Immaculata High School - Immaculata Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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Qi 9 in is-N --ff ORIGINS The Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived in the hearts of four young Irish girls who joined together, in one of their country's darkest hours, to serve God by ministering to their fellow men. It was during the cholera plague of l83l, that Mary Frances Clarke, Rose O'Toole, Elizabeth Kelly, and Margaret Mann braved the terrors of disease to bring comfort to the sufferers of Dublin, and discovered in their souls the kinship of a common purpose. When the epidemic had passed, these girls were inspired to carry on their association. During the gruelling months they had discovered a vast, neglected area of the Lord's vineyard- the youth, So, securing a cottage in the suburbs, they began the religious instruction of children. Their first formal school was opened on the feast of St. Joseph, March I9, l832, and was called Miss Clarke's School. But the work of these young lrish girls was not to take root in the soil of ireland. The courage and faith which had led them to face the plague prompted them to find their apostolate where the need of their services was greatest, They resolved to set out for America, About this time an incident occurred which left a deep impression on the young aspirants to the religious life. Out on an errand of charity, they were about to cross the River Liffey when the center span of the bridge collapsed. A venerable appearing man rescued them from imminent danger and, bidding them adieu, spoke these prophetic words:

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THE IIVIMACULATA looks back to the day of its foundation, with a prayer of gratitude for the fruitfulness of the years, with a surge of pride for the success of its graduates, and with a tribute of filial love for those inspired girls who, more than a century ago, began the work which the Pane. -.ii THE 1941 IMMACULATA carries forward. if

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Go where you will, ladies, the hand of God is over you, With these words buoying up their hearts, Miss Clarke and her companions boarded ship at Liverpool on July l8, l833. They reached Philadelphia on September 7 to find that their only American acquaintance had been stricken by a fatal illness. ln their bewilderment their benefactor of the Liffey Bridge appeared and directed them to St. Joseph's Church, where they found friends. Father Donaghoe, the pastor, enlisted the young ladies for his Sunday School, and later he placed them in charge of a new private school. As time went on, guided by the counsel of their pastor, the young ladies determined to associate themselves under the religious vows. lt was on November l, l833, that they received the religious habit from the hands of Father Donaghoe, who appointed Mother Mary Frances Clarke as Superior and Sister Mary Mar- garet Mann as her assistant. From this humble beginning the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary whose Mother House was moved to Dubuque, Iowa, in l843, have carried the inspiration of four devoted Irish girls throughout the Middle West. The Sisters now number l,869, and they conduct lO8 elementary schools, 45 high schools, and 2 colleges. Thus the dream of l832, conceived in a tiny Dublin school, has fulfillment in many institutions like THE IMMACULATA OF 4 Zlhltilli filllliltx T ' J: Sl si' 41 ..- ' Y In gl