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Women of SpiritA History of Convent of the Sacred Heart, Greenwich

1848-1998

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Prologue

TThis is a chronicle of an educational institu-tion, but it is also the story of women ofvision, women of commitment, women offaith and women of spirit. In essence, it isthe biography of a family and its passion,motivated by its dedication to the SacredHeart of Jesus and its search for God’s truthand love in the service of others.

The family tree, rooted in the ashes ofthe French Revolution, was planted by St.Madeleine Sophie Barat in 1800. The MotherFoundress hoped that the Society of theSacred Heart, her “Little Society,” wouldcounteract the influence of the revolution-aries, whose emphasis on reason as the onlysource of knowledge dominated early 19thcentury France. St. Madeleine Sophie believedthat the education of women would produce adifferent kind of revolution: the creation of asociety founded on a return to spiritual values.Reflecting on the Society’s beginnings, shewrote:

As we emerged from the Terror. . . allthe hearts which had remained faithful toGod—and they arose on all sides once thechurches were reopened—were beating asone. And so I came to the primordial idea ofour little Society of the Sacred Heart: togather together young girls to establish acommunity which, night and day, wouldadore the Heart of Jesus. . . . And I sawthose hundreds, those thousands of adorersas an ideal and universal ostensorium liftedup above the Church. That is it, I said tomyself before a lonely tabernacle: we mustvow ourselves to the education of youth.

St. Philippine Duchesne brought theSociety to the New World in 1818, establish-ing foundations first in St. Charles, Missouri,and then throughout the Mississippi Valley.Bishop John Dubois of New York and hissuccessor, Bishop John Hughes, had made

repeated requests to Mother Barat to establisha foundation in their diocese. Alreadyfinancially strapped and her personnelstretched almost to the limit, it was an act offaith that enabled the Mother Foundress toapprove opening a school in New York onHouston Street in 1841. This same faithinspired Mother Aloysia Hardey as sheexpanded the Society’s foundations in theNew World. In the years ahead, BishopHughes would prove to be a good friend tothe Religious of the Sacred Heart as thenumber of their apostolic works increased.

Today, Convent of the Sacred Heart,Greenwich, seems far removed from thestruggles of those fledgling houses. The oldSteers mansion stretches new wings acrossits Connecticut hilltop; new generations ofstudents crowd the polished corridors andshout from the playing fields. While programsin italic script continue to be offered, laptopcomputers and the Internet bring the worldand myriad resources into the classroom.

But despite the external changes, thespirit which breathed life into Bleecker Streetand 17th Street and Maplehurst pervadesGreenwich. The gleaming new science centerstands ready for the 21st century. While thesacrifices required to build it were differentfrom those of our predecessors—those found-ing women who polished wooden classroomfloors in a rented house in lower Manhattan—the inspiration remains the same:

When you educate a woman, youeducate a family. When you educate afamily, you educate the world.

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AcknowledgementsThis history has been compiled with the help of many people. The School is particularly

indebted to Shirley Thormann for her months of research as she pieced together the early daysfrom various sources. Unfortunately, most of the House Journals and similar archival material onBleecker and 17th Streets were destroyed in the Manhattanville fire of 1888. The following havecontributed generously of their time and talents:

SourcesAlumnae Interviews

The Archives of the Society of the Sacred Heart at the Villa Lante in Rome, Italy

The National Archives of the Society of the Sacred Heart in St. Louis, Missouri

The Greenwich-Maplehurst Archives at Convent of the Sacred Heart, Greenwich,Connecticut

Callan, Louise, RSCJ. The Society of the Sacred Heart in North America. New York, 1937

Campbell, Rev. Thomas, FSJ. Mary Aloysia Hardey. New York, 1901

Hassard, John R. G. Life of Archbishop John Hughes. New York, 1866

Maynard, Theodore. The Story of American Catholics. New York, 1941

McLaughlin, Cora, RSCJ. Sacred Heart in Greenwich: 50 Years of Scholastics, Service, and Spirit

Monahan, Maud, RSCJ. Life and Letters of Janet Erskine Stuart. New York, 1931

Reberdy, Janet, RSCJ. “A Brief Summary of the History and Contributions of the Society of the Sacred Heart in the Archdiocese of New York.” A presentation to the Sisters in theArchdiocese, November 1975

Smith, Rev. John Talbot. The Catholic Church in New York. A history of the New York Diocesefrom its establishment in 1808 to the present time. New York, 1905

Williams, Margaret, RSCJ. Second Sowing. New York, 1942

Graphic Design: Adams Associates, Paoli, PA

Victoria Taylor AllenAnn Conroy, RSCJBea DingerElizabeth Betts Leckie ’65Cora McLaughlin, RSCJ ’29

Joan Magnetti, RSCJMarilyn MyersValerie Moore O’Keefe ’61Stephanie Beaudoin Piper ’65Shirley Thormann

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I have often said that Madame Hardey will hold the first place of American women in ourChurch history. Beside her material and visible achievements, what is most striking about heris the extraordinary affection she inspired in the members of her community. . . . MotherHardey’s life will be the history of your community. . . . Erect in your own characters a monu-ment to her glory.

Very Rev. Robert Fulton, S.J. Provincial of the Jesuits to the Superior at Manhattanville upon Mother Hardey’s death in 1886

The Foundation

New text 2/9/99 FNL-bk Old format. Book 3 is redesign of page margins 2/10/99 They tried to fax more changes 2/10. 2PM Tee called said we won’ttake 35 pages of fax. We were told final was received last friday. Now more changes. New back end came 2/23/99 paper with more pictures.Handful of more color pictures 2/24/99 3/2/99 Print out all pages 1st time 3/4/99 Put more pictures in St. Louis Nun shots got here 3/8/993/9 new size and placement for text 10.3pt. 3/10 Get ready to send 1st 2 chapters.

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TTo appreciate the scope of the historyof Convent of the Sacred Heart,Greenwich, it is important to beginwith the story of the Society’s firstNew York foundation.

New York in 1841 was a city of300,000 people, nearly half of themimmigrants. The promise of con-struction work in America’s burgeon-ing urban areas had attracted wavesof laborers from abroad, particularlyfrom Ireland. For the most part,these new arrivals were poor andthey were Catholic.

As newcomers to largelyProtestant New York City, Catholicsfaced suspicion and prejudice.According to the History of theCatholic Church in New York, pub-lished in 1905,

The great principle of tolerationwas to be tested and the Catholicswere rejected by common hate as thevictims of this test. They had beenendured when few and helpless. . . .Now they were looked upon withdistrust and hatred, because theirnumbers increased by immigration.

Public education was purportedlynondenominational, but education andreligious values were, nevertheless,

inextricably interwoven. The PublicSchool Society (1826), successor to theFree School Society, was challengedfirst by different Protestant denomina-tions and finally by the CatholicChurch in 1840. This latter challengeinitiated one of the more bitter dis-agreements in American educationalhistory. From the Catholic perspective,the Public School Society failed toacknowledge that what was presentedas “nondenominational” was in fact“sectless Protestantism.” Texts werereplete with slurs against Catholicismas well as misstatements with respectto Catholic belief.

New York’s Bishop JohnDubois had been cautious and diplo-matic with the Public School Society,but Bishop John Hughes, his succes-sor, was made of different cloth.Newspaper articles, public debatesand legislative meetings providedwidespread airing of the issue. As aresult of these interchanges, thecreation and expansion of Catholicschools became a priority on theagenda of the diocese.

Bishop Dubois had petitionedMother Barat to open a school inNew York in 1827, but at that time

Sent by St. Madeleine Sophie, St.Philippine Duchesne brought the Societyto the New World in 1818. She estab-lished foundations in Missouri andLouisiana, accepted and trained the firstAmericans, including Aloysia Hardey, tojoin the Society, and sent her nuns to newfoundations in the United States.

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she was unable to comply. The firstCatholic academy established in NewYork City was founded by the Sistersof Charity of Emmitsberg, Maryland,in 1829. Twelve years later in 1841,Bishop Hughes prevailed uponMother Barat to open an academyto educate Catholic girls of thewealthier class who had been attend-ing the sectarian “select” schools.

At this time, New York City’spopulation was centered in lowerManhattan. The City’s water supplywas poor, as were its fire protectionand police. Carts, wagons and car-riages traveled the cobblestone streetsand sailing vessels filled the harbor.

It was to this young metropolisthat Mother Elizabeth Galitzenarrived from France in 1841, accom-panied by her little band ofReligious. Mother Galitzen was theVisitatrix or “official visitor” ofMother Barat to the AmericanHouses. What must it have been likefor the newly arrived as they disem-barked in secular dress, the attiredeemed necessary due to the prevail-ing religious climate?

