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Ties to Nelson County, Ky
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Sister George Mary Hagan and Father Paul Russell with the St. Catherine Elementary first Communion class in the 1970s
Maple Mount •
Five eighth grade graduates of St. Michael School in Fairfield in 1957 gather with (from
left), Father Robert Burkle, assistant pastor; and only the Father Charles Foltz, pastor; Sister Dolorita Robinson and Sister Mary Edgar Warren. fifth diocese in America. (The diocese was moved to Louisville in 1841.) The first Nelson County mission for the Ursuline W herever Ursuline Sisters taught, their lives were a witness to religious life. It was common Sisters was in 1913 at St. Michael School in Fairfield. The parish dates to 1792, the same year Kentucky for young women taught by the Sisters to consider became a state. Sister Grace Simpson and Sister Mimi becoming Ursulines as well. Ballard both come from Fairfield.
The most common birthplaces for today’s Ursuline “We are standing on the shoulders of the ones Sisters are Daviess County – which includes Maple who came before us,” Sister Grace said. Mount – and Jefferson County, the most populous Many men and women religious came county in Kentucky. But as a testament to the from St. Michael, the most famous being strong influence of the Sisters, the county that has Catherine Spalding, founder of the provided the third most Sisters is Nelson County, Ky., Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. But the population 46,000. Ursulines who taught Sister Grace made
Nine current Sisters are from the Nelson County the greatest impression. towns of New Haven, Howardstown, Fairfield or New “I remember in the fourth grade Hope. It’s an area of Kentucky south of Louisville that thinking that I wanted to be like my is known for both bourbon and Catholicism. Ursuline teacher,” she said. “The teachers
“Actions speak louder than words, and we saw who influenced me the most were Sister that in the Ursulines and their way of life,” said Mary Denis (Bumpus) and Sister Theresa Sister George Mary Hagan, a proud New Haven Marie (Wilkerson).” native. “They ran a good school and they encouraged In 1919, the Ursulines began teaching us in our studies.” at St. Catherine School in New Haven and St. Ann
Nelson County was the landing spot for many School in Howardstown. The high school at St. displaced Catholics who moved from Baltimore at the Catherine began in 1923. New Haven is just a short turn of the 19th century. The heart of the “Kentucky distance from the Abbey of Gethsemani, which opened Holy Land,” its county seat is Bardstown, where in in 1848 as the home of the Order of Cistercians of the 1808 it became the first diocese west of the Alleghenies, Strict Observance, better known as the Trappists. Despite being a small town, 39 women from New Haven joined the Ursuline Sisters, and while some later left, In the mid-1930s, students of St. Ann School in 30 committed their life to God as Ursulines. Howardstown “Mother and Daddy gather with (from got married in 1920. left) Ursuline The Ursuline Sisters had Sisters Charles Ann DiNardi, Angela a great influence on us,” Marie Krampe and Sister George Mary said. Johanna Lechner. “All of us had 10-12
members of the family. It was farm country, you needed big families to work Nelson County the farms. The church was the meeting place for the people.” The large families intermarried, and the Craycrofts and Boones sent daughters to the Mount. “The Ursulines knew all of us, they cultivated those vocations,” Sister George Mary said. “The Catholic faith was very deep, and it was manifested a lot during
World War II when we had the novena services to the
Sorrowful Mother. Everybody prayed a lot then because so many of the boys were in the military. “Many of the girls entered the Ursulines because we were influenced by their prayerful life, and a lot of our friends were at the Mount,” Sister George Mary said.
“We not only knew the people who entered, but we knew their whole genealogy.” Sister George Mary was taught for six years of grade school by Sister Mary Catherine Kuper. Other current members from New Haven include Sister This is the current St. Catherine Barbara Jean Head and the Greenwell sisters, Sisters Church, built Paul Marie and Margaret in 1929 in New Marie. Sister Barbara Jean Haven. The first St. Catherine was erected said the Ursuline presence in New Haven made the in 1849, the town fertile ground for second in 1884. religious vocations. “I was taught by energetic, dedicated Ursulines from the first grade through high school except in the fourth grade when I had a lay teacher,” Sister Barbara Jean said. “Daily Mass was strongly encouraged by my parents and the pastor. During a period of time, the pastor took the students on educational trips if they attended Mass for 30 days in a row. I attended daily
Mass throughout my years of school regardless of that incentive from the priest. My parents were very strong, faith-filled people. We prayed the rosary every night even before we could go out on a date. Our neighborhood also gathered at times at each other’s home to pray the rosary together.” Her Ursuline teachers inspired her vocation, even though she didn’t realize it at the time. “When I reflect, it was probably these wonderful women who were so kind, dedicated, interested and full of life that helped plant a seed in me which did not begin to sprout until the last part of my senior year of high school,” Sister Barbara Jean said. Sister Jean Mark Buckler and 1959 graduates
Sister of St. Catherine High School in New Haven Joyce Marie Cecil discovered her vocation while being taught by Sisters of Charity at St. Vincent DePaul School in New Hope, she said. But it was when she attended high school at St. Catherine that she met the Ursulines and knew that was the community where she belonged. It was Sister Mary Leon Riney and Sister Lennora Carrico who impressed her the most.
“I liked the way they carried themselves. They would pray the office while still looking after the students,” she said. “The people in Nelson County miss the Sisters being there.”
Sister Eva Boone and Sister Marie Carol Cecil both joined the Ursulines after being taught at St. Ann School in Howardstown.
“The Ursulines taught so many places in Nelson County. Our parents were very involved with the church, it was a very church-going area,” Sister Eva said. “The people in Nelson County are still very fond of the Ursulines. They reached out to so many people, especially the elderly and the youth.” Both Sisters cited the same teacher who influenced their vocation – Sister Charles Mary Lindauer. “She was very involved with us young people. She was very unselfish with her
Sister Mary time,” Sister Eva said. Rose Lindauer c. 1959-60 “She was very prayerful and also very friendly,” Sister Marie Carol said.
The Cecil family went to church faithfully, Sister Marie Carol said.
“Anything religious, we were involved in. It was just a good ol’ country town.”u 11
