USA > Ohio > Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state, Volume II > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
The next aged person to be received was a servant who had served her master and mistress faithfully and when financial reverses had reduced this couple to extreme poverty, she remained with them, caring for them, without wages, and sharing her savings with them. Upon their death, she was destitute, and feeble and infirm, she sought shelter with Jeanne Jugan.
Some time later, Jeanne Jugan learned of an old man, 72 years of age, who had been abandoned in a damp cellar. He had been a sailor, and was without family, friends and financial support. She learned that he had lived in this place for two years, his only sustenance a few pieces of bread, given to him by the poor folks in whose cellar he lived. The old aged man was taken to her home, and there made comfortable.
From this small beginning the work of the Little Sisters of the Poor has extended over the entire world and during its century of existence, more than one half million of aged men and women have spent their last days upon earth, under the kindly and benevolent care of the Little Sisters of the Poor, who are at work in the five continents of the world.
In 1844, Jeanne, who had been joined by another companion, making four in all, decided to organize a religious congregation. Episcopal approval was granted and religious names were taken by the four women. Jeanne became known in religion as Sister Marie de la Croix. To their vows of chastity and obedience, part of the religious rule of Saint Augustine, they added also the vows of poverty and hospitality.
Within a year of the founding of the first home for aged in Saint Servan, France, Jeanne had twelve aged persons to care for. She had used all her savings and a small inheritance she had received from a woman in whose
494
WOMEN OF OHIO
employ she had been. Without food for her charges, she started out one day with a basket on her arm in quest of food and voluntarily she chose "to go a begging, as it will be easier for me than these poor old unfortunates."
That decision of Jeanne's "to go a begging," has since become a definite part of the religious rule of the Congregation. On August 15, 1842, they adopted the name of "Sisters of the Poor" for their congregation, but popular acclaim later added the word "little" and to this day, the world over, these hospitallers of the aged poor are known as "The Little Sisters of the Poor."
Explanation of the term "little" used in connection with their title was expressed one day by a wealthy man, who was on the list of those approached frequently by the Sisters in their quest for alms. Their repeated visits to his place of business always met with refusal, but to each refusal, the begging Sisters would reply, "Thank you, sir." Upon the occasion of one of their visits, the man said to them, "I have often wondered why you call yourselves 'little', when as a matter of fact, both of you are quite tall. But today, it came to me that 'little' in your language means 'humble.' Take this banknote for you bear your title well."
In many large cities of the United States today, and particularly here in Ohio, in Cincinnati, Toledo and Cleveland, a little horse drawn black wagon, or a small black motor truck with the name "Little Sisters of the Poor" inscribed thereon, can be seen on the city streets, stopping at the back doors of hotels and restaurants and bakeries, or at the markets for the unused or left over foods. Two Sisters, dressed in black with white linen caps on their heads, over which is worn the black cowl of their capes, staff these conveyances. Two other Sisters on foot, visit homes and business houses seek- ing small alms to clothe and house their poor.
There are many who do not look with favor upon this begging of the Little Sisters, even though they work quietly and unobtrusively, but for the many who frown upon it, there are thousands more, who find joy and pleasure in giving.
None other than Charles Dickens came to the defense of the Little Sisters of the Poor when in 1851 they established their work in England. Their arrival there brought forth protests from, press and pulpit and even arrests for beg- ging. So bitter was the opposition in England that the controversy reached the halls of Parliament. In his "Household Words", written February 15, 1852, Dickens said of them: "You do not like this begging? What are the advertisements on behalf of our own hospitals? What are the collections? What are the dinners, the speeches, the charity sermons? A few weak women, strong in heart ... patiently collect waste food from house to house, and feed the poor with it, humbly and tenderly."
Louis Veuillot, a French apologist said: "The Little Sisters never took college courses in economics and social rehabilitation; yet they discovered a
495
WOMEN OF OHIO
science." "Have they not," he asks, "solved the problem of how to assist the poor man without loathing to themselves or humiliation to him, without expense to the State and without imposing on the public anything, except the pleasure of giving ?"