It is known from the U.S.archives of the Religious of theSacred Heart in St. Louis that a resi-dence was not immediately available.

The Sacred Heart nuns resided withthe Sisters of Charity of Emmitsbergat their convent across from St.Peter’s on Barclay Street until theycould occupy 412 Houston Street.Arriving with Mother Galitzen, theVisitatrix, were Mothers CatherineThiefry and Johanna Shannon.Within a short time came MothersAloysia Hardey and Ellen Hoganfrom St. Michael’s, Louisiana, andMother Adeline Boilvin from St.Louis, accompanied by Sister Gallienand Delphine Pratt, a coadjutrix pos-tulant. By July, the Religious were intheir own dwelling with MotherHardey, herself, having “washed thestairs and laid the carpets, all butsingle-handed in the summer heat.”

MOTHER HARDEY

Mother Hardey, MistressGeneral of Houston Street, was agraduate of the Sacred Heart Schoolat Grand Coteau, Louisiana. Shehad entered the Society at age 15and had served at St. Michael’s onthe Mississippi as teacher, MistressGeneral and Superior before comingto New York.

Sister Cora McLaughlin’s briefautobiographical sketch of MotherHardey presents an extraordinarywoman, who was “the heart and soul

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When they first arrived in this country, theSacred Heart nuns resided for a shorttime with the Sisters of Charity ofEmmitsberg at their convent across fromSt. Peter’s on Barclay Street. The buildingis shown as it is today.

Site of the first school of the Society ofthe Sacred Heart in New York City at412 Houston Street.

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of all the apostolic work, theinspiration and guide for the youngReligious.” She was a leader who,under the guidance of ArchbishopHughes and St. Madeleine Sophie,established devotion to the SacredHeart and developed a strong educa-tional system based on a plan ofstudies begun in France earlier inthe century.

Under the direction of St.Madeleine Sophie, Mother Hardeyestablished schools in Canada, theeastern United States and Cuba.The success of these ventures wasdue to an influx of vocations and toMother Hardey’s ability to delegateauthority. Her business acumen wasadmired by business leaders andeducators in all the cities whereconvents were established. As aneducator, she was so esteemed bythe Board of Regents that she wasinvited to join their ranks.

Tributes at the time of her deathspoke of Mother Hardey’s rare gifts,both as a leader and a Religious:

She had the gift of makingauthority lovable, and where sheruled, the wise and virtuous wishedshe might always rule. . . . No oneever left her presence without beingmade braver and better.

An 1865 New York newspaper

summed up her accomplishments:

Few persons have been moreinstrumental under the blessing ofGod than Madame Hardey, inpropagating conventual life andconventual education in America.When Catholic history comes togather up the material for ourperiod, a conspicuous chapter willrecount the works of MotherHardey and her convents.

HOUSTON STREET

Mother Hardey, the MistressGeneral, opened the first SacredHeart School in New York onSeptember 17, 1841. Our Lady ofSorrows was selected as Patroness ofthe foundation. Bishop Hughesblessed the building and then wentabout the diocese helping to findpupils for the new school. For thefirst six weeks, Mother Hardey hadonly twelve registrants of whom thefirst to be enrolled was RosineParmentier. By December 1841,forty-six pupils were enrolled. Theentry in the 1841 House Journal forChristmas records:

We did not have the consolationof midnight Mass, as his Lordshipthought it would have a bad effecton this very Protestant city. Thatwas a real sacrifice which we haveoffered to the Heart of Jesus, happyif it will obtain the grace that we ask

Mother Hardey, Assistant General,Society of the Sacred Heart; SuperiorVicar, Eastern U.S.; Superior, BleeckerStreet and Manhattanville, founded25 schools from Halifax to Cuba.While thinking of the future, she keptthe balance between tradition andinnovation.

This view dating from the mid-19thcentury looks south from UnionSquare which stretches from 14th to17th Streets. In the years from 1848to 1855, Sacred Heart moved firstfrom Bleecker Street to 14th Streetand finally to 17th Street.

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of Him so intensely, that He maybring truly Christian sentiments intothe hearts of our children. Theseyoung people have great enthusiasmfor their studies but they are verycold towards God. . . .

The sodality of the BlessedVirgin was established thatDecember for the students, and theCongregation of the Children ofMary received its first group ofladies on the eighth of December.As May arrived, Mother Hardeyand her charges set up an altar toOur Lady so that devotions could beheld for Mary’s month. BishopHughes was so taken by theceremony that he told what he hadwitnessed throughout his diocese.Parish priests, following the exam-ple of their Bishop, initiated spiri-tual devotions in May for all of theCatholic churches in New York City.

By 1843, the Houston StreetAcademy was becoming too smallfor the sixty children now enrolled,one half of whom were boarders.Space was also needed for a FreeSchool, which Mother Hardey want-ed to establish. Next to each acad-emy, at which the students paid fees,the Society traditionally establisheda school for the neighborhood chil-dren who were unable to pay. In

addition to needing classrooms andteachers, there were also the otherapostolic activities such as retreatwork and sodalities to be carried on.

Mother Hardey, conscious ofthe power of the living witness andthe influence Mother Eugenie Audehad had on her own life, did nothesitate to look for new religiousworkers among her charges atHouston Street. One of those wasSarah Jones, a great grand-daughterof Alexander Hamilton and aconvert to Catholicism, who enteredthe Society of the Sacred Heart atage 20 after a year under MotherHardey’s special guidance. Shemaintained a close association withMother Hardey over the years as sheserved as Mistress of Studies,Mistress of Novices and localSuperior before becoming a muchloved and respected Superior Vicar.During Mother Jones’ tenure, fivehouses would be founded in theEastern Vicariate, among themMadison Avenue which was thefoundation of the present schoolon 91st Street. Just as Mother Audehad been the mentor of MotherHardey, so Mother Hardey was forMother Jones.

The political climate of NewYork City became increasingly agi-

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Lower Manhattan in 1876. By thistime, the streets around the 17thStreet Academy were changing frombeing mostly residential to beingmixed use neighborhoods.

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tated while the “nativists”(American descendants of Anglo-Saxon Protestants) began rioting inBoston and Philadelphia. In 1844,there were attacks on convents,Catholic schools and churches inthose cities. Bishop Hughes wasalerted that there would be prob-lems within the New York Dioceseas well. Believing that his counter-parts in the other cities had been toodeferential and conciliatory to localgovernment, he decided to take adifferent approach. The Bishopwent to City Hall, then controlledby a “nativist” mayor as a result ofrecent elections. He informed theretiring Mayor that dangerous situa-tions could develop if the “nativists”started a riot or attacked Catholicproperty. “If any Catholic Church isburned here, New York will be aMoscow,” Hughes stated.

The Sons of St. Patrick stoodguard within the Cathedral, aroundthe corner from the Sacred HeartConvent, ready to protect life andproperty. Mother Hardey describesthe event in a letter to Mother Barat:

Several parents have removedtheir children, others left them forour security. For several nights wewere prepared to leave in case ofattack, but matters did not reach

this point. . . . The general opinionis that we would only have beenexposed because of our proximityto the cathedral. . . . I must now tellyou, my venerated Mother, that Iexperienced not even one momentof fear, I thought our Lord wouldprotect us since we protected him.

Mother Hardey’s desire toexpand her activities, along with themovement of commerce northward,prompted a letter to Mother Barat inMay of 1844 asking for funds tomove the boarding school:

As long as we have to pay rentin the amount of 13,000 francs eachyear, we would only vegetate asidefrom the fact that our state ofhealth is adversely affected hereduring the summer and our board-ing school has a quarter fewer stu-dents between May 1st andOctober 1st. Ten students left us thefirst of this month.

Receiving approval fromMother Barat for the move, MotherHardey began a Novena to St.Francis Regis, a favorite of MotherDuchesne. Her prayers wereanswered and property was acquiredin Ravenswood, in the village ofAstoria, Queens. The “Pensionat,”or boarding school, was first movedto Astoria in 1844, then toManhattanville in 1847. The

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, around thecorner from the Sacred HeartConvent on Houston Street, offeredprotection to the nuns in the event oftrouble from anti-Catholic activists.

In 1844, worried about threats onCatholic schools and churches, BishopHughes went to City Hall to appeal tothe Mayor for help in avoiding a riot.

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Convent on Houston Streetremained a day school or CityHouse—the term used to distin-guish between boarding and dayschools. Having long desired toopen a Free School, Mother Hardeywas able to do so in the spacevacated by the boarders.

