Salve Regina University - Regina Maris Yearbook (Newport, RI)

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SALVE REGINA ' S sign swings to and fro, And welcomes travelers ere they go, It opens doors to college cheers, That help us smile through the years, The lamp above lights the way, Shining o ' er our college night and day.

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We E DEDICATE THE Regina Maris this year to Sister Mary James, R.S.M., Ph.D., of beloved memory. Though saddened at the loss of her who was our first Dean, we are nevertheless blessed in having an advocate with God during the beautiful days of this Marian year. So truly did her religious life nurture all that was vital in her spirit, that it is difficult to speak of death as claiming Sister Mary James. Rather, time reached full circle for her on December 4, 1953. Her glorious spirit continues to live more abundantly now in the eternal homeland. Nurtured vitality, a spirit purified and made strong by prayer and penance, and a courage ever refusing to slumber in procrastination are concepts easily associated with Sister Mary James. Since her dedicated service as a Sister of Mercy in 1909, her spirit was energized, vitalized by Christ ' s own Life, by close conformity to His Will. And Thy whole Self impart. This invocation to the Holy Spirit was her constant prayer in her hours of teaching, of counseling, and of administra ' tion. The petition kept her ever mindful of the necessity of her own imparting. For hers was the generous spirit of labor without reckoning cost or gain. The price of charity exacted in the exercise of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy was herself — her own convenience, her own will, her own satisfaction. Self must be imparted wholly. Sister Mary James realized this truth in her own living. Once she set a goal for herself, nothing de- fleeted her from it. Whatever the price in prayer, sacrifice, courage, and zeal, her purchasing power was equal to it. Though Sister ' s is a long record of service and achievement, her most outstanding work was done at Saint Xavier ' s where she was principal from 1936-1947, and at Salve Regina College in her ap- pointment as dean from its opening in 1947 until September, 1953. During her eleven-year term as principal of Saint Xavier ' s, the academy enrollment was rapidly in- creasing year by year. Sister ' s administration ably coped with problems created by a large student body and a full program of extra-curricular activ- ities. She successfully co-ordinated student and faculty relations in an expansive curriculum. Sister Mary James departmentalized classes and appointed heads of departments in an effort to make teachers specialists in their own fields. She planned for a creative writing course, a school magazine, and an official student handbook. Complementing a well-functioning club program, Sister Mary James organized the guidance depart- ment, introduced the Placement Bureau, the pho- tography, sewing, art, debating, and foreign lan- guage clubs. During the World War II emergency period, she arranged for home nursing and first aid courses, for aviation and nutritional science. Sister planned an excellent lecture program to supplement class work. Though her community spirit was manifested in her educational work in general, her zeal in fos- tering religious vocations was particularly active. She organized Vocation Week as an annual event at the academy, planned for the writing and circula- tion of vocation pamphlets, arranged for private counseling and for a campaign of fervent prayer in behalf of aspirants to the religious life. In 1947, her final year at Saint Xavier ' s, the academy grad- uated 307 seniors. It was in this same year that Sister Mary James was appointed first dean of Salve Regina College. The work of pioneering the first Catholic College for women in the State of Rhode Island during the last six years of her life was to crown the record of her educational achievements which extended over a period of forty-five years. The General Assembly of Rhode Island granted the Charter for Salve Regina College to the Sisters of Mercy March 16, 1934. From its incorporation until the formal opening of the College September 21, 1947, Sister Mary James made a study of college curricula and organized the Salve Regina College Library. This preliminary work enabled her to lay a solid foundation into whose educational cornerstone went the untiring energy, the unflagging self sacri- fice, and the prayerful planning of an Educator to whose memory the future superstructure will be a lasting memorial in Salve Regina College Archives. The Bachelor of Arts Program with concentration in various fields of study, and the Bachelor of Sci- ence Curriculum with specialization in Nursing were initiated by Sister Mary James who kept abreast of the times in these fields by her study of educational progress in the United States. BELOVED IN MEMORY 17