The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1919-07-12
GIFT Of HOME FOR ACADEMY
MRS. PENFlELD, OF PHlLADEl-
PHlA, GIVES HER HOME FOR
NEW ACADEMY IN CHARGE OF
SISTERS OF AssUMPTIoN-HoN-
oRED BY THE HOLY SEE.

Mrs. Anne Weightman .Penfield,
only surviving child Of the late Will
liam Weightman and wife of Frederic
CORTLAND Penheld, long in the Amer
lean diplomatic service and recently
Ambassador to Austria Hungary, has
donated to the Most Reverend Arch
bishop Dougherty, OF Philadelphia, and
his successors in Office her magnifi-
cent house and grounds, known as
Raven Hill, situated in Germantown
for school to be conducted by the
Sisters of the Assumption, and known
as the Raven Hill Academy for Girls
The Sisters Of the Assumption is a
French congregation devoted to the
teaching of young girls, and founded
by Eugenia Millerat de Brun in the
early half of the nineteenth cen
fury. The dress of the Sisters is Vio-
let, with q white cross on the breast,
a violet cincture and white veil. The
Sisterhood has establishments in
France, England, Italy, Spain, Nicara-
qua and the Philippines. The mother
house is at Auteuil, suburb of Paris,
where the daughters of many distin-
guished continental families as well
as many English and American girls
have studied A perfect training in
the French language is feature of the
curriculum Arrangements are being
perfected for bringing the Assumption
Sisters to Philadelphia as early as pos
sib,e.
The property was the country-seat
of the late William Weightman, and
the gift is in memory of Mr. Weight
man and his wife, the parents of Mrs.
Penfield. The place became Mrs. Pen
fields by inheritance, and until very
! recently it has been one of the homes
Of Mr.. and Mrs. Penfield.
Mrs. Penfields benevolence has only
been known by close friends and usu-
ally has been devoted to Catholic pur-
poses. Perhaps her chief benefaction
in Philadelphia was her liberality in
promoting the interior and exterior
renovation of the Church of st. John
| the Evangelist A commodious wing
was provided by her gift to the Castel
| Gandolfo, summer home of the North
American College in Rome, during the
rectorship of the late Archbishop Ken
nedy. A side altar of the artistic
| Spanish church in New York was
given by Mrs. Penfield in memory of
sanity woman, and the high altar in
| the same church was erected as me-
mortal by Mr.. and Mrs. Penfeld.
AS Ambassadors in Vienna, before
America entered the war, Mrs. Pen
! fields generosity was extended to the
welfare of French and British prison,
ers in Austria-Hungary, politically
cared for by the American Embassy,
and for this material interest both
Governments expressed to Mrs. Pen
field their highest appreciation. In the
early months of the conflict Mrs. Pen.
field maintained workshop where
surgical dressings for hospitals were
made on large scale, and this char
ity ceased only when newspapers close
to the Austrian Government applauded
Germany's triumph iii sending the
Lusitania to the bottom of the ocean
The morning when this murderous act
was hailed by Vienna journals the
Ambassadress' bandage factory was
permanently closed.
Numerous have been the honors be
slowed upon Mrs. Penfield by the Vat
is the title of Marchesa and the Crane
Cross of the Holy Sepulchre order b!
Pope Plus x.