U r s u l i n e s
A L I V E
Strong faith and role models led many to become Ursuline Sisters
LEFT: Sister Francis Xavier Miles teaching the third grade at Calvary School in, Marion County, Ky., in 1965. BELOW: Calvary School and the Ursuline Sisters’ house in 1920.
By Dan Heckel, Mount Saint Joseph Staff
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n front of the David R. Hourigan Government Office Building in Lebanon, Ky., stands a monument dedicated to the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph. It was placed there in April 2012, celebrating 101 years of the Ursuline Sisters’ presence serving in Marion County. The Sisters began teaching in three public schools in Marion County in 1911. No one thought it was odd – practically everyone in the county was Catholic. At least one Ursuline Sister served in Marion County every year until 2017, when the late Sister Mary Lois Speaks came home to the Mount. This Ursuline influence is a major reason why at least 90 young women from Marion County The Ursuline Sisters memorial in eventually became Marion County, Ky., with the David Ursuline Sisters. R. Hourigan Government Office Building in the background. Two of them became
superiors of the community – Mother Teresita Thompson and Mother Joseph Marian Logsdon. There are seven Sisters remaining who call Marion County home. They say the dedication of Catholic families and the life their Ursuline teachers modeled were the main factors why the central Kentucky community was always a source of vocations. Sister Susan Mary Mudd entered the community in 1954. She said there were a great number of Catholic families near where she grew up in Lebanon. “They were people of great faith and I would say they believed in and relied on God, as they lived and prayed,” she said. “It was believed that priestly and religious vocations were lofty ones. “In the public school system there was a Catholic superintendent, Mr. Hugh C. Spalding. Mr. Spalding knew of the Mount Saint Joseph Ursulines and knew of their dedication to God and education,” Sister Susan Mary said. “Every summer he would make a trip to the Mount to petition the superior of the Sisters to send more Sisters to the Marion County Public Schools.
