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Alice Lalor ~ Mother Teresa 1766 ~ 1846
The Founding of the Georgetown
Convent, the Oldest School for Girls in America
The foundress of the Georgetown Convent,
Georgetown, D. C, the first Visitation house in America, was
Miss Alice Lalor, known later in religion as Mother Teresa. She
was born in Queen's County, Ireland, but her parents removed to
Kilkenny where her childhood and early youth were spent. Her
tender piety and bright and charitable character won the
affection and regard of everyone around her, and especially of
her pastor. Father Carroll. When at the age of seventeen she
received the sacrament of confirmation from Bishop Lanigan, he
was attracted also by her modesty, and having, instituted with
Father Carroll a confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament at
Kilkenny, he named Alice Lalor as its first president or
prefect. She soon resolved to consecrate herself to God, and was
permitted to make the vow of virginity, although complete
renunciation of the world could not be made because there was no
convent in the neighborhood.
One of Alice Lalor's sisters married an
American merchant, Mr. Doran, who was desirous that his wife
should have the companionship of Alice in her new transatlantic
home for a while. Alice, now thirty-one years of age, agreed to
go with them, but promised Bishop Lanigan that she would return
in two years to aid in forming the religious community so long
contemplated. She sailed from Ireland with her sister in the
winter of 1794. Among the passengers on the sailing vessel were
Mrs. McDermott and Mrs. Sharpe, both widows. During the long
voyage, they formed an intimate friendship with Alice and
expressed the desire which they had long felt to enter the
cloistered life and agreed that when they landed they would go
to confession and communion and take the priest, whom so ever
might be their confessor, as their spiritual director. They
landed in Philadelphia, and the priest whom they found and
accepted as their director was, happily, Father Neale. These
three devout women brought so unexpectedly to his feet from
beyond the sea were the women destined to co-operate with him in
founding the community of his vision which he had never ceased
to hope that he might realize.
Although Alice Lalor felt bound by her
promise to return to Ireland, Father Neale saw the greater
service she could render to religion in America and offered to
release her from her promise to return to her native land. Miss
Lalor, Mrs. McDermott and Mrs. Sharpe settled in Philadelphia,
hired a house and lived in community. Mrs. Sharpe had her
daughter with her, a child of eight years. Suddenly the yellow
fever broke out and Father Neale narrowly escaped death. Alice
Lalor and her companions remained persistently in the path of
danger, ministering to the pest-stricken people. In the winter
of 1798-99, Father Neale was ordered to Georgetown as president
of the Jesuit College. He sent for the three devoted religious
converts and domiciled them for a time with three Poor Clares,
who being driven from France to this country by the Revolution
of 1793 had set up a little convent not far from the college.
The Poor Clares attempted to keep a school as a means of
support, but their poverty was so extreme and their life so
rigorous that not many scholars applied. These women, poor and
barefooted according to their rules, came of noble blood and had
been born and reared to luxury. Alice Lalor and her two friends
boarded and taught in this convent, but it soon became apparent
that the austere rule of St Clare differed widely from that they
wished to adopt, and was uncongenial to the times and needs of
the locality. Father Neale, therefore, bought a house and land
nearby and installed them in it. Thus was begun by these three
ladies an establishment and school which has become famous in
America and from which many of her most noted women have
graduated. In 1800 Father Neale was consecrated Coadjutor to
Archbishop Carroll and continued as president of the Georgetown
College. It is not known when Bishop Neale decided to place
these devoted women under visitation rules.
