4 minute read
From the Heart
Each member of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary wears a cross engraved with these words: "ut vitam habeant,” or "that all may have life."
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The motto dates back to their founding in 1849 in Béziers, France, when Mother St. Jean Pelissier Cure, first superior, sought to inspire her sisters to be followers of Jesus, who came so that “all may have life” (Jn 10:10), and to grow in knowledge and love of God. Looking back, she describes those years as “an interesting time for students and the nuns.”
This same mission drives RSHM sisters literally around the world —they continue to serve in 13 countries—just as it did 60 years ago this year, when they arrived in Rolling Meadows from their Province in Terrytown, NY, to start a Catholic high school for girls. “The students had to adjust to ‘the nuns from New York’ who brought many ‘different’ ideas with them,” Sr. Mary Alice says. “They had strange ideas about hats and gloves, but they also had good ideas about ring ceremonies and class traditions."
They came at the invitation of Fr. James Halpin, founding pastor of St. Colette’s Parish in Rolling Meadows. When he arrived in 1957, the parish did not have a school, so Fr. Halpin began planning for one.
One of his tasks was finding a congregation of religious women to staff the school. He approached many congregations, including the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary. A friend of his had a sister who was a member of the congregation, Mother Loyola Carey. “The nuns had to adjust to the openness of the people, the vast expanse of the landscape with its lack of hills,” she adds, “as well as public address announcements about school bus routes (right on Busse, left on Algonquin) and the size of the school - about three times larger than any of their schools back East.”
Donated at Sacred Heart of Mary High School by the classes of 1965 and 1966, Our Lady of the Moon symbolizes the spirit of Sacred Heart of Mary which continues to live on at Saint Viator. She describes the ‘60s as an exciting time of great change in education, science, politics and culture, with new ways of teaching and course content, space exploration, the Vietnam War – and the Beatles.
That connection led members of this religious community of sisters from New York to meet with the newly appointed Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Albert Meyer, and Fr. Halpin about the possibility of coming out to Chicago’s Northwest suburbs. “Parents thought that we were very young,” Sr. Mary Alice says, “and the students were very surprised to learn years after they graduated that most of us were in our 20s when they were in school.”
They ultimately agreed to teach at St. Colette School, with the understanding that eventually they would open a high school, and fulfill their mission: that all may have life.
On Sept. 5, 1961, Sacred Heart of Mary High School opened in a rented wing of the newly opened Saint Viator High School, with a freshman class of 138 girls, or “the Premier Class,” as it was called.
Sr. Loyola Carey served as superior of the convent and Sr. Thomas Hanrahan was the principal. Two years later in September 1963, the new Sacred Heart of Mary building opened in Rolling Meadows.
By September 1964, SHM had expanded to all four grade levels, with nearly 1,000 students, making it one of the largest schools taught by the RSHM. Consequently, 14 additional sisters were dispatched to the community. Some would teach at St. Colette’s, but most at Sacred Heart. Corbally, Marita (Judith) Cox, Catherine Daly, Bernard Egan, Sr. Matthew (Patricia) Healy, Hope Marie Kulcheski, Mercia (Mary) Miller, Quentin (Mary Alice) Young. Sr. Mary Alice came to teach science, specifically chemistry, and while she was not there from the very beginning, she did teach members of the Premier Class and she was one of the last to leave, in 1972.
While most of the faculty in those early years were RSHM, Sr. Mary Alice says they did receive valuable support from the few lay faculty and staff, as well as advice from loyal parent groups.
“Teaching at Sacred Heart gave the sisters who taught there a very strong bond,” Sr. Mary Alice adds. “It was a very special time and place. Together, students, lay faculty and staff, parents, and the nuns built Sacred Heart of Mary High School.”
One of the sustaining legacies of Sacred Heart of Mary High School is the Our Lady of the Moon statue (pictured above), which now stands in front of Saint Viator High School. It was a joint gift presented to Sacred Heart by alumnae from the Premier Class of 1965 and those in the Class of 1966.
The statue was designed as a centerpiece for Sacred Heart’s iconic courtyard and was affectionately referred to as Our Lady of the Meadows, by students. Yet over the last 55 years, this unique image of Mary has continued to represent alumnae of Sacred Heart and their lasting devotion to their patroness. n