In 1865, the real test of absolute dependence upon God for their financial support came when a French woman offered 4000 francs to endow a bed in the Dijon house of the Sisters. After consultation it was decided to refuse this kindly offer and it was later inscribed in the rules of the religious com- munity, that "The Congregation cannot possess any annual subsidy or fixed revenue in perpetual title." Three years later another trust fund of two million francs had been bequeathed to the French Sisters, and this had to be refused after consultation with the mother-house at La Tour in France. The reply was "let us remain poor, trusting in Providence without taking thought of tomorrow."
The letter which contains this statement, was ordered by the Bishop of Dijon to be kept forever in the archives of the Congregation, "Keep that document in your records," he wrote. "It is a title of religious nobility."
The Sisters have, however, accepted legacies which are not trust funds, and which are used for a definite purpose, such as the retirement of debts, building of homes for the aged poor. But Federal old-age pensions, com- munity fund allowances etc., may not be accepted, according to the rule of the Religious congregation.
The first colony of Little Sisters to come to America, arrived Sept. 13, 1868, and located in Brooklyn. The second American colony arrived in New York less than a month later, October 8, and came to Cincinnati, arriving on October 14. Their first home for the poor was a former school located near the cathedral, but upon their arrival they were guests in the convent of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, located on Sixth Street near Sycamore. On their arrival in Cincinnati the six Sisters had as their common fund ten cents in money and two small statues, one of the Blessed Virgin and the other of Saint Joseph. SISTER THEODORE MARIE was superior of this band of six Sisters.
The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur by this time had a well established school, and having communicated to their pupils that these Sisters had arrived, and having explained the nature of their work, the Little Sisters of the Poor soon had many benefactors. The extreme poverty of their first home touched the hearts of everyone who came. The first doctor called to administer to a sick man, moved by pity, took off his coat to give to the pensioner. Arch- bishop Purcell, the second bishop of the diocese of Cincinnati, called to extend a welcome to the Sisters and he too was moved by their extreme poverty. The only furniture in the parlor of this home was one table and two rickety benches.
Chief among their benefactors was MRS. SARAH PETERS of Cincinnati. She had learned of the Little Sisters of the Poor in 1858 from Father Hacker.
496
WOMEN OF OHIO
founder of the Paulist order of Priests and at that time she made an effort to have a colony come to Cincinnati. Her first venture was not successful, but she continued until 1868 when the first group of six Sisters arrived.
The first home in Cincinnati was called Saint Joseph's Home and is now located at 2024 Forence Avenue. It was opened in 1863. On March 20, 1882, Saint Peter's Home, 476 Riddle Road, Clifton Heights, was opened. Each home accommodates about 230 aged persons.
Two years later the Sisters came to Cleveland and Bishop Rappe, the first Bishop of the diocese of Cleveland, gave to them for their use a small house on Perry Street which could accommodate only 12 persons. They soon outgrew this house, and additions had to be built and in later years a larger and more commodious house was built on East 22nd Street, in Cleveland.
Upon their arrival in Cleveland a German family learning of the arrival of the Little Sisters of the Poor came to call on the Superior and to ask what was needed. They supplied the needs by providing forty blankets, fifteen foot-covers, three new mattresses, linen for sheets and pillow cases, utensils of all kinds and provisions.
As it became known that the Little Sisters shared the conditions of their poor and accepted for themselves the shame of begging and the inconvenience of poverty, they quickly won friends to their cause.
When it became necessary to seek larger quarters for the aged, a non- Catholic benefactor gave to the Sisters $1,000, and Bishop Rappe gave $4,000 with which to purchase property.
Some fifteen years later, in 1885, another house of the Little Sisters of the Poor was established in Toledo, Ohio. In this house there are accommoda- tions for 140 aged persons in charge of fourteen Sisters. The Cleveland house accommodates 200 aged poor and 16 Sisters are in charge.
In war torn Spain today there are some fifty homes wherein the Sisters are rendering the best possible services under most trying conditions. In China, homes for the aged in Shanghai and Canton are practically surrounded by debris left in the wake of Japanese planes. The brief news which comes to houses throughout the world is, "Safe ; Divine Providence protects !"