In April of 1845, City Housemoved from Houston Street to 114Bleecker Street, where it stayed untilits closure in the summer of 1847.Bishop Hughes then entreatedMother Hardey to reopen the dayschool. In a letter to Mother Barat in1847, Bishop Hughes gives the fol-lowing assessment of the Society’splace in his diocese:

. . . the Community has been allthat my heart could wish. That theyhave already done much for thegood of religion, and are destinedwith God’s blessing to do still more.. . . At all events, I look upon myselfas having, so far as depends on me,adopted your Community as thefirst school for Catholic educationin this diocese . . . for I considermyself bound to see that your houseshall not go down while I am ableto sustain it and that in any eventwe shall stand or fall together.

BLEECKER STREET

With Mother Barat’s agree-

ment, in 1848 another house wasrented at the corner of Bleecker andLaurens Streets. It is in this houseat 135 Bleecker Street, dedicated tothe Immaculate Conception, that thestory of Greenwich really begins.

The new day school of 60 pupilswas placed in the hands of MotherSarah Jones who had recently com-pleted the noviceship. MotherHardey was Superior of theCommunity. Since the new dayschool and the boarding school inAstoria had the same Superior, sepa-rate House Journals were not kept, andall records were kept at Manhat-tanville, which was Mother Hardey’sresidence. Much of the material relat-ing to this period was lost in theManhattanville fire of 1888.

The New York City Housetook day students under thirteenyears of age who would go on toboarding school upon completingtheir studies. The tuition was $50annually. According to the CatholicAlmanac of 1844, the tuition of$12.50, paid quarterly in advance,covered courses in religion, Englishand English literature, philosophy,history, geography, mathematics,needlework and dressmaking,domestic economy, and instruction

This was probably the house at the cornerof Bleecker and Laurens Streets where thestory of Greenwich actually began in 1848.

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St. Madeleine Sophie Barat foundedthe Society of the Sacred Heart inFrance in 1800 and guided its expan-sion until her death. She authorizedthe foundation at Bleecker Street in1848. Greenwich rejoices in this directlink to her.

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in the French language. There wasa surcharge of $10 a quarter formusic and the use of an instrumentand a similar fee for drawing andpainting. The Children of Maryhad their meetings at City House,since Bleecker Street was the centerfor any member living in New YorkCity. Mother Jones wrote aboutBleecker Street:

We were very poor in NewYork; we had no regular beds andcould not afford fuel for firesexcept in the classrooms where atnight we stretched out on our mat-tresses. When Mother Hardeycame to visit us she was no betterlodged than we were. . . .

Not only were economies madewith respect to beds and fuel, butMother Hardey, in her trips betweenManhattanville and Bleecker Street,often made use of “the butcher’swagon” since she could not afford amore conventional mode of trans-portation. One might imagineMother Hardey in religious garbwith her veil floating behind, butthis was not the case. Whenever theReligious stepped outside theconvent, they wore secular dress.It was not until the latter part of thecentury that this practice changed.

The Religious lived poverty

daily. Mother Hardey was ever shortof funds for her schools, yet she wasexpected to send an annual tithe tothe Mother House in Paris.Founding and running schools wasnot for the faint of heart!

By 1851, City House had anenrollment of eighty pupils, andonce again there was movementnorthward, this time to 64 West14th Street. Parochial work wasbegun in the basement of theChurch of St. Francis Xavier and atthe same time the Religious contin-ued to serve the needs of theAcademy. The Journal recorded,“About 1,000 souls are alreadyreceiving graces from the Heart ofJesus through this house.” Thenumber of persons served includedthose in the Academy, the parishschool, the night school and theSunday school. According to therecords, in addition to the eightystudents in the Academy, there weremore than six hundred in the parishschool, seventy working girls in thenight school and approximately onehundred and fifty children in theSunday school. There was also reli-gious instruction for adult womenand sodality work.

Mother Hardey, realizing thatlarger facilities would be required,

Always short of funds, Mother Hardey washappy to receive a ride from a friendlybutcher for her frequent trips betweenManhattanville and Bleecker Street. Thewagon looked something like this horse-drawn delivery cart.

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purchased property on 17th Street.The purchase was not applauded bythe neighbors who were unhappy tohave a convent in their midst.Problems began to appear daily.Foremost among them was the fail-ure of the bank where MotherHardey had deposited her funds forthe first payments. She appealed toMother Barat, who replied:

Your letter dear Mother anddaughter has caused me much anx-iety. I am grieved to learn of thestate of your finances, and deep inmy solicitude in regard to your pre-sent embarrassment. But what isto be done since we are unable toassist you?

Mother Hardey turned to“Him whose help never fails.” Aseach payment approached, moneyappeared either as a gift or inrepayment of old debts.

For those who live in today’sworld, it may seem foolhardy ornaive to have embarked on such afinancial undertaking with so littlematerial security. For MotherHardey and the Religious of theSacred Heart, who were doing God’swork, there was total faith in thepower of prayer.

Let all be thoroughly convincedthat prayer is the foundation and

support of the Society. . . . Let allapply themselves lovingly toprayer. . . . Let them place theirhappiness as much as possible inthis holy exercise.

(Summary of the Constitutionsand Rules of the Society of SacredHeart)

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By 1851 the School had outgrown itsspace on Bleecker Street and movednorth again. For a short time it occu-pied the basement of the Church ofSt. Francis Xavier next to the collegeon 16th Street.

During the 1850s, seventy working girlspursued their studies at the night school.

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Your Sacred Heart education is a way of life which calls you to change and, like Jesus, grow in“wisdom, age and grace.”

Wherever you go, whatever road you may travel, you will always find a home at the SacredHeart. Your relationships will endure and transcend all confines of time and space becausethey are founded on faith, hope and love. . . .

Life at the Sacred Heart(Rev. 1985)

Coming of Age

TThe foundation which had so irri-tated the neighbors in its developingstages was to be hailed with “elabo-rate thanks” for giving dignity tothe neighborhood. The four-storybuilding on 17th Street opened inMarch of 1855. The Annual Lettergives this account:

The house was completely fin-ished and paid for in November. Itcost 135,000 francs! It is very large,well built and perfectly arranged.It has four stories, a Gothic facadeand is made of brownstone. A crossand a seal of the Society are overthe front door, sculpted in stone.The rooms are large and airy. Inall, the entire house can easily hold700 people.

The Religious of the SacredHeart remained at 49 West 17thStreet for the next fifty years untilthe move in 1905 to the OgdenEstate at 174th Street andUniversity Avenue in the boroughof the Bronx.

FOLLOWING THE TREND

The move northward followedthe same pattern as that of manyother New Yorkers as commerce and

business expanded. By the late1850s, New York City was thenation’s commercial capital.Journalism, publishing and advertis-ing were advancing by leaps andbounds. A Philharmonic Societyhad been established in 1842,as well as an Academy ofMusic. In 1853, New Yorkheld its first World’s Fair andthe City received permissionfrom the State to buy theproperty that became CentralPark, designed by FrederickLaw Olmstead and CalvertVaux. Horse cars or horsedrawn vehicles that ran ontracks would soon be jam-ming the transportationarteries. The “commuter,” anew type of New Yorker,would emerge as the well-offbusinessman worked downtown andlived uptown. The City also wit-nessed a severe business slump in1857 which caused thousands tobecome unemployed. This periodalso saw the rise of Tammany Hall,whose name would become synony-mous with Democratic politics and,ultimately, political corruption.

In March of 1855, following thenorthward direction of the City’sbusinesses as well as its homes,the School moved to a four-storybuilding at 49 West 17th Street,where it was to stay for the nextfifty years.

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As the metropolis was experi-encing its growing pains, MotherJuliana Pardow, the first Superior at17th Street, was reorganizing theDay School, the parish school, thesodalities and other apostolic works.The Catholic Almanac of 1856 con-tained information relating to the“Day School Conducted by theLadies of the Sacred Heart,”indicating the tuition to be still$12.50 per quarter with eighty-sixpupils and fifteen Religious.

Under Mother Pardow’s lead-ership, the activities at 17th Streetwere expanding rapidly. TheChildren of Mary saw a yearlyincrease in membership andexpanded their good works toinclude visitations to the poor andto those in hospitals as well as toprison inmates. This congregation,whose primary focus was directedtoward spiritual enhancement, alsoestablished libraries, endowed schol-arships for future missionaries, andsewed vestments and altar linens forneedy parishes. Some of its mem-bers, who were of Cuban back-ground, asked Reverend MotherIrene Robinson to open the ConventChapel on Sundays to a Spanishcongregation. The proper ecclesias-tical authorizations were obtained,

and on December 8, 1878, theSpanish congregation assisted forthe first time at Mass in theConvent Chapel and “heard aneloquent sermon in their mothertongue”— a first in New York City.

