Jewels from Jane, January 7, 1867

Kanzas City, Mo Jan. 7th, 1867

Mother Agatha [Guthrie],

Madame,

I presume Mother Francis [Joseph Ivory] told you all about our educational prospects in Kanzas City, especially about our Grand Festival by which, I think, 1,500 dollars will be realised. The only partial difficulty on the part of the people, that I dread, will arise on account of the rigid enforcement of a Rule excluding boys of twelve years and upwards from the boys school. I apprehend this difficulty for the following reasons. The members of my congregation have contributed some $15,000 to the convent building with the hope that their children would there find a catholic education. The Sisters have now about 150 parochial children at one dollar per month some 75 are boys, eight of whom are aged from 12 to 14 years. Now, Mother Francis informs me that all the boys from 12 upwards must be dismissed. That is, dismissed already out of the building which their liberality has just completed, and for no other cause but for the misfortune of being 12 years of age. Mother Francis gives me as a reason, that they apprehend trouble in governing or correcting these larger boys. The sisters inform me that these very boys have given no trouble yet, on the contrary, that they are quiet innocent children. So say the Sisters. My own experience enables me to say that I found boys of 14 less troublesome by far than boys of 8 or 10 years of age. What makes the matter worse for us just now is the fact that we have neither teacher nor schoolhouse for these boys. I had, until lately a catholic teacher but the high rent of schoolhouse and difficult times caused him to discontinue. I have now no other chance for them but the convent school if they be excluded from that, then they will run wild about the streets, -- it will be impossible to get them to church on Sundays or to attend at catechism etc. This I am very sure will be the consequence. The parents will express their indignation in the presence of the children, everyone will say that they have been disappointed etc. etc.

I felt so trouble-minded over the announcement that I concluded to address you, -- requesting you to authorise the Mother here to suspend this Rule, for a time at least, and give me the time of next Summer to provide for the larger boys. If this request be not granted, then, I fear, my hopes regarding the first communion and other religious practices of these children will be sadly disappointed.

Please send me a reply as soon as possible. -- I have begged the sisters not to dismiss anymore until I will have heard from you.

Most respectfully yours etc.,

Bernard Donnelly

Parish children were taught at St. Teresa's Academy at this time.

It was written in the Custom book of this time that the Sisters were not allowed to teach older boys.

Mother Agatha Guthrie was assistant to Mother St. John Facemaz.

Jane Behlmann, csj
Province Archivist
Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet
6400 Minnesota Avenue
St. Louis, Missouri 63111-2899
Phone: 314-678-0320
FAX: 314-481-2366
email: jbehlmann@csjsl.org

Jewels from Jane, Oct. 31

St. Joseph Male Orphan Asylum
October 31st 1880 (?)
St. Louis, Mo.

Dear Rev. Mother Agatha [Guthrie],

This is just a mere sketch of what I would like to relate to you about the past years of my religious life.
Sr. M. Aloysius [Fitzsimmons]

"Sister M. Aloysius Fitzsimmons was received by Rev. Mother Celestine [Pommerel] in the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Carondelet, Mo. in the first branch of the order in America, March 17th, 1839. The same year July 2nd received the Holy Habit of the order from Rev. Father Ven Bon in the humble log house where I spent so many happy days. My companion, Mary Kelley [Nally?], in religion Sr. M. Francis. There were with me in the novitiate Sr. Mary Joseph Dillon, Sr. Antoinette [Kincaid], Sr. Adel...

"Mother St. John [Founier] was the first superioress in St. Louis, she had charge of the colored school [opened Feb. 5, 1845 on Third and Poplar Streets]. The sisters that were there were Sr. M. Protia [St. Protais Deboille], Sr. M. Joseph, Sr. M. Antoinette, Sr. Teresa [Struckhoff], & Sr. Aloysius had her turn there, we then got the asylum & was paid by the Archbishop. After 4 years hard work, Mother St. John went to Philadelpia."


Handwritten note in Motherhouse file

Jewels from Jane, Oct. 13

Mother St. John Facemaz died at seven p.m. on the thirteenth day of October, 1900 at our Mother House, Carondelet, in the seventy-fifth year of her age and the fifty-sixth of her religious life.

