The Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill

The Wise Women of the Archives

“The dreamer turns her back upon the future; she sees only the past, and keeps it with her in the present. The visionary faces only the future, and learns nothing from the past. The wise woman from her vantage point in the present contemplates the vista of history; she comprehends the reality of the past and the possibilities of the future.”

-Sister Mary Electa Boyle, Author of Mother Seton’s Sisters of Charity in Western Pennsylvania

Sister M. Electa Boyle, the first archivist of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill and Seton Hill College, ruminated on the role of the archivist as one who can learn from the past to inform and guide the future. The sisters have had many gifted and dedicated congregational archivists over the years – Sr. Teresa Clare Kernan, Sr. Sara Louise Reilly, Sr. Mary Catherine Seli, and Sr. Louise Grundish, among many others.

The archives of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill were formally established in 1954 by Sr. Electa Boyle. Sister Teresa Clare Kernan succeeded her in 1968. Up until 1969, the archives of the sisters and their sponsored college, Seton Hill, were one and the same. In 1970, Sr. Mary Thaddeus McManama took charge of the college archives, separate from the congregation’s archives. When Sr. Sara Louise Reilly became congregational archivist in 1981, the congregation’s records were physically separated from the college.

These sister-archivists have organized, cataloged, and filed the history of the congregation. They have directed facts and hidden history into the deep recesses of their minds. They have come to know the legacy of the community through the smiling eyes of thousands of photographs, through letters from children to their beloved teachers, through decision-making in the Council minutes of past leadership, through a simple object left behind by a sister.

This intimate knowledge, this evidence of the charism at work has become manifest in the role of archivist and they have passed on this tradition. Casey Bowser, the congregation’s first lay archivist, was hired in 2017. The future points to the collections of the Sisters of Charity and, now, Seton Hill University being reunited once again.

A baby left on a convent doorstep on March 17, 1884 initiated the journey for the Sisters of Charity in Pittsburgh to establish their first healthcare institution, a medical facility and boarding home for foundlings and unwed pregnant women. With the help of Roselia and Charles Donnelly and other benefactors, the sisters opened a small house in July 1891. By the end of the first month, the admission of nineteen infants stressed the limits of the building. The need for additional space prompted Mr. Donnelly to purchase the old Ursuline Academy in the Hill District. It became known as Roselia Foundling and Maternity Hospital. From 1891 until its closure in 1971, over 27,000 orphaned and temporarily boarded children came through Roselia.

Nearly 50 years later, John Smith* contacted the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill to learn more about Roselia and for clues into his beginnings. John’s connection to the Sisters of Charity, though brief, hints at the influence the Sisters of Charity can and have had on children.

After his mother abandoned him at birth, infant John was sent to Roselia as a boarding baby in 1938. The Sisters of Charity in charge there lovingly cared for him for nine months. He was later formally adopted by his paternal grandparents. For 80 years, the outfit the Sisters delivered John home in was preserved in the family. The snowsuit includes the note: “Johnnie, You were so small your little feet were inside this little suit.”

Thankful for the love and care of the sisters and for the opportunity to live a full and rich life, John donated this snowsuit to the archives of the Sisters of Charity, along with the story of his upbringing and family. It serves as a symbol of the warmth and love the Sisters have had for children, particularly foundlings, adopted children, and infants. The Sisters of Charity hold the records of Roselia and continue to field research requests related to birth parents and children.

*Name anonymized to protect identity.

The original key to the front door of the Stokes Mansion which served as the first motherhouse and Academy of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill in Greensburg. Mother Aloysia Lowe, foundress of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, used the key up until her death in 1889. The Sisters preserved the key as a treasured memento of the community’s early years in Greensburg.

In 1932, in honor of the 50th Jubilee of the congregation, Father Daniel Sullivan, the first priest-president of Seton Hill College, commissioned a special engraved metal accompaniment for the key. It reads “With this key Mother Aloysia Lowe unlocked and entered this the first mother house of the Sisters of Charity Aug. 7 1882. Seton Hill.” On the reverse appears a quote attributed to Mother Aloysia which reads “I opened not merely the door of this house, I swung the gates of an era.” This attributed quote reflects the roles of Mother Aloysia as leader, foundress, and visionary. It serves as a reflection of the sisters’ astounding work over more than 150 years.

Click on the image to learn more about each object's significance.