The times., 1899-05-21
Centennial OF THE
VISITATION CONVENT
It's Celebration in the Closing
Days of May.
All the Living Alumna of the In
StitutiOn Invited.
Female College in neamerica-Car-
iinnI Gibbons Will Attend.

! Inc closing days OF May VIII witness the
centennial celebration of the Visitation
! Convent at Georgetown-now West Wash
ington-D. C. This is the third oldest Ro-
man Catholic female institute in the United
Siaf.s. Invitations for the centennial were
Issued two weeks ago. The design, which
Is printed on a double easheet of paper of
the richest quality. is the emblem of the
Sacred Heart, surrounded by crown of
thorns. This. in turn, is half surrounded by
a wreath of laurel and sixteen stars, rep
resenting the number of States in the
Union when the convent was founded The
whole is surmounted b. blazing cross,
between the flag of the Union and the
Papal flag. The words Georgetown Visi-
| tation Convent" stand out from a back
ground of wheat and grapes intertwined
| and sheaf of lilies of Nazareth. The in
scription recites that the convent, ''in a
spirit of reverent joy and thanksgiving for
the celestial blessings and material pros
perity granted her by beneficent Provi-
dence during hundred years OF life. would
gather to her heart, in this, her day of
gladness, her daughters. who are her glory
and her crown, among whom she recog-
rizes you with affection and cordially in
| yites you to be present at her centennial
celebration, May 29, 30, 81, 1Se9'
These invitations are accompanied by
cards for acceptance or regret They have
been sent to all the living alumnae OF the
| institution, the patronage OF which is so
widely extended that they viii doubtless
| reach every portion OF the civilized word
Many accepancss have already been re-
ceived. and a distinguished company will
be present at the celebration. Cardinal
Gibbons will preside al the first days ex-
ercises, and Will be the celebrant at the
Pontihcal mass, the second day with the
Papal Delegate, Monsignor Martiuelii. in
the sanctuary. A feature of the third
days programme Will be a centennial ode
by Miss Harriet Monroe. who graduated
from this convent in 1879. and in 1898
wrote the Columbian Ode for the World 5
Fair.
The nucleus of Georgetown Visitation
Convent was a small establishment of
Poor Clares, opened in Georgetown in
| 1892. by three noble French women, who
had fled to this country to escape the hor-
rors of the Revolution. Through the kind
ness of the Jesuit priests who. three years
earlier. had laid the foundation of George
town College, the penniless Clares were
enabled to rent small wooden house In
which they opened an academy. After a
struggle with poverty extending over sew
eral years they found means to purchase
from John Threlkeid, a wealthy landowner
and friend of Thomas Jefferson, the plot
of ground on which stands the present
convent. The site of Georgetown College
was also a portion of Mr.. Threlkeld's great
eighteenth century stock farm.
In the meantime, events in another city
were shaping the destiny of the little con-
vent in Georgetown. Teresa Lalor, born
| in Ireland in 1766. came in childhood with
her parents to Philadelphia. At the early
| age of sixteen years she expressed to her
pastor, Rev. Leonard Neale, her earnest
| desire to found a religious community
Under Father Neale's direction, she and
| Two other young women opened a school
for the education OF girls. Miss Lalor was
beautiful and viyacious, and well fitted
to adorn a high place in the social world
| but she never wavered from her early de-
termination. In 1893, she and her assist
| ants engaged in the work of nursing the
sufferers from yellow fever which that
year decimated the population of Phila-
| deiphia. Her two companions having died
OF the fever. Miss Lalor entered the COM
munity at Georgetown. In 1898 she was
the chosen companion OF the abbess of the
POOR Clares. In 1905 the abbess died. and
Archbishop Carroll purchased the semina-
ry from the remaining Clares, who wished
to return TO Europe. Miss Lalor, assisted
| by two other ladies, was placed in charge
OF the institution. Father Neale. who had
been made president of Georgetown COL
! lege. became the founder and spiritual di-
rector of the new community. Its provi-
sional rule was that OF the Order of the
! Visitation of Holy Mary, established in
Savoy, in 1910. by St Francis de Sales.
with Nine Jeanne de Chantal as first su-
perior
Miss Lalor. or Mother Teresa" imme-
diately sent out prospectuses OF her SEM
mary. and, in response, from the colonial
mansions of Virginia and the manor houses
OF Maryland came numerous young women
whose beauty, talents, and social graces
| were conspicuous during the first half of
| the present century. The building and
its grounds were decided to Mother Teresa
| in 1905
AT first the sisters, who were known as
the 'Pious Ladies' wore only a black
gown and hood. but as the community in
creased the garb Of the Visitation order
was adopted. 1t was fashioned from a
portrait of Ste. Jeanne de Chantal. which
had been sent from France. This portrait
hangs in the parlor at the right of the
main entrance of the convent.
| This community. like that of the Poor
Clares, felt for years the sting of poverty.
They were limited even in their supply of
fuel, and when they had consumed the al
lotted number of sticks bore the cold with
| unfaillng cheerfulneSS. Their beds were
of straw, the bed-clothing poor and scanty,
and they frequently gave up their cots to
their pupils and slept on the floor. They
performed, unaided, the hardest and rough
est work of the house but bore their pow
erty and toll with many a merry jest. their
happy. weil-kept pupils little suspecting
the self-denial practiced in the household.
In 1914. the community had increased to
thirteen. On August "a, a horseman gal
lcped wildly down the Tenleytown Road.
past the convent, shouting the news of the
battle and the defeat of the United s. ties
forces at Bladensburg. few hours later
the sisters, from the uppermost windows of
the convent. watched with prayers for
their own safety. the burning of the Capt.
tol, the White House and the Treasury
In 1876. the household received from Pope
Plus VII its formal recognition opm-
munity of the Order of the Visitation. This
order is now represented In nearly every
large city of the United States. Owing to
its age, and historic memories, the moth
er house" at Georgetown will always be
regarded as the chief convent of the order
in this country. 1t stands at the north
west corner OF Thirty fifth and Streets
with nothing to break the peace and quiet
OF nearly century except the noise OF
several lines of electric cars rushing to
and from the suburbs.
Father Neale became Archbishop of Bal
timore in 1915 and died in 1917. By his
request. he was buried in the chapel of
the convent that he had founded and cher
ished The new chapel. which marks the
site of the old one. was dedicated in No
vember. 1921. A few months later, three
bells, the gift of a friend in France were
hung in the tower. and, for seventy-seven
Lalla