Born of, and brought up by pious and thoroughly Christian parents, her whole life was stamped with that strong and enlightened faith which is the heritage of the Saints. From her earliest years her aspirations were for the religious life. To the ordinary sacrifices made by a religious on quitting the world, in order to become the Spouse of Jesus Christ, Mother St. John felt called to add another, perhaps even greater - that of leaving the cradle of her religious life in France and placing the great ocean between herself and those near and dear to her, in obedience to a strong attraction she had for a missionary life.

This, she hoped might be realized, when in 1818, shortly after her profession, the first colony of Sisters of St. Joseph set out from Annecy to Visagapatan in the East Indies. Most fervent prayers were offered for the accomplishment of God's will in this respect. The realization of this her most ardent desire, seemed almost within her grasp, when in 1854, Mother St. John Croissat, then Superioress General of the Congregation of Chambery, resigned her charge to follow the urgent appeal coming from Visagapatan in India. Those sent in 1848 failed to reach there, having been prevailed upon by the French settlements in another province of that vast empire, to remain among them. The Community was looking for recruits and our dear Mother St. John had strong hopes of being one of the chosen companions of this devoted religious. The Lord, however, had other plans in her regard, for toward the end of the year 1854, she, with three other sisters was sent to the aid of the American missions which were then multiplying in all directions.

A few months after her arrival she was chosen to fill the office of Mistress of novices at the Mother house, and on the death of our dear and much-lamented Mother Celestine, Mother St. John was appointed to succeed her.

For fifteen years, during which our dear Mother guarded with zealous care the cherished interests and devotedly guided the destinies of St. Joseph's children, the Congregation of Carondelet had abundant opportunities to be edified by her many virtues, especially by her devotedness, her spirit of obedience, prayer and her zeal for religious discipline. More edifying still, was the touching example of her humility, obedience, charity, and her reverence for Superiors, after she had laid down the burden of authority and retired to the rank of a simple religious.

It pleased our Lord to employ Mother St. John as His faithful instrument to push forward and to see realized the long-formed and ardently-desired project of obtaining the approbation of St. Joseph's Institute and Constitutions from the Holy See. Three times she journeyed to Rome for this object; the last time, when she went as companion with Reverend Mother [Agatha Guthrie], she saw all past efforts crowned with final success.

God alone, the recompence of all sacrifices, and the generous rewarder of every good deed, will know how to repay her faithful labors in behalf of the Congregation, which owes her an eternal debt of gratitude.

As gold is refined in the fire so was our dear Mother tried and purified in the crucible of suffering, especially during the last five years of her life, all of which she bore with admirable patience, humility and fortitude.

Fortified by the last sacraments, and repeatedly favored with the blessings of Holy Church, she sweetly passed to her reward.

from the Necrology

Attached you will find a prayer service which may be used to celebrate Mother St. John's death anniversary. It was written by Carol Campbell, CSJA, a member of the Celebrating Our Heritage Committee.

Jewels from Jane, Oct. 15

"The last important work undertaken by Reverend Mother Agatha [Guthrie] was the erection of Holy Family Chapel in Carondelet, the corner stone of which was laid on October 15, 1897, by Archbishop Kain of St. Louis. To the building and furnishing of this, she devoted the closing years of her life. The chapel is late Romanesque in style, the lofty arches of the ceiling supported on ornate Corinthian columns. An ambulatory runs around three sides of the clerestory, beneath which, as a unique feature, are the Stations of the Cross in round medalions, forming part of the decorative scheme. In the sanctuary are three marble altars, the main one being the gift of Mary Gillick of St. Louis, mother of the architect [Aloysius F. Gillick]. A marble altar rail, presented by Mrs. Louise Sauer, encloses the transepts [ only sections of the altar rail were kept since the renovations], the north one of which is the Martyrs' Chapel. [The Martyrs' Altar is not made of marble but of wood carved by Joseph Litteneker, brother of the three Litteneker Sisters - Mary Julia, Mary Lidwina, Mary Mechtilda] In the south transept is a memorial altar in black and white marble, above which is a sculptured panel representing the death of Saint Joseph. This and the statues of the Apostles set around the walls of the ground story [no longer there] and the Holy Family Group over the main altar, were done by Joseph Sibbel of New York. [He sculpted the statue of St. Patrick in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.] Bishop Eis of Marquette was the donor of a fine pipe organ, and many other friends of the Congregation deemed it a privilege to contribute to the noble edifice, a monument to Reverend Mother Agatha's zeal for the beauty of God's House. She had, herself, saved for years gold ornaments and jewelry, given up to her by different Sisters at their entrance into the novitiate; and this was utilized in the making of a chalice, an exquisite bit of workmanship, which, a little larger than ordinary size, contains four hundred and fifty pennyweight of pure gold, and is set with opals, amethysts, topazes and diamonds. Three months of continuous work on the part of engravers produced beautiful designs, symbolic wheat and grapes in green and gold, and initials outlined with gems.

