Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1913-04-26
Two sisters After Two Years I'm
the Order Make Perpet-
ual Vows.
Work of the sisters Praised and
Their New Undertaking
Commended.
FATHER CReNIN WAS PRESENT

For the first time since he mas
been Bishop of Louisville the Right
Rev. Denis O'Donaghue, d. D., was
able to officiate at an important
event in the Convent of the Coco
Shepherd on last Sunday. The
Bishop, although he had several
other engagements for the day
spent most of the morning at the
monastery, the first one established
by the order in the United States,
and from which has sprung more
than half a hundred others. Not
only was the Bishop present, but his
Vicar General, the Very Rev. James
r. Cronin, sang a solemn high mass
beginning at o'clock. He was as
sisted by the Rev. Englebert
Schmitt, chaplain of the convent on
Eighth street, as deacon, and Father
ubald, of the Franciscan convent, on
Green street, as sub-deacon.
Mother Mary of the Compassion
Superioress of the convent, and
those associated with her in the diff
ficult work to which the Sisters of
the Good Shepherd devote their lives
feel highly honored on account of the
attention shown to them on this
occasion. It indicates the great in
terest which the Right Reverend
Bishop is showing in the activities Of
the Sisters. OF course the Bishop has
approved the work which the Sisters
are soon to undertake in building a
monastery on the Newburg road for
the care of colored children and
girls. Special preparations had been
made for the high mass, and the
colored girls of the preservation
class assisted in the singing, which
was a very beautiful feature of the
occasion. At the offertory Miss
Elizabeth McEachen, of Wheeling,
". Va, sweetly sang the ave
Maria" Miss McEachen has a we'll
modulated voice and sings beauti-
fully. She also sang at the benedic-
ton, which was given after the COM
pletion of the VOWS by the two Sis
ters and one penitent. Bishop
0'Donaghue also confirmed nine of
the colored girls, members of the
preservation class, during his visit to
the convent. The girls had been in
preparation for this event for some
time.
The whole ceremony was very
beautiful and was pleasing to Bishop
O'Donaghue. The two Sisters who
took the solemn vows have been in
the convent on Eighth street for
several years. They are natives OF
Cincinnati, and in the world were
known as the Misses Weber, and are
sisters in fact besides now being
sisters in religion. Several of their
relatives from Cincinnati we're pres
ent to witness the ceermony. The
imposition of the obligation upon
Magdalens is different from that
taken by the Sisters. The Magdalen
takes the obligation only for a year,
after two years and six months in
probation.
The Sisters Of the Good Shepherd
have worked in the city of Louisville
for a period of seventy years, having
established their first convent here
on Eighth street in 1S43. They in
tend to extend their work soon by
building large convent on the New
burg road, and the details will be
announced as soon as the plans are
approved by the Mother Provincial of
the order. The work has the hearty
appreciation OF Bishop O'Donaghue.
The new undertaking of the Sisters
will be for the care of negro females
infants and girls. IL will be an
Industrial school. Inmates will be
received without regard to their re-
iigious belief or the belief of their
parents. But per cent. OF the
negroes of Louisville are of the
Catholic faith. but this does not mat
ter to the Sisters. It is the history
of this kind of reformatory work
that Sisters of the Good Shepherd
are the most expert in this line OF
work, and necessarily so because
they have been engaged in II for
more than 252 years, the order hav-
ing been established at Anglers,
France, in 1851. The convent on
Eighth street is now devoted TO the
reclamation OF colored girls and
some infants. but the accommoda-
tions are insufficient, hence the
necessity Of building a new monas-
terry. In the meantime the work for
white girls will continue unabated.
The Sisters carry on their work so
quietly that the general public has
very little idea of its scope.
Since the Sisters first established
themselves in Louisville In 184s
their work has extended TO more
than thirty other cities throughout
the country, their monasteries in
New York, st. Louis, Cincinnati and
New Orleans far outstripplng in
extent the two converts In Louisville