From one of their homes in China came a story of the protection afforded the Sisters and their poor by their intercession to their foundress, Sister Marie de Croix or Jeanne Jugan. During a bombardment, a picture of their found- ress was placed in every room of the house but one, which had been overlooked. The Sisters and the inmates in their prayers asked their foundress to inter- cede for them and to ask God's protection. The day following the bombard- ment it was discovered that a huge projectile had penetrated into one room of the house where it landed in a sack of rice and its damaging influence ended there. This was the only room in which a picture of the foundress had not been placed and the Sisters with the deep religious faith that is theirs and their trust in Divine Providence, attribute their survival to the interces- sion of their foundress.
497
WOMEN OF OHIO
In Detroit, the Bertha M. Fisher Home for the aged conducted by the Little Sisters of the Poor is the gift of a former Cleveland, Ohio, woman, BERTHA MEYER FISHER and her husband, Frederick John Fisher, who is an executive of the Fisher Body Corporation of Detroit. The home accommo- dates 300 aged persons and was built in 1928.
SISTERS OF MERCY
The Sisters of Mercy who came to Cincinnati August 18, 1858 had an interesting origin. The foundress CATHERINE MCAULEY, daughter of James McAuley, a man of wealth and of influence in Dublin, Ireland, received from her father the inspiration to establish a work which is world wide today in its scope. Strict penal laws in effect at the time in Ireland, which forbade the practice of the Catholic Faith, and even the instruction in that faith, prompted James McAuley like many other Catholics to use his home as a secret meeting place for religious services and as a school for instructing children in the Faith. Catherine's parents died within a few years of each other when she was in her teens. She was taken into the home of a Mr. and Mrs. Callaghan and upon their death she inherited their spacious residence, known as Coolock House in Dublin. With this inheritance, she began her work of instructing the ignorant and unschooled poor. She saw what had been accomplished through her father's efforts. Her first objective was to establish an institution where respectable working women might find a home during intervals of unemploy- ment ; a school for the education of the poor; and means of caring for the sick poor in their homes. Her first building for this work was established in Dublin, September 24, 1827.
Today there are some 20,000 members of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy spread throughout the world, its latest mission having been recently established in the leper colony of Demarare, South America with three mem- bers from the Cincinnati Convent in charge sharing the work with seventeen others.
Mother MeAuley, the foundress, devoted her wealth, her exertions, and her life to the alleviation of human misery; she gave herself and all that she possessed to God and she deemed the honor of serving him a sufficient re- ward for her immense and unceasing labor. Mother McAuley was insistent that special preparation was necessary for each phase of the very special work carried on in the institute. She argued that "if religious are not efficient teachers, their pupils will seek education elsewhere and for a little human learning barter, perhaps, their eternal interest." "To visit the sick with advantages," she believed, "kindness is more necessary than learning: to conduct a house of Mercy efficiently, prudence and a knowledge of household matters are more essential than literary ability; but to teach well, kindness and prudence, though indispensable, will not suffice without the solid founda- tion of a good education and a judicious method of imparting knowledge."
498
WOMEN OF OHIO
To attain this end, Sister McAuley had hoped to open a Training College for young women that would aid their Sisters, but this had to be delayed for some years.
It was with such a heritage as this that nine Sisters came from Ireland to Cincinnati in 1858. They were accompanied here by Mrs. Sarah Peters of Cincinnati, who had been sent as a special messenger to Ireland by Arch- bishop Purcell, the second Bishop of Cincinnati. In advance of their arrival, Mrs. Peters wrote to a Cincinnati friend that she was aiding the Sisters in preparation for their journey and they are "ladies fit to grace any circle."
It must be emphasized that in all religious communities no sisters are sent to far away mission fields against their will. As a rule, the plea is made to the community and volunteers are asked to make known their desire. And so it was that nine members of the Irish community headed by SISTER MARIE THERESE MAHER, who was the superior of the Kinsale community, volun- teered to come to Ohio.
True to the ideals and the example of their illustrious foundress Catherine McAuley, these sisters, upon their arrival in Cincinnati, began to carry out their program of mercy valiantly and courageously, meeting each need as it was presented.