This little group increased to five
members all of whom were known round about as "The Pious Ladies'
their only appellation for many years. Mrs. Sharpe who was known
as Sister Ignatia, their principal teacher, after a sudden
illness died. In 1804 the Poor Clares returned to France, and
Mother Teresa (Alice Lalor) was able to buy the house and land
which the Poor Clares had occupied. In 1808, Bishop Neale's term
as president of the college ended and he took a dwelling close
to the convent, which made it possible for him to supervise
closely these new daughters of a still unformed community, whom
he was endeavoring to train for a monastic life. It is said that
in 1812 their buildings were in a state of total disrepair, the
monastery a forlorn-looking house containing six rooms, and in
1811, it is said, Sister Margaret Marshall "succeeded by her
energy and the toil of her own hands in lathing and plastering
the assembly room." There remains scarcely a vestige of these
primitive structures today. For a while this was the only
Catholic institution of the kind in the United States where the
daughters of Catholics might become well-grounded in the
principles of their religion. The first nine years only four
members joined "The Pious Ladies," these were: Sister Aloysia
Neale, Sister Stanislaus Fenwick, and Sister Magdalene Neale,
and a lay sister, Mary. In 1808 Miss Catherine Ann Ridgen joined
the order and was chosen as Mother Teresa's successor. The
mother house at Annecy had been suppressed during the French
Revolution, and was not restored until 1822. The other houses in
Europe were unwilling to send a copy of the constitutions to
Georgetown, because this community had not been founded in the
usual way by professed members of the order. The whole
undertaking, in short, was looked upon as irregular, and it was
believed that Rome would never approve of Bishop Neale's little
community. Although schools were opened by Mrs. Seton in
Baltimore and one at Emmitsburg Bishop Neale would not consent
to abandon his scheme. A rich lady living in Baltimore, who had
been educated with the Ursuline nuns in Ireland, heard of the
embarrassments at Georgetown, and offered her means and
influence to the Archbishop for the benefit of "The Pious
Ladies," if they would consent to transform their house into an
Ursuline convent. These plans were laid before Bishop Neale, who
politely and respectfully thanked this generous and excellent
lady for her liberality, but stated he would never consent to
the proposed change. The Archbishop, seeing how invincible was
Bishop Neale's purpose to continue on the lines he had already
laid down, told the good Bishop that he would give him power to
do what he could, but he must expect no help from him. One day
in examining the books which they found in the little library
purchased from the Poor Clares, they found on the title page of
one of the books the name of St. Francis de Sales and the word
"Visitation." This volume, on examination, proved to contain the
rules of the Visitation Order, which they had sought so long and
so ardently prayed for. This is believed to have been in about
1809 or 1810, or perhaps a little later. And now, having the
rules of the Order, they had but to decide upon their dress.
Bishop Neale decided to let them wear the Teresian costume, and
wrote to his brother Charles, at Port Tobacco to send him a
model of it from the convent there, a large doll, fully dressed
in the habit of the Order, was forwarded to the Bishop.
This convent at Port Tobacco was a
Carmelite house, so while the costume adopted provisionally at
this time was Carmelite, it was changed by the Bishop; the white
bandeau of the Teresian Carmelites was replaced with the black,
and in this respect, at least, the Georgetown sisters were able
to conform to Visitation requirements. Having gained this much,
the Bishop, undismayed by those doubts and tremors which beset
even some of his loyal co-workers, resolved to admit the sisters
to simple vows. This was done on the feast of St. Francis de
Sales, January 29, 1814. The secluded life of this community,
with its constant, patient, obscure struggles and peaceful joys,
was threatened with destruction by the war of 1812 and in 1814,
when a formidable movement was begun against the Capital city by
Cockburn and General Ross, and the battle of Bladensburg was
fought.
The sisters were greatly alarmed by the
rapid advance of the enemy and the burning of the Capitol, which
they witnessed from the upper windows of their monastery. They,
however, were spared. In 1815 Archbishop Carrol died at the age
of eighty years, and Bishop Neale succeeded him in his high
office, becoming the Archbishop of Baltimore. The Archbishop
received authority for the admission of his beloved sisters to
solemn vows, and the date he fixed upon was the Feast of Holy
Innocents, December 28, which was the one hundred and
ninety-fourth anniversary of the death of St. Francis de Sales.
The three who were chosen for admission first were the oldest
members, Alice Lalor, Mrs. McDermott, and Henrietta Brent, who
were known, the first as Sister Teresa, Sister Frances, and
Sister Agnes, Sister Teresa (Alice Lalor) was appointed
Superior; Sister Frances (Mrs. McDermott), the second assistant,
and Sister Agnes (Henrietta Brent) Mistress of Novices.
Bishop Neale said in establishing the
school that it was founded "to teach the female youth of
America," and truly did he prophecy and plan, for hither came
the best of the "female youth of America" for many years, and
to-day some of our most distinguished women claim the Georgetown
Convent of Visitation as their Alma Mater.
In the period just before the war-days,
there came to the academy the two daughters of Senator Ewing, of
Ohio (the first secretary of the Department of the Interior).
One of them, Ellen Ewing, afterwards married General William
Tecumseh Sherman. Here also was educated Harriet Lane Johnston,
niece of President Buchanan, who gained social distinction at
the Court of St. James while her uncle was United States
Minister there, and afterwards gracefully conducted for him the
social functions of the executive mansion, as one of the most
charming in all the line of "ladies of the White House." Another
graduate, famous for her exceptional beauty, as well as for her
social leadership in Washington, was Adelaide Cutts, who married
Stephen A. Douglas, the brilliant rival of Abraham Lincoln for
presidential honors. Mrs. Douglas long after her first husband's
death, became the wife of General Robert Williams, United States
Army.