"In Holy Family Chapel was celebrated the golden jubilee of Reverend Mother's profession. The fiftieth anniversary of that event fell on October 15, 1902; but the humble Superior-General, in order to avoid any demonstration in her honor, such as she knew the Sisters were preparing to make, quietly left the Mother House in the early fall of 1902 for an extended visitation of the province. On her return in February, 1903, the postponed celebration took place..."

From Sister Lucida Savage's book THE CONGREGATION OF ST. JOSEPH OF CARONDELET

Jewels from Jane, June 1

"A writ by which the Sisterhood of St. Joseph of Carondelet is engaged to keep in perpetuity, a free Parochial School for girls and boys in the Catholic Congregation of the Ste. Genevieve City and County of Ste. Genevieve, State of Missouri. This first of June in the Year of Our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in the County of St. Louis, State of Missouri, in consideration of the sum of seven thousand five hundred dollars, paid to that purpose by Felix Valli, Esq., for the benefit of St. Francis de Sales Academy, of Ste. Genevieve, promise to furnish annually for all coming years three able teachers for the parochial schools of the Catholic Congregation, worshipping in the Church dedicated to Ste. Genevieve in the City and County of Ste. Genevieve, State of Missouri, viz: two Sisters for the girls' parochial school, and one Sister for the boys' under twelve years of age.

"The Sisters of the aforesaid Academy, taking charge of the little repairs of the school house of the girls and furnishing the fuel and other necessaries for the same on consideration of the sum of twenty-five cents to be paid monthly by each pupil, except those who may be exempted by the Pastor of the Church, and the Church repairing and furnishing everything necessary for the boys' school.

"In faith whereof we have set our signature to this document

Philomena Guthrie, Sister Agatha
Kate Barry, Sister Baptista, Secretary.

Signed and sealed on this day, August 13, 1874"

December 1878
Mrs. Felix Valle donated to the Mother House for a chapel at Nazareth, the sum of two thousand dollars on condition that they gave a second Sister for the boys' school.

Legal document from Ste. Genevieve file

Jewels from Jane, May16

May 16, 1877

The first American-born Carondelet superior, Mother Agatha Guthrie, received the Degree of Final Approbation of the Constitutions dated May 16, 1877.

Jewels from Jane, April 21

Thursday, April 21, 1870 On to Omaha

"We were kindly welcomed by our good Sisters, and had the pleasure of meeting there [in Kansas City] Mother Agatha [Guthrie], who had been sick, but was better then. We spent the day quite pleasantly. It again became our duty to say goodbye; but we were much encouraged on hearing that Rev. Mother St. John [Facemaz] had concluded to accompany us as far as Omaha, Nebraska. We took the cars at 7:00 p.m. and were comfortably seated, as the cars were new and clean, and but moderately filled. We changed cars during the night -- it was, indeed, a change in every respect, as the cars were filled with emigrants, crying children, etc. To conclude from the offensive atmosphere in the cars, they must have had any amount of spoiled chickens, eggs, cigars, etc. In this motley crowd we spent the remainder of our second night."

