Jewels from Jane, Sept. 6

St. Stephen's Church

Chicago Sept. 6th 1871

Dear Mother Superior [Mother St. John Facemaz]

I presume that Mother Joseph has acquainted you with the subject of this letter. I would like, if it were possible, to get two more sisters for my school. The school in point of numbers, has surpassed my most sanguine expectations. I never imagined that I would have such an attendance at a parochial school. Although there are primary and branch public schools in my parish, with a capacity of seating twenty two hundred boys and girls, still I have nearly five hundred boys and girls. Such is the popularity of the school that I will be compelled to announce next Sunday the impossibility of receiving any more children, on account of the smallness of my school-rooms. When you consider the number of children in my school, you will perceive the necessity of having additional assistance in teaching. Where teachers are overtaxed, and children are neglected, there is always a dissatisfaction among parents, many of whom suppose that Sisters are possessed of supernatural strength.

I have incurred great expense in order that the school should be a success, and I know you can appreciate the interest I feel in its welfare. The sisters I endeavour to make as comfortable as possible, having procurred for their accommodation a splendid carriage, which takes them from and to the Asylum daily. It is my intention, should the school prove favorable, to locate the sisters in my parish, providing them with a convent suitable for their wants. This I will endeavour to accomplish, with God's assistance before the lapse of a year. Dear Mother, allow me to supplicate you in the name of our Holy mother, Mary, to send me two Sisters in order that the good work already commenced may be carried to a happy completion. Allow me to use a very commonplace expression, "There is nothing like striking the iron while it is hot."

Hoping that your answer will be favorable, I remain,

Yours Sincerely in Christ and Our Holy Mother Mary,

S. M. Barrett
Pastor St. Stephen's Church

N.B. I forgot to mention that I have three Protestant children attending my school, whose parents urgently solicited me to accept them. If Protestants are anxious to send their children in the beginning, what may we expect as the school progresses?

I cheerfully endorse and recommend the petition of Father Barret. I sincerely hope you may be able to furnish him with the Sisters of your Community,
Thomas Foley
Bishop of Chicago

St. Stephen's in Chicago, opened in 1871. The convent opened in 1872 and closed in 1910.