General Joseph E. Johnston, eminent
afterwards among Confederate military chieftains, found his wife
in a Visitation graduate. Miss McLain, a daughter of Secretary
McLain. Another pupil, Teresa Doyle, married Senator Casserly;
and Miss Deslonde, of Louisiana, who studied here, became Mrs.
General Beauregard. The following account of the students of the
institution is compiled from "A Story of Courage; Annals of the
Georgetown Convent of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin
Mary.'
"Among others who graduated before the
war were Marion Ramsay, who became Mrs. Cutting, of New York;
the daughters of Judge Gaston, of North Carolina; the daughters
of Commodore Rogers; Eliza and Isabella Walsh, the daughters of
the United States Minister to Spain; Minnie Meade, a sister of
General Meade, who became the wife of General Hartman Bache,
United States Army; Albina Montholon, daughter of the French
Minister and granddaughter of General Gratiot, United States
Army; Kate Duncan, of Alabama, who married Dr. Emmet, of New
York; the daughters of Commodore Cassin; the Bronaugh sisters,
one of whom married Admiral Taylor; the Carroll sisters, one of
whom became the Baroness Esterhazy, of Austria; the daughters of
Senator Stephen Mallory, of Florida; the daughter of Senator
Nicholson, of Tennessee, afterwards Mrs. Martin, who became
principal of a leading seminary in the South; Katie Irving, a
grandniece of Washington Irving; the daughters of Major
Turnbull; Mary Maguire, who became the wife of General Eugene
Carr. Of the daughters of Mrs. Bass, of Mississippi, afterwards
wife of the Italian Minister, Bertinatti, one married a foreign
noble-man. Madeleine Vinton became the wife of Admiral Dahlgren;
Emily Warren became Mrs. Roebling, the wife of the builder of
the Brooklyn bridge, who herself completed the great work when
her husband had been stricken with illness. Nancy Lucas, who
married Doctor Johnson, of St. Louis, sent five daughters to the
convent, as did also Major Turner. General Frost sent five
representatives, one of whom married Philip Beresford Hope, son
of the distinguished member of Parliament. Adele Sarpy, who
became Mrs. Don Morrison, a pupil herself, later on sent her
three daughters. Ellen Sherman Thackara and Rachel Sherman
Thorndyke, daughters of General Sherman, followed in their
mother's footsteps at Georgetown. Myra Knox became Mrs. Thomas
J. Semmes, of New Orleans. Ada Semmes, who married Richard
Clarke, the historian, with her sisters, one of whom was Mrs.
Ives were also pupils here.
Among other leading Southern families
represented at the school at this time were the Floyds of
Virginia and the Stephenses of Georgia.
"Of those who have graduated since the
war are: Bertha and Ida Honore; the former Mrs. Potter Palmer,
who was brought prominently before the country as the president
of the Board of Lady Managers of the World's Columbian
Exposition. Her sister became the wife of General Frederick D.
Grant, formerly United States Minister to Austria, now a general
in the United States Army. Blanche Butler, the daughter of
General Benjamin F. Butler, became the wife of Governor Ames, of
Mississippi, and Mary Goodell married Governor Grant, of
Colorado. Harriet Monroe, of Chicago, who wrote the ode for the
Columbian World's Fair, graduated in 1879, having for her
classmates Adele Morrison, of St. Louis, now Mrs. Albert T.
Kelly of New York; Ella Whitthorne, of Tennessee, now Mrs.
Alexander Harvey, of Baltimore, and Miss Newcomer, of Baltimore
who, as Mrs. H. B. Gilpin, annually presents a medal for music
to the school. Mary Saunders, the daughter of ex-Senator
Saunders, of Nebraska, as the wife of Russell Harrison, the
ex-President's son, graced the White House by her presence
during Benjamin Harrison's administration. Mary Logan Tucker,
the daughter of the soldier and states-man. General John A.
Logan, now wields as a journalist a pen as trenchant as was her
father's sword.
"The portraits of Emma Etheridge, of
Tennessee, the daughter of Honorable Emerson Etheridge, and
Josephine Dickson, of Missouri, which adorn the walls of the
convent parlor, are those of two young ladies noted for their
beauty. The former is now Mrs. John V. Moran, of Detroit, and
the latter Mrs. Julius Walsh, of St. Louis; Estelle Dickson
studied art in Paris.
"Among other pupils were Pearl Tyler,
daughter of President Tyler; Gertrude and Jessie Alcorn, the
daughters of Senator Alcorn, of Mississippi; Romaine Goddard,
daughter of Mrs. Dahlgren, who became the Countess von Overbeck;
Irene Rucker, who become the wife of General Philip H. Sheridan;
Constance Edgar, now the Countess Moltke Huitfeldt, daughter of
Madam Bonaparte and granddaughter of Daniel Webster; Mary
Wilcox, granddaughter by adoption of General Andrew Jackson.