From Sister Monica Corrigan's diary - "Trek of the Seven Sisters"

Jewels from Jane, Mar.24

St. Louis Globe Democrat, Thursday, March 24, 1898

FAIR DAUGHTERS OF ERIN

"This afternoon, at St. Joseph's Convent in Carondelet, the forty-five young ladies who came to America from Ireland under the guidance of Sister Mary Paul [McHenry] will be formally received by the order, Sisters of St. Joseph. Although they have been in St. Louis nearly two weeks, they have not been formally acknowledged except as aspirants, as the order is very particular about the dates of reception and the formalities relating to connection with the order. These are a part of the fifty-eight young ladies, most of them from the leading and wealthy families of Ireland, who foreswore a life of ease in their native land in February to come to America. They arrived in St. Louis on the 12th day of this month, and were installed in the St. Joseph Convent, at Kansas Street and Minnesota Avenue. Although the young ladies have been in the city nearly two weeks, it was not until yesterday that they were seen by a newspaper reporter and a correct account of their journey from their native land secured. The privilege was granted through the courtesy of Mother Agatha [Guthrie], in charge of the convent. Sister Mary Paul, who secured the young ladies and brought them to this country, supplied the details of her trip abroad.

"An erroneous impression seems to prevail as to the young ladies. They are neither orphans, nor are they the daughters of Irish peasants. On the contrary, they are young women who have renounced the pleasures of life in the upper classes of Ireland, and decided to assume the duties of the religious order with the consent of their parents and guardians. Each of them defrayed her own expenses on the trip, and several of them have private fortunes in their own right, which would make it possible for them to live lives of luxury and ease had they not preferred the work of the religious order.

"As long ago as last June the mother superior at Carondelet, who is the head of the Order of the Sisters of St. Joseph in America, decided to send abroad for recruits for the order. She selected for the duty Sister Mary Paul and Sister John Baptiste, the former of the mother house in Carondelet and the latter from the convent in Troy, N.Y. Sister Mary Paul, whose name was McHenry in the world, had been abroad a dozen times or more, and had traveled all over Europe and Asia. Sister John Baptiste is a native of Ireland, with numerous friends and relatives there. They received the necessary credentials and instructions from the mother superior last August and started abroad immediately. Reaching Ireland they established headquarters in a convent at Cloughjordan, County of Tipperary, and commenced their work immediately. The two visited Dublin, Cork, Limerick, County Clare, Kilkenny, Waterford, Cavan, Monaghan, Lietim and scores of other places. At each place they visited they were received by the clergy and in the convents established by the church. To these people they made the object of their visit known, and it was soon noised about the parishes. Many there were among the young girls in the parish who had already decided to enter a religious order, and this offered them an opportunity of finding a field of usefulness in a new land and one for which their sacrifices would be but the greater. Some of these quickly embraced the opportunity. To other young women the idea was an entirely new one but accepted none the less eagerly. The first tours of the country were made by the sisters in September and October, and the young women were given the months following in which to decide upon taking the step which would mean so much to them. There was considerable correspondence and the sisters from America told and retold the story of the order and its work in this country.

"Sister Mary Paul, in summing up her trip abroad, said: 'I was most royally received every place I went in Ireland. It was hard for me to come away. Both on the steamship and railroad we were given the utmost consideration. The press, both abroad and in this country, treated us well until we reached St. Louis. Here the Terminal people kept our trunks over one night for us and charged $12.00 for the service, which seemed to me without precedent. The papers also mentioned the young ladies as arriving with tin pans and tin plates tied to their luggage, an intimation that they must have traveled in the steerage on shipboard and that they rode in tourist coaches. I am glad of an opportunity to correct such an impression, as the excellent and cultured families from which the young ladies come would be greatly surprised at seeing such statements in the press,'

"A tour of the convent under the guidance of Sister Mary Paul confirmed all she had said about the young ladies. Their appearance as they attended to the various duties which had been allotted to them indicated that they were from homes of culture and refinement. They ranged in age from 16 to 22 years. Their faces are nearly all bronzed from their sea voyage. Sister Mary Paul refrained from telling anything of individuals, but some there were among the girls who in America would be accounted heiresses.