The varied activities includedthe Little Friends of the SacredHeart (children who attended reli-gious instruction and had recreationat the School), the Consolers ofMary (young women who worked asdomestics, were employed in storesor offices or worked at home), andthe Sodality of St. Anne (marriedwomen). The Tabernacle Society ofthe Sacred Heart, which was orga-nized in 1874, was the special workof the Children of Mary connectedwith 17th Street.

The parochial school wasdirected by Mother CresenceMoser. She was responsible forsome five hundred pupils and seventeachers. When the school outgrewits space in the Convent, propertywas purchased on 18th Street. Thecost was to have been paid by theChurch of St. Francis Xavier runby the Jesuits, but since they wereunable to raise the funds, theexpenditure was borne by theSociety of the Sacred Heart. The

Lower Man. 1876

By the late 1850s New York City hadbecome the country’s commercial cap-ital. Printing, advertising, retailing anda limitless variety of other businesswere springing up and expanding.

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Sacred Heart nuns would continueto run the parish school until theend of the century.

PLAN OF STUDIES

The education offered at aSacred Heart academy was onegeared to the training of the mind,heart and will. It was an educationthat Mother Grace Dammann, aformer Mistress General ofMaplehurst and later president ofManhattanville College, in a 1933address to the students character-ized as “a growing thing, a livingthing, not a finished thing . . . buta continuum . . . .”

Mother Janet Stuart, anEnglish RSCJ, was one of the lead-ing educators of her time andserved as Superior General of theSociety of the Sacred Heart (1911-1914). She spoke of the educationimparted by the Society as onewhich “is not meant to turn thechildren out small and finished, butseriously begun on a wide basis.”

In the early years of theSociety, prior to the adoption ofThe Plan of Studies, the followingparagraph from The Constitutionsreflects an important criterion forthe Society’s educational focus:

Let religion be at once thefoundation and the crowningpoint of the education they intendto give and consequently the chiefsubject taught. . . .

A Society of theSacred Heart Plan ofStudies was adopted foruse throughout theSociety in 1820 with pre-scribed classes, sequenceof courses, and teachingmethods. The Plan wasevaluated periodicallyand revised or expandedin light of educationaldevelopments and worldconditions of thetime.The last Plan towhich Mother Barat con-tributed was that of 1852.Its first paragraph stated:

In the revision ofthis Plan experience hasbeen consulted and,without scorning oldmethods and rejectingnew ones, there hasbeen drawn from boththe one and the otherwhatever seemed to favor trueintellectual development. . . .

Mother Barat, aware of the“living” quality of Sacred Heart

Looking down Nassau Street towardthe crowded financial district in theearly 1900s just about the time thatSacred Heart was moving from 17thStreet to “Maplehurst” at 174th Streetand University Avenue.

Rev. Mother Janet Erskine Stuart, sixthSuperior General of the Society of theSacred Heart, was widely recognized asan outstanding educator. Her writingscontinue to influence educators today.

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education, is cited assaying, “It showsweakness of mind tohold too much to thebeaten track throughfear of innovation.”She understood that ifher educational systemwere to remain alive and healthy itwould have to be monitored. Andso the Plan of 1852 was modifiedin 1869. This new edition thenremained virtually unchanged forsome thirty-five years.

Mother Mabel Digby,Superior General, held a Councilof Studies at Manhattanville in1899, which led to the restructur-ing of the educational program inAmerica. She commented: “Wetake the Plan of Studies as ourfoundation, to give us lines andprinciples. But its elasticity allowsus to adapt itself to the needs ofdifferent countries.”

In order to maintain stan-dards among the differentAmerican schools as the new syl-labus developed, “comprehensiveinter-vicariate” examinations wereestablished for the Second andFirst Classes. If the students per-formed adequately on these tests,

they gained entry to the SuperiorClass. Performing well in theSuperior Class enabled students tograduate without further formaltesting. However, according toMother Louise Callan, in TheSociety of the Sacred Heart in NorthAmerica, if one wanted to finishwith honor, local examinationswere required in history, litera-ture, philosophy, religion and nat-ural sciences or mathematics.Superior, First and Second Classesrefer to the last three years of aca-demic study at the academy.

When the Society sought sec-ular accreditation for its schools,authorities determined that SacredHeart graduates had alreadyreceived an education equivalentto the first two years of college.

Teachers vowed to the educa-tion of youth provided the inspira-tion for academic excellence.Mother Hardey reminded herReligious that “you must yourselves

This group of students posed for a grad-uation picture in 1895 while the Schoolwas still on 17th Street.

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love study if you wish to give yourchildren a love of it. We cannotimpart what we do not possess.”

Despite changes in the Planof Studies and the development ofnew teaching techniques, the fun-damentals of a Sacred Heart edu-cation remained unchanged.Devotion to the Sacred Heart,fidelity to Saint MadeleineSophie’s commitment to the for-mation and development of each“single child,” and the fostering ofinternationality were the firmfoundations on which future gen-erations would build.

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Fifth Avenue at 65th Street. As the nineteenthcentury drew to a close, the city continued itsnorthward expansion. The area around SacredHeart on 17th Street became increasingly com-mercial and more and more students livednorth of 42nd Street. Another relocation wouldsoon be necessary.

This map of LowerManhattan shows thelocations of the early rootsof the School.

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New York City’s rapid growth and theincreasing commercialization of 17thStreet prompted the move north in 1905to “Maplehurst,” a gray stone villa at174th Street and University Avenue.

AAs the new century approached,New York City continued to expandupward—uptown and skyward. Theberthing of transatlantic steamersalong the Hudson, the multiplica-tion of shops and the manufacturing

expansion all contributed to thechanging face of the metropolis.New buildings were erected—Carnegie Hall, Madison SquareGarden, the new New York StockExchange and the New York PublicLibrary on Forty-Second Street.Automobiles began to appear and

the first subways opened. Million-aires, who had amassed fortunes inthe latter half of the nineteenthcentury, had built showplaces alongFifth Avenue and would donatelarge sums of money for the benefitof the public.

The commercialization of thearea around 17th Street promptedanother move north. “Maplehurst,”a gray stone villa at 174th Street andUniversity Avenue, was acquired in1905. The house was designed byCalvert Vaux and was described inthe Annual Letters of 1905 as follows:

. . .a most lovely site on a hill sosurrounded that our beautifuleleven-acre park is as private as ifit were situated far out in the coun-try and yet the car line is but a fewsteps away.

One of the first endeavors ofthe Children of Mary was to fundand build a chapel at the new site.The cornerstone was laid in 1907and Archbishop John Farley gavethe blessing. The obvious connec-tions with the former chapel at17th Street were noted in the altar,the oak paneling, the choir stallsand benches, as well as the sanctu-

It is one of the basic characteristics of the education given at Sacred Heart that it has its rootsand its fruitage in “Eternity.” This establishes the special form and color, the mass and theline of its development in “Time.” It is a related thing, not something isolated apart from thewhole of life or from life in its wholeness—human and divine.

Mother Grace Dammann, RSCJ (1933)

A New Century—A New Location

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ary furnishings which were broughtto Maplehurst. Sister FrancesCunningham, RSCJ (Maplehurst1917-1926) refers to the “visiblelinkage” of the tabernacle doorwhich was brought from 17thStreet to Maplehurst and is now atGreenwich: “On it, among othernames, was inscribed my mother’smaiden name, Blanche A.Donnelly. Once a year, I wasallowed to see the door.”

LIFE AT MAPLEHURSTSister Cunningham’s recollec-

tions of her student years atMaplehurst speak of it as “a secondhome,” and she refers to the nuns as“a part of our family.” The love ofthe Sacred Heart was an integral partin her life at Maplehurst and “themoral training was strengthened bythe sodalities.” She belonged succes-sively to the Infant Jesus Sodality,the Aloysia, and the Children ofMary. Organizations for adults whichmet at the Convent included theTabernacle Society and the LittleFriends of the Sacred Heart. Whilethe adult group of the Children ofMary met at Maplehurst, they con-tinued to participate in BaratSettlement House activities. In clos-ing, Sister Cunningham wrote:

To see the results of a SacredHeart education, we need only toobserve many of our alumnae who

are outstanding leaders in theChurch and in various walks oflife. The driving force in theirlives must come from their deepprayer life and devotion to theSacred Heart.

