St Marys Academy - Blue Star Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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SaintMary’s Academy, 206 East Seventh Street, was the second build- ing occupied by the Sister s of the Holy Cross in Austin, Texas. From this building were graduated most of the academy’s present alumnae.

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HISTORY OF SAINT MARY’S ACADEMY, AUSTIN, TEXAS The citizens of Austin, Texas barely had begun to carve new lives for themselves from the chaos following the Civil War when a call for Holy Cross recruits was sounded in their city. Mother M. Angela and Sister M. Raymond, in company with Father Sorin, arrived in Austin in March of 1872, only seven years after Lee’s surrender at Appommatox. Austin was then nothing more than a village whose ad- vantages were natural ones: the river, the hills, the valley. Mother Angela had come to this rough Texas town in answer to a plea from Father Nicholas Feltin, the pastor of Saint Mary’s Church. He wanted the Sisters of the Holy Cross to take over the administration of his parish school. Wisely, Mother Angela had accepted his offer, and thus were begun the labors of the Sisters of the Holy Cross in the capital of Texas. Because the sisters appointed to the new mission were late in arriving at Austin, Mother Angela and Sister M. Austin at first did all the work of teaching and cooking. The school, situated on the siteofwhat is now the sacristy of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, was nothing but a cabin consisting of two poorly furnished rooms. These rooms the sisters used as convent, dormitory, kitchen, classroom, parlor, and recreation hall. The beginnings of the Sisters of the Holy Cross in Austin were almost parallel to those of the Congregation during its early days of poverty and hardship in Bertrand, Michigan. By June, however, eighty pupils had enrolled at Saint Mary's School despite its lack of conveniences. At the close of the school year Mother Angela, satisfied with the progress of the new mission, returned to Indiana leaving Sister M. Mildred in charge as superior. During the next few years Saint Mary's acquired such a reputation for Christian education that its prestige increased as rapidly as its annual enrollment. By 1875 it became necessary to purchase a plot of ground ad- joining the school. On this site a new stone building was erected to provide both the sisters and the students with more commodious quarters. Although Saint Mary's Academy had already expanded twice since its founding, in 1882 it was deemed expedient for the sisters to find even more spacious grounds

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upon which to build a school with the facilities adequate to care for the many girls eager to acquire a Catholic education. The spot p u r c h a s e d by the Congregation was one of the most historic in Texas. When Austin became the capital of the Re- public of Texas this ground had been appropriated for the residence of Mirabeau B. Lamar, second president of the Republic. Many epoch making events had taken place in the white frame building on the hill overlooking Austin. In later years the property was p u r c h a s e d by Governor Peter Bell for his residence. The sisters bought the plot from Mrs. Mary Duffau. Because the new Saint Mary's Academy was expected to become one of the outstanding schools for girls in the South, an imposing edifice of Texas stone was planned for the ground on the hill. In the summer of 1885 the four-story building was completed. For eleven years the academy continued to grow, but is rapid strides were not confined to spiritual and scholastic spheres alone. A large north wing had been added to the school in 1901. The year 1908 saw recognition of Saint Mary's superior instruction in the form of affiliation with the University of Texas. By 1913 the registration had reached a mark that is still a peak in the history of the school, and in the Fall of that same year the Alumnae Association was organized. A half-century of endeavor to bring Christ into the lives of countless girls through the medium of a Christian education was completed in 1924, the Golden Jubilee year. The high esteem in which the academy was held not only by its local friends but also by all who had felt its influence, no matter how indirectly, was demonstrated on the occasion of the Jubilee. Telegrams poured in fromallover the country. TheSisters of the Holy Cross received a cablegram of benediction from the Sovereign Pontiff himself. These evidences of regard were fitting tribute to the efforts of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, some of whom had actually given their lives in the service of Saint Mary's Academy. The depression of the 1930 s left its mark on Saint Mary's as it did on numerous other institutions throughout the land. But the academy survived the trials of those years because of the beautiful faith of sisters and pupils alike. Indeed, the hand of