USA > Ohio > Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state, Volume II > Part 8
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SISTERS OF CHARITY OF CINCINNATI
In 1928 only six Sisters of Charity from Cincinnati could be spared from among 200 of their members, who volunteered when the Ohio Sisters decided to open a free dispensary and hospital in Wuchang, Hupeh district China, and an orphanage in San Kiang Ko, Hupeh China.
These six volunteers established in the Eastern part of the world another Religious foundation, whose members join their labors with other religious women, in relieving the distress of the suffering people of China. Buddhists,
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Mohammedans, and Christians are among those being helped and the only passport needed to gain admittance to these institutions, which are owned and financed by the Sisters of Charity and other sisterhoods, is the individual's distress.
Orphans and homeless children of China, at present consigned to the care of Madame Chiang Kai Shek, have in turn been assigned by her to the pro- tection of these Sisters and other Sisters, who are performing valiant service today in war-torn China.
Back home in Ohio and in the many convent homes that look to the Cin- cinnati mother house for guidance and inspiration, the members of the Sisters of Charity by their prayers, their words of encouragement, and their financial assistance, are bolstering the courage of their Sisters in China, and are other hands, as it were, dispensing food, shelter, clothing, and medical care to the needy there.
With an estimated 30,000,000 sufferers in China today, it is easy to believe that these women who have volunteered their services, in the name of Christ, for the relief of the suffering in that war-torn country, are enduring unbelieve- able suffering themselves, suffering that must go unrelated and unrecorded because of their vows to serve uncomplainingly for the love of God, their Creator.
Some years ago, LIDA ROSE McCABE of Columbus, Ohio, a newspaper and magazine writer of wide renown, wrote an article on "The Catholic Sister- hoods," for one of America's leading secular magazines. She summed up the life of the Sisters in these sisterhoods in this statement: that when a nun dies and is laid to rest in the convent cemetery, the epitaph on her grave marker reads, "Here lies one who lived and died in the love of the Lord."
And so it is that for the love of their Lord and Creator so many thous- ands of women have dedicated themselves to a life in religion, and it is this love that motivates the many thousands who are engaged in work in Ohio, and in distant lands.
The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati have an interesting history in Ohio. with its humble beginning of four sisters, augmented a few years later by three others who formed the first religious foundation for women in Ohio. It numbers today a membership of 1180 women. Among them are many who have specialized in literature, arts, history, music and science, and hold degrees of Ph. D., M. A., A. B., B. S. They have pursued higher studies in such uni- versities as Notre Dame, Catholic University, Creighton, Columbus, Fordham, Detroit, Denver, Greeley, and New Mexico.
They gave to the War between the States the one who became known best by the name of "The Angel of the Battlefield" and the "Florence Night- ingale of America," SISTER ANTHONY O'CONNELL. There were thirty- four other Sisters who served with Sister Anthony, ministering to those who needed their care, in both army camps, going wherever they were needed most.
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In the influenza epidemic of 1918, twenty Sisters volunteered to serve in the sparsely settled districts of Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky, ministering to the sick in their homes and rendering services also in the hos- pitals desiring help.
The Cincinnati house remained a branch of the Maryland motherhouse until 1852 when Ohio became a separate and independent foundation, and a novitiate was opened on April 3, 1852. Six Sisters were among those who were professed as members of the new Ohio foundation.
From the tiny two story frame house on Sycamore Street, which was their first convent, the religious community has expanded to include today their motherhouse, college and academy located at Mount Saint Joseph, Ohio, two central high schools, an infant asylum, and the Good Samaritan hospital in Cincinnati; one hospital in Dayton; a boys' academy at Fayetteville; one hospital in Kenton; Saint Mary's hospital in Pueblo, Colorado; San Rafael's hospital in Trinidad; Saint Vincent's hospital and Sanitarium, Sante Fe, New Mexico; Saint Vincent's academy and high school and Saint Joseph's hospital and Sanitarium at Albuquerque, New Mexico. These institutions are owned, staffed, and financed by the Sisters.
In addition, they staff grade and high schools under Catholic Church auspices in Chillicothe, Cleveland, Dayton, Fayetteville, Glendale, Greenville, Harrison, Kenton, Marion, Middletown, Sidney, Findlay, and Lima in Ohio. Parochial grade and high schools in Michigan, Colorado, and New Mexico, numbering seventeen, are staffed by these Sisters.
