Mother Angela Gillespie, the Virtual Foundress

1824–1887

Eliza Gillespie of Brownsville. She was born Eliza Maria Gillespie in 1824 at Brownsville, Pennsylvania. On 17 April 1853, at Bertrand, she received the habit from Father Sorin as Sister Mary of St. Angela. The congregation sent her to France to make her novitiate and — the detail that marks her gifts — to learn the instruction of deaf-mutes, a work the community was forming teachers for. She returned in February 1854 and received the obedience of directress of the academy at Bertrand, where the annals credit her with raising the school past all expectation and with fashioning with her own hands the first rude bookshelves dignified with the name of library. When the community moved to the Rush property in 1855 she came with it, and she governed the American congregation until her death on 4 March 1887. The Catholic Encyclopedia's judgment is the one the record keeps: she must be regarded as the virtual foundress of the order in the United States.

Thirty-five schools, and a magazine. President Conboy's 2021 summary of the college's record credits Mother Angela with founding or overseeing thirty-five schools and with instituting courses in advanced mathematics, philosophy, modern languages, music, and the arts at Saint Mary's. She served as editor of Ave Maria, the magazine her brother edited — Neal Henry Gillespie, a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross — and she published a series of educational readers that carried the sisters' classrooms' standards far beyond the bend. The documented color of her South Bend years includes her cousin: Ellen Ewing Sherman, wife of General William Tecumseh Sherman, took up temporary residence in South Bend in 1864 to have her young family educated at Notre Dame and Saint Mary's, the two schools of the one congregation across the river from each other.

Sources

1. HARC, Archival Reference Guide, chronology of the sisters — the habit received from Sorin, 17 April 1853; the death of Mother Angela, 4 March 1887.
2. Catholic Encyclopedia, "Sisters of the Holy Cross" — "the virtual foundress of the order in the United States"; the France novitiate and the deaf-mute instruction; her government until her death.
3. Sisters of the Holy Cross, "History" (cscsisters.org) — Mother Angela as editor of Ave Maria and author of the educational readers.
4. Saint Mary's College, "Address from President Katie Conboy" (2021) — the thirty-five schools and the courses instituted.
5. A Story of Fifty Years (1905) — Sister Angela directress at Bertrand from February 1854; the library shelves.
6. Saint Mary's College reference record — Ellen Ewing Sherman's 1864 residence in South Bend for her children's schooling.