Ethel Ingalls, daughter of ex-Senator Ingalls, has reflected
credit on the academy by her literary work; her younger sister,
Constance, followed her at the school together with Anna Randall
Lancaster, and her sister Susie, daughters of the late Samuel J.
Randall; the five daughters of the late A. S. Abell, of
Baltimore, and Jennie Walters, daughter of W. T. Walters of the
same city.
"Miss Early and Miss Ould were two
gifted Southern ladies who are remembered at the school. Miss E.
M. Dorsey, also, a bright and winning story-writer, whose
"Midshipman Bob" is well and favorably known to young readers,
is one of the later graduates.''
Even this partial list of some among
those who have received their training at Georgetown Convent in
knowledge, morals, manners and the conduct of life, is at first
rather surprising by reason of the high rank and average of the
women educated here. Yet on second and deeper thought it will
appear to be only a reasonable result of so much patient labor,
lofty endeavor, unselfish effort, and devout studiousness,
offered day by day for a century, with no other thought than
that of contributing to the glory of God and the blessing of the
human race, in whole and in particular.
The annals of this illustrious
institution, which celebrated its Centennial in 1899, must, we
think, place one fact very clearly before the minds of all
thoughtful and observant readers, and that is, the marked degree
of individuality characterizing the members of such a body as
the Georgetown Convent of the Visitation.
This we trust has been demonstrated by
such definite examples as the steadfast endurance and guiding
hope of Mother Teresa Lalor; the virgin self-reliance and
bravery of Sister Margaret Marshall; the firm executive quality
of Mother Agnes Brent and other Superiors; the gentle, tactful
rule of Mother Juliana Matthews; the vivacious and exquisitely
trustful, spiritualized personality of "Sister Stanny" (Sister
Stanislaus) who was the daughter of Commodore Jacob Jones,
United States Navy, who captured the British war-sloop "Frolic"
for which act he received the thanks of Congress, a reward of
$25,000.00 and a gold medal; the enthusiasm for astronomical
study of Sister Genevieve White, who was a sister of the late
Judge White, of New York, and niece of Gerald Griffin, the
famous Irish poet, and her sister, dear Sister Teresa, in the
midst of bodily suffering; the grand, sturdy serviceableness of
Sister Joseph Keating, who was of noble French descent; the
delicate, skillful housekeeping and responsive charity of Mother
Angela Harrison, or the perfect meekness of Sister Mary Emmanuel
Scott, daughter of General Winfield Scott; Sister Bernard
Graham, daughter of Honorable George Graham, who was a very
remarkable business woman; Sister Eulalia Pearce; Sister Mary
Austin, who was a wife and the mother of five children when she
presented herself for her vows in the Order. She was received
and became a nun, her husband a Jesuit priest, and two of her
children were brought up by the mother of Father Fenwick and
three by the Sisters of the Convent in which she was a nun.
Among those of later date who are affectionately remembered by
the present generation of graduates and scholars are: Sister
Mary Loretto King, long the able directress of the school and a
woman of wonderful executive ability, strength of character and
mental qualities possessed by few of her sex; Sister Paulina
Willard; Sister Loyola Leocadia, a gifted woman and to whom we
are indebted for the collecting and preparation of the Annals of
the Convent, now in book form. Sister, now Mother Fidelis, is
the last of that type of women noted for their great executive
and mental strength which have put their stamp on the women they
sent out into the world to become forces in the progress of
their sex, going on in America today; Sister Benedicto, with her
gentle spirit and marked artistic talents, has developed the
talents of those of the students who came within her care, among
whom many are to-day well known in the world of art and owe to
her their first creditable work. It might be mentioned that
Madame Yturbide found a refuge in this Convent after the tragic
death of her husband, the self-proclaimed president of Mexico,
who was shot on his return from exile. She wore the garb of a
nun and her daughter became a novice and is buried with the
sisters here. These are but a few, among the larger few, whom we
have sketched in this book, and all, taken together, are only
instances of the traits and capacities of numberless other
sisters. They show that not only may there be pronounced
individuality among the members of a religious order, but also a
wide variety of development, under the uniform garb and the
equal sub-mission to a common rule and discipline.
The alumnae of the Georgetown Convent of
Visitation was organized by Mary Logan Tucker, daughter of
General John A. Logan, a graduate of the Georgetown Convent of
Visitation, who was elected its first president, March 3, 1893.
Women of
America
Source: The Part Taken by Women in
American History, By Mrs. John A. Logan, Published by The Perry-Nalle
Publishing Company, Wilmington, Delaware, 1912.
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