CHAPTER TWO

There is a variety of opinion as to what hospital and what school of nursing can lay claim to priority of existence in the United States.  Two of the oldest well-known hospitals are the Philadelphia Almshouse, later known as Blockley Hospital, and Bellevue Hospital in New York.  Blockley and Bellevue were founded in 1658 and 1730 respectively.  The nursing conditions in these two hospitals were scandalously poor up to the latter part of the 19th century.  The Pennsylvania Hospital received its charter in 1751, and in character and treatment was more exemplary than Blockley and Bellevue, as was also New York Hospital, which received its charter in 1771.  It was in this latter hospital that some believe Doctor Valentine Seaman organized in 1798 the first regular training school for nurses in the United States.

However, according to Nutting and Dock's History of Nursing (Putnam, 1935), the organized system of nursing now prevailing in the United States dates from 1871.  The New England Hospital for Women and Children was reorganized in 1872 and has been recognized as the first modern school of nursing in America.  It was from that school that Linda Richards, known as the first trained nurse in the United States, received her certificate in 1873.  The course of training at that time was but one year.

That same year, three other important training schools were established.  These were at Bellevue Hospital in New York, New Haven Hospital in Connecticut, and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.  Succeeding years saw the establishment of organized schools in all parts of the United States, and the years 1873 to 1895 became years of active renovation in hospitals.  The pioneer nurses found themselves contending with dirt and disorder, vermin and infection, coarseness and vulgarity, and immorality.
 In 1880, the year previous to the arrival of the Sisters of Bon Secours, there were 15 training schools in America with a total of 323 pupils.  This included hospitals for the mentally ill where training schools had been opened.  It is probable that at the time there were no trained nurses, in the modern sense of the words, in the city of Baltimore, for none of the 15 training schools mentioned above were located in that city.  However, there were several hospitals there-some under lay auspices and others under the auspices of various religious denominations.  The oldest of these hospitals is Baltimore City Hospital, which was established in 1776 or 1777.  The other early hospitals of Baltimore in the order of their establishment are University Hospital (1823), The Union Memorial Hospital (1854), The Church Home and Hospital (1858), Saint Agnes Hospital (1862), St. Joseph's Hospital (1864), Sinai Hospital (1868), and Mercy Hospital (1874).

In those early days, the Sisters of Bon Secours could not be called professionally trained nurses either in the modern sense of the words.  Nursing instruction and a practical training were given to them at the motherhouse in Paris.  The young sisters accompanied experienced sisters on their excursions to care for the sick and in this way acquired clinical practice under supervision.  The sisters also obtained clinical experience by taking care of sick sisters in the infirmary.  This experience was further supplemented by helpful advice and instruction given by the attending physicians.  In the settings of both private homes and the convent, individual tutoring thus became very meaningful and personal.

Mother St. Urban, who spent the first five years of her nursing career in London (1881-1886), was trained in this manner.  Years later, for her work in the United States, she was awarded the distinguished Service Cross of the Catholic Hospital Association of the United States and Canada.  Beginning in 1906, the sisters were given formal instruction, training, and nursing experience in St. Joseph's Hospital, Paris, which was under the management of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.

The first two accredited schools of nursing in Baltimore were opened in the year 1889-eight years after the Sisters of Bon Secours began their work in the United States.  One of these was at the University Hospital and the other at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.  In this year, the Johns Hopkins Hospital itself was opened.  After the establishment of these pioneer schools of nursing in Baltimore, others followed in quick succession, among them the schools of the three Catholic hospitals of the city: St. Agnes (1898), Mercy (1899), and St. Joseph's (1901).

An article written in the Trained Nurse in December of 1889 gives a clear insight into the duties of a nurse of that period in the United States.  A trained nurse, it said,

'Must possess some knowledge of Elementary Anatomy and Physiology.  She must understand the best methods of keeping a ward or sickroom clean and healthy, by sweeping, dusting, polishing, ventilating, warming, etc.  She must understand the various methods of making a bed for medical and surgical cases, and of changing sheets, etc.  She must know the best and least exhausting way of keeping a patient in a cleanly condition, and how to prevent or dress a bed sore.  She must be skillful in undressing sick and injured persons, and must be able to bandage, pad splints, etc., and prepare and apply all dressings.  She must know how to prepare and apply all poultices, fomentations, hot bags and bottles, blisters, lotions, leeches, ice bags, evaporating lotions, and wet packs, and prepare for cupping.  Also how to give baths, hot, cold, hot air, and vapor, as regulated by the thermometer.  She must understand the use of the clinical thermometer, and how to keep a chart, and record the rate of the pulse and respirations correctly.  She must know the various ways of administering food, medicine, and stimulants, and know by heart the tables of weights and measures.  She must be able to use quickly and correctly the various syringes and female catheters and must know the quantities generally given in enemata and injections of all kinds.  She must have practical knowledge of the various systems of disinfecting patient's clothes and rooms, and keeping utensils and instruments thoroughly clean.  She should possess some knowledge of cooking for the sick, and how to prepare beef-tea and jelly, chicken and mutton broth, arrow-root, cocoa, whey, egg-flip and milk puddings and also has to peptonise food.'