The famous Glockner Sanitarium at Colorado Springs is now owned and operated by the Sisters of Charity. It was built originally by Marie Gynne Glockner, widow of Albert Glockner, as a memorial to her husband who had died of tuberculosis. Before his death he had planned to build such an insti- tution, where victims of tuberculosis might have care at a reasonable expense. The first patient was received on March 5, 1890. Three years later Mrs. Glockner offered the institution to the Sisters of Charity, as a gift providing that the name. Albert Glockner Memorial Sanitarium be retained, and that the Sisters assume responsibility for the $6,000 mortgage on the sanatarium. This program at Colorado Springs has developed from the one hospital for tuberculosis patients to many buildings and cottages which occupy two city blocks in the northern part of Colorado Springs. Besides the hospital and cottages for tubercular patients, the Sisters also conduct a modern hospital, for medical and surgical cases, a maternity hospital, a children's hospital and a Nurses home.
In 1902 a similar institution for the care of tubercular patients was opened at Albuquerque, N. M. which attracts patients from almost every State in the Union. It also has a Nurses Training school.
In 1865, a Navajo baby abandoned and in need of a home was the inspira- tion for the establishment of an orphanage at Sante Fe. The child was taken into the convent of the Sisters.
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In Albuquerque, N. M. in addition to a boarding and day school conducted by the Sisters of Charity, they conduct weekly classes in religion for 400 Indians attending the government school near Albuquerque.
The Saint Rita's School for the Deaf in Cincinnati is a diocesan institu- tion staffed by the Sisters of Charity who train in manual arts, as well as to offer a complete grade and high school course.
The Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, which is the immediate suc- cessor to the first hospital which they established in Cincinnati, known as Saint John's Hospital for Invalids, and opened in 1852, resulted from a double act of charity. Sister Anthony O'Connell was in charge of this hospital where one day was admitted a poor man who was ill and who had been sent there by Joseph C. Butler. The man handed Sister Anthony a note from Mr. Butler to the effect that he was to be given care and that the bill would be paid by Mr. Butler. The sick man recovered, was discharged from the hospital, but Mr. Butler received no bill. Some time later Mr. Butler called at the hospital to inquire for the bill. Sister Anthony replied, "That poor man was taken here for the love of God and we give Him no bills."
Mr. Butler was a business man. The answer impressed yet mystified him, as he knew that the wherewith to operate such an institution had to come from some source. He inquired into the work and the needs of the hospital and discovered that only lack of facilities and accommodations prevented the Sisters from doing a more extensive service among the poor. He interested a friend, Louis Worthington, in providing better accommodations for the patients and nurses, and on August 15, 1866, the deed for the old Marine hospital, which these two men purchased from the U. S. Government, was given over to the Sisters of Charity.
Although less than one fifth of their members are engaged in the nine hospitals conducted by the Sisters of Charity, their religious community is classified as "Hospital Sisters."
This hospital has since been enlarged to include a 600 bed capacity. In 1874 an ampitheater for clinical teaching with a seating capacity for 400 was built. Students of Ohio Medical College and of Miami College assembled to hear lectures and to observe the work of the greatest surgeons of the time. A second addition had to be built in 1889 and some years later, an annex had to be built in Clifton. Still the demands for service far exceeded accommoda- tions so that in 1916 two wings of the new Good Samaritan Hospital at Clifton and Dixmyth Avenue, opposite Burnet Woods, were built. Eleven years later the remainder of the building was finished and Victoria Hall, the nurses home, was added. It is estimated that more than the Biblical tenth in free services is given to the sick poor.
Just as these Sisters came into Ohio from Baltimore early in the nine- teenth century to minister to the spiritual and physical needs of Ohio, par- ticularly in the Cincinnati area, so too in this the twentieth century have
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Sisters gone out from this center which they established in Ohio into other parts of the continent, particularly into far away China, to minister again as missionaries.
Missionary priests who came to Ohio from Europe and whose labors here in the Ohio mission fields merited the favor of their ecclesiastical superiors and won for them assignments to new fields as bishops, helped in a large measure to widen the field of service for the Sisterhoods.
