she copied choice poetry or prose which came to her attention in her reading. The last entry was never finished-death had called her on Oct. 22, 1898, before the sentence was finished, but it read : "The Resurrection is one of the most comforting truths connected with Our Savior's life. On the long and ... "
When one day a letter came from England informing her that the family estate was exhausted and that no more income would be forthcoming, Sister St. Austin, turning to her Sisters, said: "Today I receive the last of my father's patrimony. My one regret is that I have nothing more to give to my Sisters."
She had given her all, her family, her native England, her opportunity for a brilliant social life and for a professional or artistic career to come to Ohio, to endure untold hardships and privations, that the children of pioneer builders of Ohio might have the advantages of a Christian education and might come to enjoy the great gift of Faith which she possessed.
That she trained for citizenship is attested to by the fact that America's centennial celebration in 1876 recognized her contribution by naming her one of the honorary vice presidents of the women's department-this woman of the cloister, who had retired voluntarily from the world, yet in her retire- ment was doing so much to make the world a better place in which to live.
From the very beginning of the Ursuline educational system, religion was woven into every hour of the school day. The three R's were imparted with a thoroughness and later Bishop Ignatius Horstmann, fourth bishop of Cleve- land, wrote of the Ursulines' educational system :
"The Three R's have always been thoroughly taught ; a clear grammatical knowledge of English has been a specialty. History, taught from a Catholic
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viewpoint, has received special attention. A wide knowledge of the best litera- ture has ever been imparted. In a word, all the branches of a broad and liberal education are taught, and the predominant features in their teaching is a practical thoroughness."
In 1853 the Ursulines were asked to staff St. Patrick's parish school on the West Side of Cleveland, which was then known as Ohio City. The Ursulines were a cloistered order and hence were not permitted by their rule to go beyond their own convent walls. Bishop Rappe however did not allow this to interfere. He sought permission from Rome to have this rule mitigated so that the nuns in a closed carriage could go forth daily to teach in St. Patrick's school. In October 1853 they took over St. Patrick's school and for 25 years thereafter as new parish schools were established, Ursulines were there to welcome the children to classes. Their free school on the convent site was not discontinued until 1867 when St. John's Cathedral school was opened and the Ursulines placed in charge. St. Patrick's school, their first school beyond the cloister, continues in charge of the Ursulines-a period of 86 years.
The cathedral school is now used as a training school for the Catholic Sisters college, now located in the Cathedral School building.
In the letter which Bishop Rappe wrote to the Boulogne convent, inform- ing Mother Ursula, the superior there, of the dispensation received from Rome, permitting the Sisters to teach in St. Patrick's school he described it thus: "They (The Ursulines) will send from their house in the morning three teach- ers with their dinner in their pocket, and after the evening class they will be bought back to the convent in a closed carriage."
Lawrence Wagner, sexton of the cathedral, was the driver of the carriage to and from the new parish school. Today in the diocese of Cleveland, the Cleveland Ursulines teach in 25 parish schools; conduct three academies, one at the motherhouse, E. 55th St., another, Sacred Heart Academy in East Cleveland, and the third, Villa Angela, beautifully located on a site overlook- ing Lake Erie.
In 1854 the Ursuline schools were incorporated as an Educational Asso- ciation under the laws of the State of Ohio and as early as 1871 its schools were given the status of a college. By an act of the State Legislature it was empowered to "confer all such degrees and honors as are conferred by col- leges and universities of the United States." The college was then located on the Euclid Ave. site. It has since been transferred to a new site at Over- look Rd. and Cedar Rd., in Cleveland Heights.
Mrs. Estelle Smith Cunnea, prominent in Cleveland's social and club life, who died in 1939, was the first to receive a B. A. degree from Ursuline College. This was in 1872. She was organizer and first president of the Ursuline Alumnae.
In 1878 came the first move from Euclid Ave. with the purchase of a lake site near Euclid, then known as Nottingham. It is less than an hour's ride
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today from the motherhouse at 55th St. to Nottingham but in 1878 it meant taking a train at five o'clock in the morning to come to Cleveland, after a long walk through mud and mire to the station.
A girls academy, day and boarding school, were started there and in 1886 another building was erected to establish St. Joseph's seminary for boys. It was the wish of Bishop Gilmour, then bishop of the diocese, that the same educational advantages be afforded for boys as were being provided for girls.
The year 1890 saw the need for further expansion and the Euclid Ave. site was sold and the present site at 55th and Scovill Ave. was purchased. At that time the Sisters described the location as "sufficiently removed from the busi- ness part to avoid the dangers incident to crowded thoroughfares." An entirely new convent was built and it was not until 1893 that the Nuns took possession.
In 1900 East Cleveland was developing into a residential suburb with no parish schools. The Ursulines were asked to establish a day school for ele- mentray and high school students.
In 1913 the first religious in Ohio to spend 60 years in the religious life, Mother St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception celebrated the occasion amid great ceremony. As Mary Imping, a daughter of a German immigrant family, she became attached to the Ursulines immediately upon their arrival in Cleve- land. She had come to Cleveland from Germany just a few years before the arrival of the Ursulines in Cleveland.
