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Sternitzke, S. Mary Denise, Oral History, 6/28/2017
She speaks warmly of her family. Her father was overjoyed when she joined the Community. Her mother had reservations, but grew to be very proud of her daughter's call to religious life. Initially, Sister taught in elementary schools and struggled with this age group. As she speaks of her transition to high school students, you can hear her voice change. She loved working with these students and inspiring them to overcome their fear of math and science. Her stories illustrate a lifelong commitment to educating herself. As math and science research progressed, she did graduate work in mathematics, chemistry, and physics in order to better teach these subjects. She talks about her love of languages. She studied German earlier in life, and in retirement, she was tackling Russian on her iPad. Other topics include her transition to school administration, college teaching, and Leadership positions as Secondary Education Representative on the Personnel Board and a Chapter representative. Sister also spends a good deal of time speaking about her relationship to prayer throughout her life. -
Sister Charles Miriam Strassel, SC Interviewed by Sister Judith Metz, SC March 16, 1993
An interview with Sister Charles Miriam Strassel by Sister Judith Metz. This recording is a part of the oral history series housed at the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Archives.
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Sugrue, Sister Noreen, SC Oral History
Sr. Noreen Sugrue has shared her reative skills as a teacher, artist and Congregation archivist. She taught elementary grades, spirituality to novices, and art to students of all ages, including one summer in Appalachia and ten summers at the New York Foundling. From 1973-1986 as the Assistant Archivist for the Congregation, she chose a new archives storage location and designed the building space, managed the artifacts in the Elizabeth Seton Museum, and arranged and described the historic materials.
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Poor Box from St. Patrick’s Asylum, Manhattan
The first New York mission of the Sisters of St. Joseph in New York, the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum, was incorporated in 1817. Known as St. Patrick’s Asylum due to proximity to St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, the orphanage was quickly filled, to capacity. To raise funds for a new building, a poor box was placed in St. Patrick’s Orphan Asylum by Sr. Elizabeth Boyle, who became the first Mother Superior of the Sisters of Charity of New York in 1846. The donations placed in the poor box were a source of support for many. The word, ‘Charity’ in gold, capital letters is painted on the front of box; a wood cross is positioned on top of the box.
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Embroidery on silk of pandas
In October 1996 Sister Mary Carita Pendergast, a Sister of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, received this piece of embroidery, framed in glass, from Agnes Chao, a Chinese woman living in Shanghai at the time. Sister Carita had been a missioner in Hunan Province, China from 1933 to 1951. The Sisters of Charity raised the orphaned Agnes from infancy and educated her to the level of a normal school (teacher education) graduate. Agnes then taught in the Sisters’ school in Wuki.
When the Communist government interrogated Sister Carita prior to her expulsion from China in 1951, they turned to Agnes and demanded that she testify to the Sisters’ crimes, which she refused to do even with a gun pointed at her. In 1996 Agnes Chao was a grandmother, working in a factory; the cost of shipping the package to Sister Carita – a token of Agnes’s gratitude and concern – might have been two months’ salary.
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Statue of Madonna and Child Jesus
This statue of the Madonna and Child Jesus was given to Sister Mary Xavier Mehegan, a Sister of Charity of New York, circa 1859. The statue was given to her by the Sisters of Charity of New York when Sister Mary Xavier agreed to help found the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth in New Jersey. Now Mother Mary Xavier, she kept the statue in the first Motherhouse in Newark, New Jersey and carried it in her arms on the carriage ride to rural Morris County on July 2, 1860 when the Motherhouse was relocated to Madison, New Jersey. It is on display in the Heritage Room of the Motherhouse. -
Snowsuit from Roselia Boarding Baby
Description
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.
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Key to the St. Joseph Motherhouse (Stokes Mansion) at Seton Hill
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. -
Rocking chair, kneeler and wheelchair used by Foundress, Mère Marie-Anne
Rocking chair, kneeler and wheelchair, were used by Foundress, Mère Marie-Anne; she was 73 years old when she, with 52 sisters, founded Religieuses de Notre-Dame-Du_Sacre-Coeur
(Our Lady of the Sacred Heart). This is the first wheelchair used in the Congregation. -
Figurine of St. Joseph
This figurine was likely hand-carried across the Isthmus of Panama by the Pioneer Sisters traveling to San Francisco, California in 1852. It was among the contents of the corner stone from the original Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum (1852-1873).