Bishop Lamy, immortalized by Willa Cather in her "Death comes for the Archbishop," was one of the priests who came to Ohio from France at the request of Archbishop Purcell in 1839. He was consecrated Bishop in 1850, was named Bishop of Sante Fe, July 29, 1853, and Archbishop of Sante Fe in 1875. In helping him to establish the Church in Sante Fe, he turned to the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati for assistance. Four of them, SISTERS VIN- CENT, THEODASIA, PAULINE, and CATHERINE, started west August 21, 1865 going by rail to Omaha from Cincinnati, and thence by stage coach for the remaining 1000 miles to Sante Fe. They opened an orphan asylum and a hospital in Sante Fe.
In 1870, the Sisters branched out again into Michigan and Colorado re- sponding to the needs in these states, but regretfully declined requests for services in other states, due to lack of workers.
The proximity of the residence of the Sisters to the Diocesan seminary in Cincinnati made it possible for the Sisters to have the advantages of scholarly instructors from the seminary. Among these were two professors of the seminary, who later became Bishops, Bishop Henry Richter who became Bishop of Grand Rapids, April 22, 1883, and Bishop Thomas S. Byrne, a native of Hamilton, Ohio, who became Bishop of Nashville, Tennessee, July 25, 1894.
Bishop Richter gave many hours to the Sisters each week for classes in mathematics, Latin, German, Science, English, and philosophy. Of Bishop Byrne, who was the first chaplain of the new Mount Saint Joseph Convent from 1869 to 1887, the Sisters record that "in addition to the knowledge of religion, he taught the sciences, languages, rhetoric, and higher mathematics. It was not long until the schools began to feel his influence and their literary standard advanced accordingly." He is also praised for encouraging good reading and the study of the best English. Money, which he might have spent on travel or other self advantages, was used by him to fill the convent library with books by the best of authors. His love for good literature was equalled by his love for art, and here again the Sisters benefitted, as the Art gallery of Mount Saint Joseph holds many pieces of art which are his gifts to the community.
Bishop Byrne served the diocese of Nashville from 1894 until his death in 1923. At his request his body was brought back to Mount Saint Joseph to be buried in the spot selected by him during his chaplaincy at the convent.
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He himself, on June 4, 1883 had cleared the field to make way for the first grave in the new convent cemetery in which are interred the remains of Mother REGINA MATTINGLY. She was one of six Sisters to make her religious vows on March 25, 1852, at which time the Ohio foundation became a separate and independent foundation from the Baltimore foundation of which for 23 years it had been a part.
The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati is one of the largest religious insti- tutions for women. Despite its large numbers and the many students and young women who are accepted for membership in their novitiate and in the community, there still are not enough to meet the many demands for their services-proof that the same spirit of self sacrifice and devotion which motivated the women of a century ago to serve God through Religion, is as alive today as it was then, in the hearts and the minds of the young women of the twentieth century.
SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME DE NAMUR
JULIE BILLIART, born in Cuvilly, France in 1751, became the foundress of one Religious order which was to work in Ohio, and whose members since coming to Ohio in 1840 can lay claim to having steadfastly held true to the ideals of their beloved foundress and to have faithfully preserved for future generations, the glorious traditions of their Religious Institute.
It is the Religious order known as the Institute of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, an order which today spans the globe. There is scarcely a spot in the world where the name of God is known that some Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur is not personally serving through religious, educational or charitable institutions; or by proxy, through Tabernacle societies, mission and sodality groups, or other channels used by them in doing their part to fulfill the commands of Christ to His Disciples, "Going therefore teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (Matthew 28th ch., verses 18 to 20).
Julie Billiart had for an associate in the founding of this Religious Institute, a daughter of the nobility, MADEMOISELLE FRANCOISE BLIN DE BOURDON, whose close friend was MADAME ELIZABETH, sister to King Louis XVI of France. Julie was the daughter of a French shopkeeper. To supplement her father's earnings for the support of his family of seven children, she found employment at the age of 16, in the fields, tilling the soil, sowing the seed and reaping the harvests.
Thus we find in the formation of this Religious Institute in 1806 in Amiens, France, the joining together of kindred souls despite the disparity of their rank. Julie from the nobility of the poor, and Francoise from the nobility of royalty and of the rich, had much in common-their Catholic Faith, their love for the poor, and their burning desire to bring others to a knowledge of God.