A year after their arrival in Cleveland, she entered the Ursulines and was professed in 1853.
She became one of the first Religious in Ohio to receive an honorary degree. In 1913 Duquesne University of Pittsburgh conferred the honor of Doctor of Letters upon her in recognition of her "keen intellect, rare mental endowment and her long years of service in the educational field."
She was the first superior of the newly established Villa Angela academy opened in 1878. The Immaculate Conception perpetual scholarship at Villa Angela is a gift of her former Villa Angela pupils, given to her on her 60th anniversary of profession.
In the convent grounds at 55th St., is a shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Prompt Succor, and erected to commemorate Sister St. Mary's 60 years in religion.
Mother Mary of the Sacred Heart, who assisted in founding the Toledo and Tiffin convents and who assisted also in founding Villa Angela, observed her 60th anniversary of profession in 1915. She died in 1917. Sister St. Ann, formerly Elizabeth Bisonnette of Ottawa County and a niece of Sister Ursula, the first American postulant, observed her 60th anniversary in 1916. Sister St. Ann could recall the early missionary experiences of Father Rappe who visited their home. In many instances, the Bisonnette home had to be used for a church. She died in 1923 at the age of 91 years.
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Mother Ligouri who assisted with the foundation of the Tiffin convent had been a member of the Ursulines 62 years, and died a few months before the 60th anniversary of her profession. (Nuns date their anniversary of pro- fession from the day they pronounce their final vows and not from the day upon which they enter the convent to take up the religious life.)
Meanwhile the Ursulines were not only staffing the parish schools of Cleveland, but when calls came to establish foundations beyond, they were quick to respond. The first call came in 1854 from Bishop Rappe to establish a convent in Toledo. Within one month after the request had been made, on Dec. 12, 1854, four Ursulines with Mother de Seraphine as superior, arrived in Toledo. Despite the ravages of the "Maumee" fever which was wiping out entire families, the Sisters braved the dangers of this dread disease and within four days after their arrival in Toledo, they were instructing 200 children.
The splendid Marymanse college in Toledo, Ursuline academy and Lady- glen day school for boys and girls at Grand Rapids, Ohio, as well as the summer camp for boys and girls at Grand Rapids-on-the-Maumee, bears wit- ness to the great contribution of the Toledo Ursulines to the educational work of Ohio.
The Ursulines came to Toledo about 14 years after Bishop Rappe had made his first request for Ursuline nuns . .. this first request went forth to Boulogne-sur-mer immediately upon his arrival in Ohio to do mission work. At that time he requested 15,000 francs from the Boulogne convent to help finance the work but the Boulogne nuns could neither spare the Sisters nor the money at the time. It is a tribute to his love for his first mission field, Toledo, and to the persistency of Bishop Rappe, and his great admiration for the educational work of the Ursulines, that he continued to seek their services for Toledo until his request was granted-even if it did require 14 years of pleadings.
Within the decade following the Toledo foundation, a second call came, this from the nearby city of Tiffin, Ohio. This was in 1863 and again the Cleveland Ursulines responded by sending three nuns and Mother Joseph who was named superior.
Sister M. Maxime, Sister M. Scholastiea and Sister M. Alexis, a novice, were in this company and Sister M. of the Sacred Heart and Sister M. Francis Xavier who helped in establishing the Toledo convent were directed to join the Tiffin group. Our Lady of the Rosary academy, Tiffin, Ohio, was opened Oct. 5, 1863, within one week after the arrival of the Ursulines. It continues today to be one of the leading educational institutions in the diocese of Toledo.
In 1874 the great industrial Mahoning Valley was attracting many Irish Catholic families and the pastor of the mother parish, St. Columba's, appealed to Bishop Richard Gilmour, second bishop of the diocese of Cleveland, for help in his educational work. A school had been established and was in charge of lay teachers. While it served its purpose, it did not adequately meet the religious needs of the people.
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Cleveland again responded and sent Mother M. Theresa as superior with Sister M. Angela, Sister St. John, Sister Felix and Sister St. James. As in Cleveland so in Youngstown, the Ursulines pioneered in the parish school program and as the city grew and new parishes were established with schools, Ursuline nuns were there to welcome the students.
About 1903 an academy was established in their convent at West Rayen Ave., on the site which the Sisters have occupied since first coming to Youngs- town. Several rooms of the convent were used, and within a very few years it became necessary to seek larger quarters, and a new site. The Old Chauncey Andrew property on Wick Ave., a mansion that had welcomed within its doors many of the social elite of the nation, men of finance and industry, was pur- chased by the Nuns. This mansion was then used for an academy and the barn on the estate was transformed into class rooms. Still more room became necessary and a new building was erected on the site. The Andrew mansion without its elaborate furnishings now serves as a novitiate for the Ursulines and a day elementary school for boys and girls. The academy has since be- come a Central Catholic High School for boys and girls.
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