"Bishop Gerald O'Hara described this order of Sisters working in his diocese [Savannah] to Cardinal Dougherty of Philadelphia in a February 24, 1944 letter while requesting permission for the sisters to seek vocations in Philadelphia. He affirmed, 'The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph here is small and the Sisters have great difficulty in securing vocations. It is for this reason that they would like to try the more populous Catholic centers.' He suggests allowing the Sisters to speak to upper class high school girls of Philadelphia in order to recruit girls for the order. To Archbishop Spellman of New York, Bishop O'Hara recounts that 'here in Georgia we have a small province of the Sisters of St. Joseph, who have charge of various schools and other institutions in the diocese. These Sisters are doing heroic work in the Southland, but...they are greatly hampered by the fewness of vocations that they secure here where the Catholic population is so small.' These letters are revealing, for they clearly give evidence that the Sisters had difficulty in finding enough religious vocations to staff all the apostolates of their province.
"Despite the growth and success of the Augusta Province, the lack of vocations resulted in the merging of the Province with the Saint Louis Province in 1961. For some years other Sisters of Saint Joseph Provinces in the United States including Los Angeles, Saint Louis, Saint Paul, and Latham, New York, had sent sisters to help staff the various institutions in the Augusta Province. Mount Saint Joseph Academy merged with Boys Catholic School on November 5, 1957 when Bishop Gerald O'Hara dedicated a new school named Aquinas High School on Highland Avenue. Six Marist Brothers taught the boys while six Sisters of Saint Joseph taught the girls. The first sisters at Aquinas were Sisters Marie Cecile Bennett, Bernardine Torley, Carmelita Dowling, Marie Celine Gorman, Victoria Marie Ogilvie, and Mary Bernard Schweers. Mount Saint Joseph on Monte Sano Avenue continued as an elementary school until its sale to Saint Mary's on-the-Hill Parish located on the 1400 block of Monte Sano Avenue in 1960. The last elementary class of Mount Saint Joseph graduated in June 1960, and by 1961 Saint Mary's on-the-Hill Catholic School was operating at 1218-20 Monte Sano Avenue, the previous location of the high school of Mount Saint Joseph (the corner of Monte Sano and Helen). The new building that housed Saint Mary's School opened in the fall of 1960 and was staffed by seven Sisters of Saint Joseph and lay teachers.
"The Superior General of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet in Saint Louis, Mother Eucharista Galvin, wrote to Bishop Thomas McDonough on March 2, 1961, to inform him that Rome had authorized the merging of the provinces and had set September 1, 1961 as the official date for the transfer. She assured the Bishop that the merging was for the benefit of the Sisters and their apostolate in the Diocese of Savannah. Later the same year, a week before the transfer, the last Superior of the Augusta Province, Sister Eulalia Murray, informed Bishop McDonough on particulars of the transfer...
"The Sisters of Saint Joseph have left an indelible mark in the Catholic educational system of Augusta. Their journey of dedication to provide quality Catholic education to Augusta's children lives on through Saint Mary's Elementary School and Aquinas High School. The 1200 block of Monte Sano Avenue may no longer house the once beautiful and picturesque campus of Mount Saint Joseph and the Sisters' of Saint Joseph Convent, but the efforts of these pious and hardworking women live on today in the many lives they touched and in those who continue to study on this block of Augusta."
From "A Journey of Dedication through Education: Sisters of Saint Joseph in Augusta, Georgia" by Pablo Manuel Migone, June, 2005
"Despite the growth and success of the Augusta Province, the lack of vocations resulted in the merging of the Province with the Saint Louis Province in 1961. For some years other Sisters of Saint Joseph Provinces in the United States including Los Angeles, Saint Louis, Saint Paul, and Latham, New York, had sent sisters to help staff the various institutions in the Augusta Province. Mount Saint Joseph Academy merged with Boys Catholic School on November 5, 1957 when Bishop Gerald O'Hara dedicated a new school named Aquinas High School on Highland Avenue. Six Marist Brothers taught the boys while six Sisters of Saint Joseph taught the girls. The first sisters at Aquinas were Sisters Marie Cecile Bennett, Bernardine Torley, Carmelita Dowling, Marie Celine Gorman, Victoria Marie Ogilvie, and Mary Bernard Schweers. Mount Saint Joseph on Monte Sano Avenue continued as an elementary school until its sale to Saint Mary's on-the-Hill Parish located on the 1400 block of Monte Sano Avenue in 1960. The last elementary class of Mount Saint Joseph graduated in June 1960, and by 1961 Saint Mary's on-the-Hill Catholic School was operating at 1218-20 Monte Sano Avenue, the previous location of the high school of Mount Saint Joseph (the corner of Monte Sano and Helen). The new building that housed Saint Mary's School opened in the fall of 1960 and was staffed by seven Sisters of Saint Joseph and lay teachers.
"The Superior General of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet in Saint Louis, Mother Eucharista Galvin, wrote to Bishop Thomas McDonough on March 2, 1961, to inform him that Rome had authorized the merging of the provinces and had set September 1, 1961 as the official date for the transfer. She assured the Bishop that the merging was for the benefit of the Sisters and their apostolate in the Diocese of Savannah. Later the same year, a week before the transfer, the last Superior of the Augusta Province, Sister Eulalia Murray, informed Bishop McDonough on particulars of the transfer...
"The Sisters of Saint Joseph have left an indelible mark in the Catholic educational system of Augusta. Their journey of dedication to provide quality Catholic education to Augusta's children lives on through Saint Mary's Elementary School and Aquinas High School. The 1200 block of Monte Sano Avenue may no longer house the once beautiful and picturesque campus of Mount Saint Joseph and the Sisters' of Saint Joseph Convent, but the efforts of these pious and hardworking women live on today in the many lives they touched and in those who continue to study on this block of Augusta."
From "A Journey of Dedication through Education: Sisters of Saint Joseph in Augusta, Georgia" by Pablo Manuel Migone, June, 2005
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