The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-11-07
WILL TAKE THE VEIL.
Twcnty-eight irish Maids Reach
Wichita From Ireland


Wichita. Nov. Direct from Ire
land. with the bloom of health that
the Land Of Erin is noted for prod11c-
ing fresh upon their cheeks, twenty
elght girls came to this city to become
Catholic sisters. They are to enter the
convent Of Mt. st. Mary's on College
Hill, and receive spiritual and educa-
tiOnal training.
The new applicants for the sister
hood have been in America but one
week, landing in New York straight
from the land of the Shamrock 0c-
tober p. They came direct to this
city They are in charge of The Sisters
Of st. Joseph, of which Wichita is the
nome of the diocese. The new ar
rivals VIII remain in training in this
city for three years. after which thew
Will graduate as sisters. Their exami-
nation viii be heard by the Ri. Rev.
Bishop John J. Hennessy and they
VIII then take the veil.
Not all of the arrivals will become
teachers. Some have preferred to be
come nurses, and these will in a few
weeks be placed in the different hos
pitfalls of the Sisters of st. Joseph to
act as assistants until they receive
ulPlonas as nurses
The hospitals at Springfield. Mo.
Pittsburg and lola. Kan. are to re-
ceive a portion of the recently arrived
applicants. Nurses in Catholic hos
pitals are scarce and the demand is
far greater than the supply. The peo-
pie have come to realize the expert
enced hand of the sister nurse which
besides being skilled shows solicitude
and mercy, and thai a sisters only OBJ
1ect IN this world is reverence to her
creator and to do all the good posi-
Die There is no ban placed on the re-
ligiOn. and the inidel receives the
same loving care as the unblemiShed
OF soul, OF late years it has been al
most impossible to fill the demand for
Catholic sisters n this country is
supplied by all the world.
The teachers will be placed in the
several parish schools about the do
ceSe. There IS also a wholesale lack
of teacher sisters. and even now there
are girls in training at Mt. St. Mary's
that Will soon graduate and take the
veil.
Wichita is the only city in the west
to which Irish girls we're sent on this
occasion. Two years ago some girls
entered the home at Leavenworth.
Two years ago Wichita was made the
training place of some girls from Ire
n Also four and six years ago
girls were received in this city for
training. The girls are sent to this
country every two years and come
especially by order of the see at
Rome. They are educated in Amer
lean ways and maxi the very best
nurses They are also skilled in
teaching.
The girls who arrived in the city
were met at the depot escorted to
their new home by a delegation of the
Sisters of St. Joseph. The ages of the
new arrivals varied from 16 to %
years. After receiving the veil they
Will be placed in hospitals or schools
that may require them, at the order of
the bishop.
Wichita. besides being the head
of a diocese embracing west
ern Kansas and a portion of Okla
homa. is the leading Catholic city of
the southwest. Several colleges. a hos
pital. two mn schools, three
churches and a fourth under course OF
construction that will be when com
pIeted the finest and most imposing
structure in the entire west, are among
the improvements made by the follow
ers of the faith in this city. The Cath
Ollie census Of Wichita shows 5000