CINCINNATI CELEBRATES 150 YEARS

Many Changes in Cincinnati!

The Sisters of Mercy have been in Cincinnati 150 years!

In the 1850s Cincinnati had a population of 200,000 with 50,000 Catholics. Archbishop Purcell asked Mrs. Sarah Peter, a benevolent convert, to go abroad to find religious men and women to serve the missionary needs of Cincinnati. In 1857 Mrs. Peter visited Kinsale, Ireland and asked for Sisters of Mercy. Mother Mary Teresa Maher declined the invitation because their number of Sisters was small and the needs of Kinsale were great. After a second request and with the support of the local Bishop, Mother Teresa not only agreed, but led the band herself. On Friday, July 23, 1858, four professed Sisters besides Mother Teresa, four novices, a postulant and an aspirant of the Kinsale community left their beloved convent for the New World. The group went to England, and then came by sea to New York. They visited the Dublin foundation in New York before taking the hot, fatiguing overland trip to Cincinnati with Mrs. Peter.

Ten Sisters and an aspirant arrived on August 18, 1858, and took up residence with Mrs. Sarah Peter on Lytle Street. The morning after their arrival, Archbishop Purcell came to Sarah Peter’s residence, said Mass, and gave Holy Communion and benediction to the Sisters. Their original quarters were named "Convent of Divine Will." On August 24, 1858, the Archbishop canonically appointed Sister Teresa Maher as Mother Superior of the community and the Cincinnati Sisters of Mercy Community became a foundation. In October they moved to their own house on Sycamore Street, an old frame structure, damp, airless and disintegrating from age and neglect. The Church of Cincinnati was poor; the Sisters opened a night school and Infant Boys' School, and the major elements of their apostolate were in motion. These were just the beginnings of the many undertakings the Sisters of Mercy would accept in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Education, nursing and social service all became part of their daily life.

Because of the unsanitary living conditions, the strenuous work and the way of life endured by the Sisters, several Sisters died of consumption or some similar disease. The source of vocations from Ireland was not yet open to them, and the many German girls in Cincinnati entered the German communities. The Irish were very poor and their daughters were needed at home. The Sisters determined that a recruitment visit to Ireland was needed. Mother Teresa and Sister Mary Baptist Kane left and returned six months later with six new members.

Because of a need for their ministries especially their sodalities, and the Sisters own desire for daily Mass, it was determined that the Sisters could build a Church with space to hold the meetings of the Sodalities and also for daily Eucharist. Moneys were raised by the Sisters by the sale of “Meditations According to the Method of St. Ignatius on the Sufferings, Life and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ; translated by a Sister of Mercy” – probably Mother Mary Baptist’s work.

Ground was broken for the Church of the Atonement in September 1870. The cornerstone was laid on September 24, 1871 and described in The Catholic Telegraph as a church which “…promises to be one of the handsomest in the city.” The Church of the Atonement was completed and dedicated on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul in 1873. Not long after this the Archbishop proposed that the Church be deeded over to the diocese, but they did not want the debt, which, however, they later did assume. The Sisters Choir, a side chapel, Cloister, and Sacristy were not included in the deed.

The intrepid Sisters of Mercy continued to respond to needs for their services throughout the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. The same was happening in many other communities of Mercy throughout the United States. There were more than sixty motherhouses. In 1929, thirty-nine independent communities joined together to form an amalgation. It was called the “Sisters of Mercy of the Union of the United States of America.” Cincinnati was one to join immediately along with Louisville and Nashville. These three communities became known as the Province of Cincinnati. Later the Fremont community (June 10, 1936) and the Sisters of the island of Jamaica (May 6, 1953) became part of the Province. There were six Provinces; three more were added later. The Sisters of Mercy and their works continued to flourish in Cincinnati and throughout United States.

Over the years growth and changes continued. With the Vatican Council and the many changes in the Church, there were also many changes in religious communities. Some religious women began to hear a new call from God and left religious life to start a new life outside the religious communities. There was a decline in religious vocations and the numbers in the Cincinnati Province dropped as well.

The Sisters of Mercy across the United States began looking to further their mission by having independent communities as well as the nine Provinces join what was called the Institute of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. In 1991, 26 communities celebrated the new beginnings and elected Sister Doris Gottemoeller from the Province of Cincinnati as the first Institute President. The former Province of Cincinnati became known as the Regional Community of Cincinnati.

But as the years passed, changes were still happening. The Institute Office called the Leadership of the various communities to look at forming new entities. In the plan there would be six groups. Some had already been studying the possibility of joining one another. For Cincinnati there was this gentle pull to the former Provinces of Baltimore and St. Louis. There seemed to be many commonalities. Then an invitation was extended to the Belmont, NC community to be part of the group to study the possibilities for the future. These four communities stretched from as far north as Toledo and Cleveland, Ohio and south to Georgia, Texas and Mississippi; east to the Atlantic Ocean and west to St. Louis, Missouri and Oklahoma and also included the island of Jamaica in the Caribbean and Guam in the Pacific Ocean – a mighty area!

The last few years have been busy as we plan for the formation of a new entity called the South Central Community. It is a major task of reconfiguring and reimagining. There are fears and hopes; tears and laughter as we move forward always following in the steps of Catherine McAuley, celebrating with one another, and ministering to others in Mercy.