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Both of them had escaped the purge of the French Revolution during the 1790's. The death of Robespierre saved Francoise, who was imprisoned and had been sentenced to death by the guillotine. Kind friends sought out Julie, and concealed her from her persecutors. So eager were the revolu- tionists to lay hands upon Julie that it became necessary for her friends to seek new hiding places for her five times within a period of three years.
Julie was 52 years of age when she founded this Religious Institute and Francoise 38 years old. Julie had been bedfast for 22 years, due to paralysis in the lower limbs caused by shock, when an attempt had been made on her father's life.
On the beginning of this, her life's work, she was "miraculously cured" of her infirmities and presided as general superior of her Religious Institute until her death in 1816.
Throughout her invalidism, she drew people to her, particularly the poor of her neighborhood, and instructed them in their religion. She spent her time sewing on altar linens and vestments.
She claims to have had a dream one day, in which she saw Christ suspended from a Cross on Calvary, and surrounding the Cross was a group of women in a religious garb which she had never seen before. In this vision she heard a voice say to her, "Behold the Spiritual Daughters whom I give to you in the Institute which will be marked by my Cross."
In the aftermath of the French Revolution, the need for Religious com- munities to help in rebuilding the Faith was great. Monasteries and convents had been closed during the Revolution, and members of religious communities were dispersed, or in many instances, suffered death by the guillotine.
The parish priest in Amiens, where Julie now lived, bade her begin instructions in religion to the children of the neighborhood. Despite her physical disability, she obeyed and in 1803 was begun, in this simple manner, the work which was to be formally established in 1806 as a Religious Insti- tute and whose branches were to extend into Ohio and around the world.
Ohio in 1840 was the first mission across the seas to benefit from this foundation. Today almost a century later, this work has expanded until it extends beyond the seven seas, and the Ohio community through its personal responsibility for some of the foreign missions, is actively participating in work of this Institute in the Far East. Eight of their Sisters left Cincinnati in 1929 to establish a girls' boarding school in Hankow and despite Japanese bombs which rained down upon them, but providentially sparing lives, the Sisters carry on, not only with their educational work, but in using their convent as a hospice for hundreds of refugees from all parts of China. These refugees came because they were attracted by the huge American flags painted upon the convent walls and the Cross which surmounts the top of their convent. These signs meant refuge and safety to them.
When Julie established the Religious Institute, she designed the religious habit which the Sisters were to wear from the garb worn by those whom
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she had seen in the vision grouped about the Cross. That style of garb continues to be worn today by these Sisters wherever there is a convent of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
One rule laid down by Julie was that for all time, the work of the Sisters of the Institute was to be given to the education of youth and from the very beginning of Her Institute it was decreed, that a day school, a boarding school and a free school for poor children be conducted simul- taneously, wherever possible.
So religiously did the Ohio group of eight Sisters adhere to this ruling that they refused as a gift the offer of the beautiful site now owned by the Ursulines at Brown County, because its great distance from the city at that time, in 1840, would not permit them to conduct a free school for poor children. Transportation in those days was a problem to be reckoned with, and if parents could not afford to pay for the education of their children, it is not likely that they could afford the heavy transportation cost.
Another rule of Julie was that no matter how great was the need for teachers, or how insistent the demands for their services, that it was wiser to await the time when the Sisters would be adequately prepared for their work. In this, her companion, Francoise, known in religion as SISTER ST. JOSEPH, concurred.
On the simple tombstone that marks the last resting place of Julie Billiart, in Namur, Belgium, to which city the motherhouse of the Religious Institute was transferred in 1807, is to be found this inscription :
"She consecrated the best days of her life to the education of youth and to the foundation of excellent schools, justly considered the bulwark of religion and morality."
Julie Billiart won praise from Pope Leo XIII in 1889 when he declared that "Julie had practiced the theological and moral virtues in a heroic degree." He directed the degree of heroicity of her virtues be published without delay.