Another Maplehurst alumna,Sister Mary Byles, RSCJ (1923-1930)recounted some vignettes from herearly days in the School:

We wore blue uniforms with boxpleats and white collars, serge inwinter, seersucker or gabardine inspring and fall. Black lisle stock-ings and black loafers or oxfords.We also had white uniforms madeto the same pattern for big feasts.

The first event rememberedby Sister Byles was the “Readingof the Rule,” during the first weekof school. (This practice continueduntil the 1960s.) The MistressGeneral read it, making commentsas she went, while the assembledschool paid close attention.

The Maplehurst communityincluded a number of memorableReligious whose names have becomepart of Sacred Heart history.

Mother Imogene Ryan,Mistress General from 1919 to 1934,was one such figure. “Mother Ryanhad tremendous influence on us,”wrote an alumna of that period.“She was very business-like. You’dpass her office in the morning and

CHILDREN OF MARY 1920s. In the words ofSister Frances Cunningham, RSCJ, Maplehurst1926, “The moral training was strengthenedby the sodalities. Only students in their finalyear at school could ask to be admitted to theChildren of Mary.”

During the 1920s basketball became apopular sport at Maplehurst.

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she would have The New York Timesspread out on her desk, checkingout what was happening in theworld. She brought in very goodlecturers for us.”

Another alumna wrote:

All of the hundreds of pupilswho have attended Maplehurstsince 1920 can bear testimony toMother Ryan’s unfailing interest inour welfare, her thoughtfulness, hersincerity, and her very real influ-ence on the formation of our char-acters. Her interest in us did notstop when we left school.

Mother Helen Bourke,Mistress General of Maplehurstfrom 1940-45, continued in that postat Greenwich until 1954. MimiMarchev Connolly, class of 1944,recalled her first encounter with theformidable headmistress:

I was interviewed by MotherBourke in the parlor of the Gothicmansion on University Avenue.My new hat kept slipping off myhead. My mother nervously scold-ed me and kept apologizing forhow I looked. I put my hand onher arm and said, “Mother, theyare not going to judge me on myhair.” I could feel the interest ofthe nun as she observed this inter-action. After a while, MotherBourke left to bring Reverend

Mother Benziger into the parlor tomake the final decision. I wasaccepted after all and my motherwas thrilled.

Connolly felt Mother Bourkewas also a gifted teacher.

She had many advanced ideasfor her time . . . the idea of being aninstrument of God’s work hasstayed with me. She taughtChristian marriage, which formedthe foundation of my understand-ing of marriage, something I prac-tice after 50 years.

A beloved Superior wasReverend Mother Rosalie Hill. Analumnae bulletin from 1927 notes herdeparture with sadness:

News that Reverend MotherHill was to leave Maplehurstspread consternation and sorrow tothe ranks of the alumnae, as shehad greatly endeared herself to herflock by numberless acts of gra-cious thoughtfulness and tenderestsympathy. The alumnae did notquite see how they could go onwithout her gentle guidance.

Excerpts from Annual Letters,House Journals, the MaplehurstNewsletter and interviews withalumnae offer vignettes of fortyyears at the “gray stone villa” onUniversity Avenue.

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Mimi Marchev Connolly ‘44, remembersbeing interviewed in the parlor, shownabove left, by the “formidable” MotherHelen Bourke, Mistress General“. . . . Mynew hat kept slipping off my head. . . . Mymother nervously scolded me and apolo-gized for how I looked.”

(Above right) The study hall.

The library at Maplehurst. “You learned tostudy. I think the most important giftswere real study and a living of faith. It did-n’t end at three p.m., and it didn't end atgraduation, it was a gift for life.” (MargaretMary Sheehan ‘40)

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Helen Howe Ritzel, class of1923, described a congé held on theMother General’s feast. The enter-tainment included that favoriteSacred Heart game, cache-cache:

From nine until eleven, wesearched for four girls who werehidden. Lillian Cary’s band of girlswas the first to find anyone, andthey found Rosita Mora sitting inReverend Mother’s parlor, dressedas a priest. Next, Lillian Tierneywas found in the telephone roomdressed as an old lady, and aftermuch vain search around thegrounds and in the basement of thehouse, Virginia Frederick wasfound in Mother Ryan’s room at thetop of the closet.

A Newsletter from 1926 notedthat the School had celebrated thecanonization of St. MadeleineSophie and the Golden Jubilee ofMother Blanche Alden. MotherAlden was a direct descendant ofJohn Alden of Plymouth and hadgiven many years of service at both17th Street and Maplehurst.

The Depression left its markon the School. Enrollment wasdown, according to the HouseJournal of 1932. “School openedwith only 95 pupils. . . . Many werereceived at a great reduction or

gratis.” Jean Stancliffe, class of 1939,remembered another sign of thetimes: “The nuns must have beenfeeding the men who were unem-ployed. I can remember sitting inclass and seeing a bread line.Thosemen were fed every day.”

Internationality had always beena key element in Sacred Heart educa-tion. St. Madeleine Sophie, whensending out missionaries, would try toinclude RSCJs of different nationali-ties, as she wanted the students to be“world minded.” At Maplehurst,where students and teachers fromother countries had always been wel-come, World War II focused studentattention on the hardships of thoseoverseas. The House Journal for March10, 1943, notes:

The children had sacrificedenough money to buy a chaplain’skit which they presented toReverend Mother. . . . Over twohundred dollars sacrifice moneybought missals and New Testamentsfor the soldiers.

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Our 1928 Basketball team.

“. . . a most lovely site on a hill . . . our beautifuleleven-acre park is as private as if it were situatedfar out in the country and yet the car line is but afew steps away.”

Maplehurst at 174th Street and UniversityAvenue, 1905-1945.

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Present-day society will be saved by education, and other means are almost useless.

St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, Conference given in 1850

To Greenwich

NNew York City’s decision to expandthe entrance to the GeorgeWashington Bridge, practically inMaplehurst’s front yard, prompted asearch for a new home in the late1930s. Once again the School movednorth. In December of 1942, the for-mer Steers estate, known as

Overlook Farmand consistingof 180 acres onKing Street inGreenwich,Connecticut,was purchasedfrom Mrs. PaulBlock. TheSchool wouldnot open at thenew propertyuntil 1945, butthe Religious

from Maplehurst used the house as asummer community from 1943 to1945. The House Journal of 1943described conditions:

The place was very dirty, theplumbing was not in very goodshape, and it almost looked asthough tramps had lived in thehouse during the winter. The

grounds were beautiful but muchovergrown, as were the paths fromthe house down to the Byram River.

In August 1945, the movebegan in earnest. The House Journalrecorded the activity:

The vans of furniture fromMaplehurst began to arrive.Almost all the school desks andchairs were placed in the roomsthat will be classrooms. The glassenclosed porch to the extreme leftas you come in the front door hasbeen arranged as a study hall withsixty-seven desks. Mothers LouiseHamilton, Vicariate Treasurer,and Margaret O’Rourke, Mistressof Studies from Kenwood, came todirect the movers. They returned toMaplehurst after supper.

From the Journal of August 8:

Another moving day! Five vanswere unloaded by nine p.m. Thecontents of the last two were left inthe barn until the new building orbuildings are finished.

On August 27, 1945, the firstof the permanent community leftMaplehurst for Greenwich and theBlessed Sacrament came fromNoroton in the afternoon. Reverend

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Mother Gertrude Bodkin, theSuperior Vicar, closed Maplehurstand on September 12, along withfive Religious, completed theGreenwich community. The analystrelates:

So the small chapel was madeready; master bedrooms becameclassrooms, floors were polished,and ninety-eight children whoshared the energetic spirit of theReligious were welcomed on theappointed day. Only sixteen ofthem were weekly boarders whooccupied a room on the third floorthat served as the dormitory until acottage, the first of two that werebuilt, was ready.

Some remembrances ofMaplehurst made the journey toConnecticut.The chapel pews, thestatue of St. Michael the Archangel,the standing crucifix and the taber-nacle doors, so fondly rememberedby Mother Cunningham, found anew home at Greenwich. MotherHelen Bourke, Mistress General atMaplehurst, continued in that posi-tion in the new home until she wasreplaced by Mother ElizabethMcCormack in 1954.

In May of 1948, a CentenaryCelebration of the foundation onBleecker Street was held atGreenwich in the pouring rain. The

commentary describes the festivitiesof the day and the gifts received.Nearly three hundred guests werepresent for benediction which tookplace in the quonset hut or “St.Michael’s.” This building served as a“temporary” gymnasium until thenew building was dedicated in 1990.