The Sisters were guests of Mrs. Peters in her home, part of which she had given over to their private use, until such time as a more permanent location could be obtained. Mrs. Peters as a special inducement to have the Sisters come to Cincinnati had assured the Sisters of financial support and had agreed to give one fourth of her income, about $4,000, and also an insur- ance policy on her life. This promise for financial support was augmented by Archbishop Purcell who assured the chaplain of their order in Ireland that "The Sisters shall never want their daily bread while I have a crust to share with them and I may give the same assurance in the name of my suc- cessor." Archbishop Purcell blessed the part of the Peters Home which had been reserved for a convent and called it the "Convent of the Divine Will."
The Sisters took possession of a poorly conditioned house on Sycamore Street, on October 11, 1858 and here they began to teach the small boys who attended Saint Xavier's parish school. In this same house they pioneered in adult education and in the home nursing service. They established a night school for working girls, the evening of October 25, and the following day October 26, they established their first day school. At the same time they opened a novitiate in which young women could be trained for the religious life and the first postulant, AGNES McCOY, was received November 7, 1858. The following February, the first postulant from Cincinnati was received.
In 1860 it became necessary to move again. This time, on June 4, they moved into the former German Boy's Orphanage on Fourth Street, between John and Central Avenue, which they had purchased. Meanwhile SISTER M. BAPTIST KANE, who had come from Ireland, had compiled a prayer
499
WOMEN OF OHIO
book "Help of Christians" and proceeds from the sale of this book helped considerably to pay for the new convent. Adjacent property with a building was purchased as a site for a home for poor women, but this was no sooner ready for occupancy than the Sisters turned it over to the government for use as a hospital during the Civil War. They also gave volunteer service in the care of the sick and wounded. In 1862, SISTER MOTHER THERESE MAHER, SISTER M. GERTRUDE O'DWYER, SISTER M. STANISLAUS MURPHY and SISTER FRANCIS NOONAN, all of the original group from Ireland, answered the government's call for volunteers in various war torn sections. They boarded the steamer "Superior" for Pittsburgh Landing on the Tennessee River to help care for the wounded from the Federal and Confed- erate armies that were pouring in after the battle of Shiloh. A tent served as a hospital, and while in service there black small-pox broke out. The Sisters remained on the scene until their services were no longer needed. Sister Gertrude O'Dwyer had seen war service before in the Crimean war. It was not until the soldiers had departed from the improvised hospital in Cincinnati that the Sisters were able to open a night refuge for distressed women of good character and a school for poor children. How well they succeeded here is seen in the records for one year alone in this house of refuge for women. They temporarily provided for 250 girls and procured employment for 350 girls and within the same period the Sisters made more than 2,000 visits to the prisons and to the homes of the poor. An industrial school was also a part of the House of Mercy and girls were taught dress-making and general needlework.
The Ohio River flood in the early 80's and a second flood in 1884 found the Sisters again volunteering their services and opening their various con- vents for the care of the distressed.
The Spanish-American war found the Sisters at the railroad stations meeting the trains and rendering whatever service they could to alleviate the suffering of the returning sick and wounded soldiers.
In 1918, the flu epidemic found the Sisters volunteering again to serve the sick not only in Mercy Hospital in Hamilton, Ohio, but in Cincinnati homes. Sixteen of their members volunteered to care for the sick in mining district homes of southwestern Kentucky.
From a small and humble beginning, the influence of the Sisters spread. There are now more than 1,000 members in convents which embrace the Province of Cincinnati, and which include the States of Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and West Virginia. At the time of its founding there were only nine. The Cincinnati convent has 208 professed sisters. Their work in Ohio is as varied as the needs of the time and include teaching in all departments from kindergarten, through the elementary, high schools and colleges; caring for the distressed; maintaining hospitals, schools of nursing, visiting the sick in their homes, maintaining homes for young women of good
500
WOMEN OF OHIO
character; visiting the prisons, conducting vacation schools. Many members have been authors of religious books. They have kept abreast with the times in maintaining high standards in education, social service and hospitalization. Higher education for members has been obtained in such schools as the Uni- versities of Notre Dame, Marquette, Catholic University, the College of Music and the Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, and the Athenaeum of Ohio, located in Cincinnati. Members hold high degrees-Ph. D., M. A., B. S., A. B., B. M., and N. M. Besides their work in Cincinnati, teaching in parish schools, and conducting institutions, the Sisters also teach in schools in Chillicothe, Urbana, London, Bellefontaine, Piqua, Springfield, Delaware and Columbus.