The Congregation of Rites in Rome, adjudged reports of cures, ac- credited to her, by those who had pleaded her intercession for them follow- ing her death in 1816, as being miracles, and on Dec. 10, 1905, Pope Leo's successor, Pope Pius X, concurred in their judgment. The following March 4, 1906, he proclaimed to the Cardinals and Consultors of Rites, that the solemn beatification of Julie could be proclaimed with certainty and secur- ity. This public proclamation took place on March 19, 1906 and the solemn beatification took place in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, amid great splendor and solemnity on May 13, 1906. At this ceremony she was given the title of Blessed Julie, and it is by this title that she is reverently known today to the nearly 4,000 of her Sisters scattered throughout the world. Likewise to the more than 200,000 children whom the Sisters teach, and the many thou- sands of Alumnae, from their academies and colleges in America, and in other parts of the world.
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If Bishop Purcell, who became the second Bishop of Cincinnati in 1833, had not promised an American nun, to call upon her sister, Baroness de Coppens, upon the occasion of a visit to Europe in 1839, the great endow- ments of this Religious Institute, might have been denied Ohio. It was on one of his several trips to Europe to beg money with which to build schools and churches, and to seek volunteers among the clergy and religious in the building up of the Church in Ohio.
He had never heard of this Religious Institute. Upon calling at the home of the Baroness, he learned that she was in Namur, making a retreat at the Convent of Notre Dame. Desirous of fulfilling his promise he made the trip to Namur, and there met the Baroness and made the acquaintance of the Superior, Mother Ignatius Goethals. Before another year had elapsed, he invited the Sisters to come to Ohio.
They arrived the evening of Oct. 31, 1840, and were given hospitality for six weeks in the convent of the Sisters of Charity, who had been the first to come to Ohio, in 1829.
The small house on Sycamore St., which had been provided for the Sisters, proved inadequate for their educational program. For themselves, they sought only shelter, no luxuries; but for the children, who enrolled immediately, they sought the best that could be provided. The Notre Dame Convent, Sixth St., Cincinnati, now in use almost a century, was purchased. It was known as the Spencer Mansion at the time of its purchase and it was bought for $24,000.
On Jan. 18, 1841, less than three months after their arrival, they opened their academy, known as the Young Ladies Institute and Boarding School. Until Sept., 1938, it served as a day school and academy. It now serves as the mission house for Sisters who attend to the duties of the Xavier Day Nursery, and who teach in several of the parish schools in Cincinnati. Art and musie classes are also conducted from here.
For 82 years, from 1833 until 1915, when St. Rita's school for the Deaf was opened as a diocesan Institute, the Sisters conducted a school for deaf mutes in this convent. One of the Sisters in charge of the school, SISTER MARIE THERESE was trained by Alexander Bell, in his experimental school for the Deaf in Washington, D. C., and the work of the Sisters received high commendation from the famous inventor on the occasion of a visit to the school.
When St. Rita's school for the deaf was opened as a boarding school and placed in charge of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, SISTER MARLA ANTONIO, another Notre Dame sister, specially trained in this work. in- structed the two Sisters of Charity. All of the equipment used by the Notre Dame Sisters, in their instruction of the deaf, was donated to St. Rita's new school.
Time marched on rapidly for these Sisters of Notre Dame. The Sisters term their first decade in Cincinnati as being marked by a "tropical growth."
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Postulants for the Religious Institute, desiring to dedicate their lives to religion, and pupils came in large numbers and with these came also increased demands upon the time of the Sisters.
In 1845 their first branching out from Cincinnati took place. Five Sisters accepted the invitation of Father Rappe to help him establish a school in Toledo. Father Rappe who was to become the first Bishop of the new diocese of Cleveland, established in 1847, had accompanied the Sisters to Ohio in 1840. He came on a similar mission to theirs, to give his services to the struggling church in Ohio.
The Maumee fever was raging in Toledo at the time, and whole families were being stricken.
The year Bishop Purcell became Bishop of Cincinnati, a diocese had been established in Michigan with Detroit as the episcopal see, and Bishop Purcell's territory now included only Ohio. The Cincinnati diocese in its original set-up in 1821 included Ohio and Michigan. He, like his predecessor traveled about the State and kept in constant touch with his flock. His priests and people knew of his journeys through Ohio, from the letters he sent to the Catholic Telegraph, Ohio's first English Catholic paper, which was estab- lished in Cincinnati in 1831.
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