Alumnae of the 1950s recall aschool life centered in the old man-sion. Sister Kaye Cherry, RSCJ, classof 1953, described the study hall:

In those days, what is now theparlor was the library . . . the entirearea now taken up by admissionswas the study hall. We students,sixty strong at table-like desks withlids, were meant to keep strictsilence for study, but when wewanted to have a discreet, and ille-gal conversation with a neighbor,we raised the tops of the desks andquietly conversed behind themuntil the mistress in charge caughton and called out names.

Sister Cherry also rememberedsome faculty members who made animpression:

Mother Elizabeth McCormackwas the best English teacher I everhad. One night in Duchesne, I, aboarder on my way to bed, said toher in all earnestness, “I loveHenry V,” meaning the play. Sheresponded, “He speaks well of you,too, dear.”

The chapel benches were moved from17th Street to Maplehurst and eventuallyto Greenwich.

St. Michael’s, the Army surplus Quonset hutwhich served as the temporary gym from1945 to 1990.

The student dining room was added in1960 and enlarged in 1999.

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When I was one of those impos-sibly poor hockey players runningaround in a knee-length red tunic,a young, serious Ethel Skakel(later Ethel Kennedy) was ourteacher for a month or so.

Enrollment rose steadilyduring the 1950s. In 1958, SisterMargaret Brown, RSCJ became theMistress General and led the Schoolthrough a much needed expansion.By 1959, with two hundred andseventy-one students and eighty-nine weekly boarders, the nunsdecided it was time to expand.Plans were made for a new wing andan enlarged chapel. The cornerstonewas laid on May 22, 1960.

In November, BishopLawrence Sheehan of Bridgeportcame to bless the completed work.Improvements included:

. . . the new modern wing withits three large study halls, largeand airy classrooms, library, sci-ence laboratory, auditorium andenclosed swimming pool . . . Theoriginal building has been so trans-formed as to include, beside thebeautiful enlarged chapel, parlors,dining rooms for guests and layteachers, children’s refectory, com-munity refectory, and a spaciousmodern kitchen. On the secondfloor the one-time classrooms arenow children’s bedrooms; the thirdfloor is cloister. . . .

(Annual Letters, 1960)

Just as at the previous sites, out-reach activities continued. Studentsvisited St. Luke’s ConvalescentHospital on the adjacent property andpatients who were able attendedSunday Mass at the Convent. TheDrawing of the 1960 addition.

The May Crowning of Mary took place onthe terrace between the house and theoutdoor pool in the 1950s. This terraceand the bathhouses gave way to the newwing in 1960 and the pool was enclosed.

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Children of Mary had their FirstFriday meetings at Greenwich.Catechism classes were held for chil-dren attending public schools, andretreats and Days of Recollection wereheld for different groups includingparents of children in the School. Aday camp was held during the monthof July for several summers untilreplaced by one at Manhattanville.

Greenwich, in the early 1960s,still followed the predictable rhythmof life in Sacred Heart conventsthroughout the world. Traditionslike Primes, congés, First Fridayprocessions, Vicariate examinationsand Prize Days marked the passingof each school year as they had formore than a century. ElizabethBetts Leckie, class of 1965, remem-bers a landmark event of that era:

An outstanding memory thatcould only belong to Sacred Heartwas the visit of Very ReverendMother Sabine de Valon, SuperiorGeneral of the Society of theSacred Heart, in 1963. For weekswe rehearsed the Magnificat anddrilled our curtsies to en masseprecision for the formal receptionthe Reverend Mother wouldreceive at King Street. On the dayof the visit, we lined the drivewaywaving little French flags and

shouting, “Vive Notre TrèsRévérende Mère.”

CHANGESBut while the rituals of the past

continued to be cherished, change wasin the wind, Elizabeth Leckie said.

I think our class must havebeen the last to know the School asit had been, virtually unchangedfor generations. A year after ourgraduation, many of the prac-tices—general instruction, whitegloves, orals and ribbons—had dis-appeared. We even had to remem-ber to call all the nuns “sister” not“mother” as in the past.

The Second Vatican Councilbrought sweeping changes in theliturgy and the structure of religiousorders. The Society of the SacredHeart, a semi-cloistered order whosenuns rarely left their convents,became an uncloistered communitywith far greater freedom. “Thisevolution had an inevitable effect onthe life of the school,” said SisterAnn Conroy, RSCJ, who was SeniorSchool Surveillante at Greenwichduring the 1960s and later returnedas Provincial. She further noted:

Formerly, life in our boardingschools mirrored life in the con-vent. When the latter changed, the

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The Oxfords, the Upper School singinggroup, in the early 1960s.

Students line the driveway to wave good-bye to Rev. Mother Sabine de Valon,Superior General of the Society of theSacred Heart, at the end of her 1963 visitto Greenwich.

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school routine also had to be modi-fied. In the mid sixties, ranksbecame a thing of the past, studentswere allowed to talk on their wayto class, and the study hallremained the only area of totalsilence. Following the directives ofVatican II, the nuns appeared innew habits. Little did we realizethat this was the first step towardsadopting secular dress as the norm.

The problem facing the Schoolin the ’60s was the maintenance ofits “raison d’être” in the midst offrenetic change and the challenge toauthority throughout the world. Allinstitutions, even those that are“divinely” inspired (religious insti-tutions), are influenced by theirtotal membership. In this case, themembership included not only theReligious of the Sacred Heart andtheir respective families, but alsostudents, parents, faculty, trustees,advisors and staff. How to managechange, retaining what was “essen-tial” and altering what was “acci-dental,” to use Thomistic parlance,was not an easy task.

For a school steeped in tradi-tion, these were challenging times.In the words of Sister Conroy:

So much was in a state of fluxthat alumnae were often bewil-dered by what they were being

asked to accept. There is no ques-tion that our explanations wereinadequate, and the long-termimplications of changes were notalways fully considered. Thirtyyears later, it is gratifying to seethat in spite of the rapid rate ofchange, the spirit of Sacred Hearteducation remains embedded inthe operations.

The political and socialchanges that were pullingAmericans apart were examinedin religion and history classes.“Educational Experience Days” inthe ’70s were special events. Thesewere days when such topics as “IsJustice Just?” were explored.Regular classes were suspended forthe day and outside speakers, whowere authorities in that particularfield, were invited to speak.

Many curricular changes wereintroduced in the early ’70s by thedeft and able Mistress of Studies,Sister Marie Lufkin, RSCJ. Parentswere invited to evening presenta-tions. More course choice wasoffered, and students had opportu-nities to participate in educationalactivities off-campus such as thePresidential Classroom, ModelUnited Nations and, duringIntersession (a week-long periodbetween semesters), to engage in a

Sister Mary Louise Jenkins rehears-ing Upper School students for aconcert in the 1960s.

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myriad of educational offeringsfrom internships in governmentand business to quilting classwithin the School.

While there had often been laymusic and physical educationteachers in the past, the majority ofthe teachers in Sacred Heartschools were RSCJs. During the1960s this began to change asenrollments increased, as the disci-plines required more specialiststhan generalists, and as the impor-tance of providing the studentswith a variety of role models wasrecognized. The curricular changesof the seventies, the move of manycolleges from single sex to coeduca-tional institutions, and the rapidlybroadening career opportunities forwomen underscored the desirabilityof not only having more lay teach-ers and staff members but also ofobtaining lay advisors in variousareas of school management.Lay Advisory Board structureswere developed which eventuallyevolved into duly establishedBoards of Trustees.

In 1975, the five Americanprovincials issued The Goals andCriteria of Sacred Heart Schools inthe United States, a statementagreed upon by each of the nine-

teen schools, which was meant toassure the continuance of St.Madeleine Sophie’s philosophy ofeducation in each school. Thesegoals and criteria formalized intopolicy the basics St. MadeleineSophie had envisioned for SacredHeart education—a personal andactive faith in God; a deep respectfor intellectual values; a socialawareness which impels to action;the building of community as aChristian value; and personalgrowth in an atmosphere of wisefreedom. To ensure that these goalsare truly at the heart of each insti-tution as the source of inspirationand the touchstone for decisionmaking, a commission was set up—the Network Commission onGoals—with the responsibility toevaluate each school every fiveyears on its fidelity in living thegoals. The Commission thenreports it findings to the UnitedStates Provincial.

LEADERSHIPThe leadership of Greenwich

during these crucial decades meritsspecial recognition.

Heading the School from 1962to 1967, Sister Ursula Kirk, RSCJmet the challenge of leading the

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Students decorate the windows of theUpper School Core Center (formerlythe senior study hall) for Christmas inthe 1990s.

Mrs. Kathy Williams Dunn with her classin front of Barat House in the 1970s.

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School through some of the mostradical changes in structure, regula-tions and discipline. Vatican II,coupled with the anti-Vietnamenvironment, required strong yetsensitive leadership.