"Few people, particularly Protestants, realize just what the convent life is upon which the young ladies have entered. A very general belief is that a convent is a place where women bury themselves alive, move about with constantly clasped hands and uplifted eyes, sleep upon a board, and subsist upon a diet of bread and water. Nothing could be further from the truth. Take the modern girl's boarding school and add to their regular duties more extended religious services and you have the true life at St. Joseph's Convent in Carondelet. Young ladies are instructed in music, painting, drawing, elocution and literature and the languages. In St. Joseph's Academy, which is attached to the convent, there are fifty-seven young women from every state from Arizona to North Carolina. Their instruction is from the Sisters of St. Joseph, and is very similar to that which is to be given to the young ladies from Ireland, except that the latter will be taught to be teachers. The convent is not a solemn, silent, forbidding place, but is the abode of good humor, and the high spirits of youth are only tempered by the teachings of religion and the example of gentle, sweet-faced women in religious garb. Yesterday morning, while the reporter was in the institution, six pianos were being thumped and pounded by six pairs of enthusiastic young hands, two or three violins were playing, and once in a while the tones of a harp could be heard during a lull in the harmonious tumult of 'practice hour.' Just at noon the chimes in the tower which rises in the center of the court sounded. A moment later a score of young girls filed out of the main entrance to the academy, and were soon playing and running in the snow.

"There was nothing of disapproval in the face of the sister who had them in charge, but she smiled indulgently at their pranks.

"Until today the girls from Ireland have been classed as 'aspirants.' This afternoon when they are accepted by the order and enter the novitiate they become postulants. Then, at the expiration of six or eight months, they assume the black veil and short black cape, and become novices. Two years later they take their first vows, and five years afterward their final vows, which bind them to the life. They are called professed nuns after the first two and one-half years. It can be seen by this that each of the young women will go through seven and one-half years of preparatory work before becoming a fully accepted member of the order of the Sisters of St. Joseph. At any time during this period they may leave the convent, as there is nothing to bind them to it. Either Archbishop Kain or Mother Agatha may grant them the permission on their request. Never but once, however, has one of the novices chosen to leave the order. The large, airy parlors, with their polished floors and bright-colored mats and upholstery; the big music rooms, with their pianos, harps, and violins; the library, with its hundreds of volumes, make pleasant surroundings for all. The sweet face, mild manner, rare conversational powers, keen appreciation of wit and repartee of Sister Mary Paul indicate rare qualities in the companions and tutors which the children find in the Order of Sisters of St. Joseph."

Jewels from Jane, February 24

The S.S. Pennland sailed from Cobh February 24, 1898 and landed in Philadelphia after a stormy voyage.

“The ship struck an iceberg near the banks of Newfoundland. It was that beautiful hymn the Sisters sang for us saved us from a watery grave, ‘Ave Maris Stella’.

"Greeted at the Mother House March 10, 1898 by Rev. Mother Agatha [Guthrie] and dear Community. Very happy to be on solid ground after a long journey (11 days) at sea. Although very seasick we raised our spirits and joined in singing hymns, music and other amusements especially some Irish airs floating back to those enchanted hills and vales.

"March 17, we were given the privilege to sing St. Patrick's hymn in the gallery during Mass; it must have distracted those on retreat who were not accustomed to Irish melodies. For the next 6 months or more we resided at the boarders' side, especially the library. Sister Agnes Gonzaga and Sister Augusta (White) took good care of us, until we were admitted to the postulate. We were divided into 3 groups.

"No. of girls that came to St. Louis (44) & (10) stayed in the East. [These 10 went to Troy, NY] No. left - 8.

"Sister Mary Paul McHenry, CSJ & Sister Mary Baptista [Troy Province] were the (2) Sisters from the East that brought us across the blue waters of the Atlantic."

From a handwritten account by Sister M. Dositheus Cahill, one of the young ladies who arrived in 1898 from Ireland.

For those who can open attachments there is a picture of the Pennland and the young Irish ladies on the voyage. Among them is Sister M. Killian Corbett, Superior General from 1948-1954 (second one in the second row from the top)