In 1892 the Sisters were invited by citizens to establish a hospital in Hamilton. With the permission of Archbishop William H. Elder, third bishop of Cincinnati, this request was granted and the first patient was received on July 5, 1892. In order to render the best service possible, the Sisters who were assigned to the hospital were sent to hospitals conducted by the Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh, and in Chicago, where they received training.
In connection with this hospital, there is a school of Nursing which was established by the Sisters in 1906 to augment the staff of trained nurses in the care of the sick. Heretofore, all of the nursing had been done by the Sisters. The first class of two, MISS KATHERINE O'NEIL, now MRS. GEORGE BRAMLAGE, and MISS ANN SCHROER, was graduated February 1909.
In 1914, the superior of Mercy Hospital, SISTER M. GONZAGA, joined the Nursing League of Education and was the first religious in the United States to do so. This was done to keep in touch with the latest developments in nursing education, in order that patients and students might be better served.
In 1920 a group of prominent women of Hamilton formed an auxiliary to the Nursing School in order to better acquaint the public with the aims and objectives of a School of Nursing. Through this auxiliary, scholarships are provided for post graduate work, and are awarded at time of graduation to the "student who gave the most efficient and kindly care to the sick." MRS. HOMER GARD has been a most generous benefactor to this. She is president of the Nurses auxiliary and gives an annual scholarship of $500; MRS. MARY MILLIKEN BECKETT is the donor of an annual scholarship of $300 named for Sister Mary Gonzaga; Our Lady of Cincinnati College con- ducted by the Sisters of Mercy, gives another scholarship. MISS RUTH GRACE, a graduate of the School of Nursing of Mercy Hospital, Hamilton, is the first graduate to complete her five years course at Our Lady of Cincin- nati College.
The doctors of the staff give another scholarship. In all 25 graduates have had the advantages of graduate study as the result of these benefactions.
Perhaps the most progressive move in the entire history of the Sisters of
-
501
WOMEN OF OHIO
Mercy was that which took place in Cincinnati in 1929, when representatives of the many convents of the order throughout the United States voted to amalgamate into one Religious body. It was decided that by so doing, "their common purpose would be attained, regular discipline in all its strength would increase, and more abundant fruits would accrue to those coming under the influence of the Institute." Instrumental in this movement was Cardinal Pietro Fumasoni Biondi now of Rome, but at that time, Apostolic Delegate to the United States with headquarters in Washington. His Excellency, Arch- bishop McNicholas of Cincinnati, extended the invitation to meet in Cincinnati and extended also the hospitality of Mount Saint Mary's seminary and grounds. The conclave opened August 26, 1929 and continued one week.
Mother Carmelita Hart of Baltimore was elected Mother general of the Sisters of Mercy in the United States. Six provinces were set up, with a Sister serving as provincial director in each of these provinces, Cincinnati was elected as one of the provincial centers, and within its jurisdiction are all convents of the order in the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Iowa and West Virginia.
A foundation of the Sisters of Mercy was established in Tiffin, Ohio, May 11, 1912. Three members came from the convent of the Sisters at Grand Rapids, Michigan upon the invitation of Bishop Joseph Schrembs, who was the first Bishop of the newly organized diocese of Toledo, established in 1910. Bishop Schrembs had been Bishop in Grand Rapids, and had come to know of the work of these Sisters. Mother Mary McMullen was the first superior.
In 1935, when representatives of the different convents of the Sisters of Mercy met in Cincinnati to perfect a union of all convents of this order, the Toledo foundation affiliated with the Union, and thus came under the juris- diction of the Cincinnati mother-house.
Since coming to Toledo diocese, the sisters established their work in Mercy Hospital, Toledo, Mercy Hospital, Tiffin and Saint Rita's Hospital of Lima, Ohio. In addition, they teach in parish schools at Fremont. Toledo, and Sandusky, and are members of the faculty of Central Catholic High Schools and of DeSales College in Toledo. Since 1935, the mother house has been located at "Our Lady of the Pines," Fremont, Ohio. It has a membership of 125 Sisters.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.