Sister Jean Bautz, RSCJcontinued to lead Greenwich’sresponse to the shifts withinAmerican Catholicism and thewider world. Sister Bautz led theSchool from 1967 to 1969 and thenstayed on as Superior for a year,while Sister Rose Marie Quilter,RSCJ replaced her as headmistress.

Headmistress from 1970 to1980, Sister Nancy Salisbury, RSCJhad run the Middle School prior toassuming the headship and waswell known to students, parents,faculty and staff. Her belief in theone child, for whom St. MadeleineSophie had founded the Society,was evident throughout her tenure.Commitment to the fullest devel-opment of the individual child ledto many curricular and extracurric-ular changes.

Sister Salisbury saw the blue,green and pink ribbons replaced bystudent governments. The LilyProcession became the annualMother/ Daughter liturgy, white

gloves and white uniforms for spe-cial occasions gave way to “a nicedress” for Prizes. When consideringthe challenges Sister Salisbury hadto meet, one is reminded of a talkReverend Mother Gertrude Bodkin,one of the great educators of theSociety and Superior Vicar of theNew York Province, gave to theAssociated Alumnae of the SacredHeart in 1949:

It is not easy to distinguish theimmutable from the ephemeral asthe Church and a true Catholicspirit teach us to do. Educatorshave to be on their guard on thispoint. They have to be very sure ofbasic principles to be able to adaptthem to what seems to be an entire-ly new world condition. As MotherStuart says, “We do not do exactlywhat Mother Foundress did in herday but as she would do NOW ifshe were in our circumstances.”

Sister Salisbury was sure ofbasic principles and when she leftGreenwich for the Convent at 91stStreet in New York, she left aschool, a community, a family, thatknew what it stood for, was experi-enced in problem-solving andprepared to meet the future.

DIVERSITYIt was during this decade of the

1970s that the School expanded its

Lower School children enjoying artclass, 1970s.

The 1966 field hockey team.

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long-standing commitment to teachtoward racial unity and justice. TheSociety of the Sacred Heart’s historyin the United States beginning withSt. Philippine Duchesne, had beenassociated with diversity. In 1938Mother Grace Dammann, RSCJ, thepresident of Manhattanville College,in the Manhattanville Resolves issueda clarion call to broaden the compo-sition of the student body and to thatend secured scholarship monies toimplement her intentions at theCollege. Annually ten percent ofGreenwich’s tuition income is setaside for financial aid.

One of the students, who cameto Greenwich in those years and istoday a practicing attorney workingto help change the system, relatedthe following in Horizons, the alum-nae magazine of Greenwich:

I was one of the first blackstudents to attend Sacred Heart.. . . My four years at SacredHeart were fabulous. I lovedschool, learning and being sur-rounded by caring staff. I lovedthe sense of belonging, the senseof family, the sense of love that Ireceived from Sacred Heart. Fora young girl from the ghetto, thatwas the life jacket that saved mefrom drowning.

In the mid 1990s Greenwich

added the new position of a full-time Director of Diversity whoserves both children of color and thetotal school population.

In 1980, Sister KathleenConan, RSCJ assumed the responsi-bilities of headmistress, which shecarried until 1990. The challengesshe faced were many as she strove toconsolidate the changes of the pastdecade. It was under her leadership,that among other accomplishments,the formal move from a layAdvisory Board to a Board ofTrustees was finalized, the academicprogram was broadened andstrengthened, and the second capitalcampaign in the School’s historywas launched. The goal of the cam-paign was to replace St. Michael’s,the “temporary” Quonset hut whichhad served as a gymnasium since1945. In 1990 after Sister JoanMagnetti, RSCJ became head-mistress, the campaign was com-pleted and the gym dedicated.

SPECIAL MEMORIES OF TEACHERS

Every alumna has specialmemories of a teacher or teachers.Marguerite McGaw’s challengingEnglish class and dynamic JoanMaddy’s math classes were recalledby some. One remembered Sister

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Upper School students enjoying a specialcongé goûter in the 1970s.

Mrs. Shirley Thormann teaching anUpper School history class in the 1980s.

Lower School students trying out an earlycomputer.

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Grace Leslie, RSCJ, the first direc-tor of college guidance, for being sopatient with her and her essay;another credited her felicity ofphrase to Mothers Edna McCaffreyand Helen McClatchy. SisterPatricia Binkert, RSCJ gaveanother a love of Teilhard deChardin; and yet another attributedher ability to see the bright side oflife to Sister Nancy Boyle, RSCJ,her boarding school director. PegMelford’s exacting and energeticdirection led to field hockey andbasketball championships in thedays prior to leagues being formed.One alumna recalled the fascinat-

ing history classes taught byShirley Thormann and added,“Mrs. Thormann was a model ofwillingness to help out wherevershe was needed—even to becominghead of the Upper School.”Michelle d’Auriac is always a centerof grateful past French studentswhen she returns to campus forspecial events. When a memorialservice was held for the inimitableart teacher, Veeps Pomex, thechapel was filled with students andcolleagues who shared remem-brances of Veeps’ kindnesses andher delightful humor. The list ofboth lay and religious teachers whohave had a lasting impact on thelives of their students could go onand on. Suffice to say, these womenand men are remembered not onlyfor their interesting teaching butjust as importantly because theyknew how and when to “be there”for their students.

This is exemplified in the fol-lowing tribute offered by CarolMadden, class of 1977, and later ateacher and assistant dorm direc-tor, to Sister Rosemary Sheehan,RSCJ when she left the UpperSchool in 1988 after serving as itshead for 20 years:

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Religious came from Manhattanville tojoin the Greenwich community for thededication of the new wing in 1960.

Aspiring thespians entertain the audiencein the auditorium during a recent springCelebration of the Arts.

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I must confess that as a studentI was not a fan of Sister Sheehan.She was part of the administra-tion—an authority figure. I hadsome difficulty with authority fig-ures. . . . Sister Sheehan challengedus to make decisions we could livewith and to choose to act accord-ingly. She emphasized that we hadthe ability and responsibility tomake choices. When our decisionswere not wise, we were not made tofeel worthless or evil—we simplywere challenged to face what wehad done. Sister Sheehan is theonly person I know who cansilence one hundred and eightyrambunctious teenagers, have themface their wrongs, feel actualremorse, and then start the daywith a sense of self-esteem.

Meg Gaillard ’91 in an articleentitled, “Sacred Heart: What ItHas Done for Others—What It HasDone for Me” in Horizons, speaks ofher experiences at the School andoffers the following comment:

Aside from a rigorous courseload, Sacred Heart encourages usto be courageous, curious, inde-pendent women with great person-al awareness. The size fosters asense of community based on hon-esty, trust and concern. It alsomakes the student body muchmore close-knit than in otherschools. It is this factor that cre-

ates an environment of involve-ment and genuine caring amongstudents and faculty. The Schoolis an extension of home.

THE FARM

Environmental education is animportant element in the expansionof the science program. This currentcommitment to the environment hasdeep roots at the School and wasintegral to the Farm Program. Thenotion of a farm was not new for theacres on King Street, which was orig-inally known as Overlook Farm.Also, in the summers during WorldWar II—between the time the prop-erty was purchased and the Schoolopened—the RSCJs hada small farm. SisterMcLaughlin remem-bered being a “reaper”during the summer whenthe young Religiousspent time there.

In the early 1980s,Sisters Margo Morris,RSCJ and SuzanneRogers, RSCJ of theGreenwich faculty con-ceived a unique plan forexperiential learning,grounded in philosophyand theology, but

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The farm area as it was when theschool moved to Greenwich.

A vigorous recent hockey game.

In 1998 the barn was remodeled.

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including science, economics andenvironmental studies. The ener-gizing vision upon which the FarmProgram was based identified “theearth as subject, alive and unfold-ing, not as object to be exploited.”The offerings at the Farm werestructured around environmentaleducation, community develop-ment, skill development and atti-tude development.

Originallylocated around theold barn on theSchool property, thisprogram moved in1990 to a 100-acreproperty in DutchessCounty, New York.Sprout Creek Farm,as it is now known,offers programs forNetwork students,for schools in thePoughkeepsie area,for faculty membersand for other adults.

The area on the campus vacated bythe Sprout Creek group is currentlybeing used for the School’s SummerAcademy, an outreach programwhich has a farm component; forastronomy classes held in the newobservatory; and for the environ-

mental education classes included inthe regular curriculum.

INTO THE ’90sThe 1990s continued to see the

expansion of the student body as theSchool grew in “wisdom, age andgrace.” Under the direction of SisterMagnetti and a staff of committedfaculty, administrative staff andtrustees, the student body increasedfrom 295 to 550 girls. Reaching outto students from Yonkers to Fair-field, Danbury, and New City, NewYork, the sense of family and homewas reinforced. Research on the ben-efits of education for girls in single-sex schools as well as the desire offamilies for strong religious valuescentering on the love of God andservice of others, drew many fami-lies to Sacred Heart.

Changes to the facilitiesimproved the athletic and academicprograms. In 1990, as indicatedearlier, an athletic facility was builtto replace the “temporary” quonsethut. The new building houses aregulation size basketball court, anexercise room and a dance studio.When the boarding school wasclosed in 1991, the boarders’ roomsin the estate building were convert-ed to Middle School classrooms.

Colleen Mara, Molly Danius, Board ChairJames Alban-Davies, Headmistress JoanMagnetti, Bishop Edward Egan, Msgr. KevinWallin at the dedication of the new gym.

The school logo in the center of the newbasketball court.

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The Religious moved from the thirdfloor into Stuart and the first floorof Barat was remodeled to offerappropriate space for the early child-hood program. Barat’s upstairsbecame faculty living quarters.

While the physical changes arestriking, even more dramatic arethe continuing expansion andstrengthening of the academic pro-gram. Consistent and constantefforts have been made to offer achallenging, contemporary academ-ic program which leads to studentsbeing designated Merit Scholarsand Finalists, being accepted in thebest colleges they choose and beingable to follow the lead of their pre-decessors in becoming outstandingcontributors in a wide variety ofprofessions. Strong Lower andMiddle School programs ready theUpper Schoolers to enroll in honorscourses and to select from among adozen or so advanced placementcourses. The faculty study the latestresearch in their disciplines as wellas new findings on teaching andlearning styles best suited for theeducation of girls.

The educational program took ahuge leap forward in the early 1990swith the expansion of technology.The libraries became Media Centers.Sacred Heart was among the firstschools in the Fairchester Associa-tion of Independent Schools to havea T1 line. In June 1997, the Boardapproved joining the Laptops forLearning Program. By the end ofthe summer all Middle and UpperSchool faculty members had receivedlaptop computers. They havefollowed intensive on and off-campusprograms on integrating technologyand learning. Power-point presenta-tions and more thorough research onthe Internet are among the opportu-nities provided for enhanced learn-ing through the use of laptops.Meanwhile, each Lower Schoolteacher received either a desktop or alaptop for opening up age appropri-ate technology programs for PreKthrough grade six students.

The Long-Range Plan of 1996-2000 took up the challenge ofimproving the sciences for youngwomen. An extensive capital cam-paign was begun with the goal ofbuilding a state-of-the-art sciencefacility. A 25,000 square footbuilding was designed to comple-ment the integrity of the 1900

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Beginnings of the Laptop Program, 1998.

Preschoolers busy reading.

Middle School Prize Day, 1998.

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Georgian estate building. It housessix new labs to accommodate theneeds of Lower, Middle and UpperSchool girls, including labs forphysics, biology, chemistry andadvanced placement courses. Thecafeteria was expanded, classroomsrenovated, an observatory built, andan entire new roadway and parkingfacilities were created. Endowmentfor faculty development and finan-cial aid were also identified as majorneeds. Parents, alumnae and friendscontributed $13 million to assurethat Sacred Heart entered its onehundred and fiftieth year celebra-tion in a position of strength.

COMMUNITY SERVICEThe outreach programs at

Greenwich have always been a hall-mark of the School. CommunityService (a graduation requirementfor many years) has been expanded,and an Outreach Program with afull-time director involves alumnae,present and past parents and stu-dents. The long-standing link withthe Carver Center in Port Chesterenables the girls to serve in after-school programs and also welcomesHeadstart children to campus everyweek. Greenwich girls participatein the Network of Sacred HeartSchools’ service programs eachsummer, and many graduates havebrought their commitment to ser-vice to their college campuses bystrengthening existing programs orcreating new ones. They bear wit-ness to the Gospel adage oftenquoted by St. Madeleine SophieBarat, “Those to whom much isgiven, much is required.”

DREAMS COME TRUEOn September 19, 1998,

Bishop Edward Egan dedicatedthe Eileen Dealy Gillespie ’49Science Center and concelebratedthe Sesquicentennial Liturgy.Over twelve hundred peoplegathered under a huge tent on the

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The Eileen Dealy Gillespie ‘49 ScienceCenter under construction in 1998.

A Lower School student contributesto a recent Food Drive.

The procession to the tent on thefront lawn for the SesquicentennialLiturgy in 1998.

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front lawn, joined by thirty-eightstudents and eighteen faculty repre-senting the twenty Network schoolsin the United States who had par-ticipated in a Science Symposiumat the School the previous day. Sureof the fidelity of God and the abid-ing values of Sacred Heart educa-tion, the School pledged itself anewto live out those values whichAloysia Hardey first nurtured inlower New York City.

IN CONCLUSION

Sacred Heart, Greenwich, hastraveled from Lower Manhattan tothe Bronx to Connecticut. Each stepof the journey has been guided bythe vision of St. Madeleine SophieBarat and led by committed womenof faith, women of spirit. It was aworldwide vision that includedchildren from all countries, differentraces, different social and economicbackgrounds and different faiths.The children would leave schoolready to give to their communitiesand be eager to continue learningand growing throughout their lives.They would be prepared to recog-nize the need for change and be ableto identify effective ways to achieveit. While the Goals and Criteria ofthe Network Schools were originally

articulated to ensure the continuingimplementation of St. MadeleineSophie’s educational philosophy inthe schools, the years of integratingthem into the life of the School hasled to the conclusion that these areindeed guidelines for living—a hall-mark of the “child” of the SacredHeart, be that “child” a teacher, astudent, a parent, a trustee or a staffmember. The most recent accredita-tion by the New EnglandAssociation of Schools and Collegesincluded the following statement,“The Visiting Committee com-mends the trustees, administrationand faculty for their adherence tothe School’s stated mission to edu-cate the students in the light ofChristian principles and to preparestudents for participation in anevolving church in an interdepen-dent world.”

Thanking God for his lovingfidelity to Greenwich over the pastone hundred and fifty years and ask-ing for the continued outpouring ofHis love during the journey into thefuture were the recurring themes ofthe Sesquicentennial.

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Caitlin Fay and Allison Gilbert exchange flow-ers at the traditional ring ceremony. 1998.

(Above left) Mrs. Mary Musolino guidesher chemistry students through an exper-iment, 1998.

(Above right) Enthusiastic Lower Schoolersenjoy the 1998 congé.

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Epilogue

IIn September 1990, Sister JoanMagnetti, RSCJ was installed asHeadmistress of Greenwich. Theceremony took place in the chapelwhere she had taken her vows as aReligious of the Sacred Heart yearsearlier. During her presentation tothe assembled guests, she said:

Our work, yours and mine, is tohelp create understanding and wisehearts. Wisdom is a gift of God. Itis beyond board scores, I.Q. andclass rank. It transcends knowl-edge and leads to holiness. Holinessin the Old Testament was synony-mous with mercy and justice. . . .

Sister Magnetti relates the con-cept of justice to the “timeless”vision of her congregation. Shebelieves that the education ofwomen relates directly to the issueof social justice.

We educate to view the worldthrough the eyes of Christ. . . .Weeducate that the wounded heart ofChrist may be perceived in human-ity. . . . It is a call to women to berepairers. . . .

The task in light of the chal-lenges of the times may seem over-whelming, but to the daughters andchildren of the Sacred Heart, it is aclarion call to vision, faith and com-mitment. For one hundred and fiftyyears Greenwich/Maplehurst hasbeen “the vicinity” where the vision

of St. Madeleine Sophie Barat hasbeen nurtured and has borne fruit.It is testimony to the commitmentof the Sacred Heart family that theSchool has inaugurated a new phaseof expansion. Alumnae, parents,trustees and friends are continuingthe mission of educating youngwomen to do God’s work. A refur-bished and enlarged campus willenable this institution to move for-ward into the 21st Century, empow-ering young women to continuetheir role in transforming society.

Sacred Heart, Greenwich, canlook to the future with hopeinspired by the vision, faith andcommitment of so many. As SisterMagnetti reminded all that day inthe chapel:

This is a work of God.Because we are a Sacred Heartschool, a school bearing the nameof God's heart, we can have fullconfidence that we are not alone.God never fails. The Lord hasbeen our cornerstone.

Senior Molly O’Gorman, carrying theGreenwich Sesquicentennial Banner,leads the procession of the banners of theNetwork Schools to the liturgy, 1998.