Instructive Visiting Nurse Associations and Public Health Nursing Agencies were not yet organized when the Sisters of Bon Secours began their work as private-duty nurses in the homes of both rich and poor in the City of Baltimore.  Neither had the Lutheran Deaconesses begun their work there.  The Sisters of Bon Secours were the first society of Visiting Nurses in the United States.  They preceded by 15 years visiting nursing in Baltimore, and by 6 years visiting nurses in Philadelphia and Boston.  They antedated all forms of public health nursing as well as organized private-duty nursing in the homes of patients.  The term "public health nurse" as we know it today was first used in 1895 when two nurses, Lillian Wald and Mary Brewster, who founded the Henry Street Settlement in New York, emphasized the community value of this type of nursing.  This was the beginning of social- and community-oriented nursing in America.  The first Instructive Visiting Nurse Association in Baltimore was incorporated in 1896, after the Lutheran Deaconess Motherhouse and Training School in Baltimore opened the year before, Incorporating in 1898.  Nurses from the Deaconess Home visited the sick, and sisters in training visited and relieved the poor and the sick.

It was at the request of Archbishop Gibbons that the first Sisters of Bon Secours came to the United States in 1881.  But the first contact that Americans had with the sisters was not in the United States.  In 1870, two United States citizens, Mr. and Mrs. Whedbe, were on their honeymoon in Paris.  While there, Mrs. Whedbe became seriously ill, and her frantic husband did not know where to turn for help.  He asked the doctor if he could procure an English-speaking nurse for his wife.  A Bon Secours sister was sent to nurse the patient who was in a Paris hotel.  This was Irish-born Sister Matilda, who was both capable and comforting.  Soon Mrs. Whedbe was restored to health.  She and her husband were deeply grateful to Sister Matilda and greatly impressed by her work and kindness.  This sister was the instrument chosen by God to make known the work of the Congregation to the people of the United States.  Mr. Whedbe was a member of a prominent Baltimorean family.  His bride was from North Carolina and well known to Bishop Gibbons when he was Vicar Apostolic in that state. (When consecrated in 1868, Bishop James Gibbons, at the age of 33, was the youngest bishop in the world.)

The Whedbes made known to several doctors in Baltimore the work of the Sisters of Bon Secours in France.  Not long afterwards, Bishop Gibbons was made Archbishop of Baltimore.  The Whedbes and a group of physicians urged the archbishop to secure Bon Secours sisters for his archdiocese; the archbishop promised that he would ask for a foundation.

In 1880, Archbishop Gibbons made his first Ad Limina visit to Rome to His Holiness Pope Leo XIII.  That is the periodic visit Rome requires of each residential bishop.  On his way to Rome, Archbishop Gibbons stopped at the motherhouse of the Sisters of Bon Secours in Paris.  He went to make a personal request of the Superior General, Mother St. Fulgence, for a foundation of the congregation in his episcopal city of Baltimore.  Nothing definite was arranged at that time; Mother St. Fulgence asked time for reflection.  But the visit received publicity in the Baltimore Sun, on September 23, 1880, as follows:

'During his visit to Paris Archbishop Gibbons called on the Bon Secours, a charitable order of nurses in that city, with a view to establishing a like order in Baltimore.  The Sisters,. . . instead of taking the sick to their house and making a hospital of it, go to the homes of those in need of nursing, and remain there.  The Archbishop intends to do all he can to establish the order in the city.'

One of Archbishop Gibbon's flock, Mrs. John Small, was also in Paris at the time the archbishop visited the motherhouse and she went to pay her respects to him.  Before coming to Baltimore, she had lived in Cork, Ireland, and was acquainted with the work of the Sisters of Bon Secours there.  She was also anxious to bring the members of the congregation to Baltimore and offered to care for the sisters in her own home until they could secure a suitable convent.  Mrs. Small was a wealthy lady, a childless widow, who had devoted her life to good works; when she lost her husband, her home became too large for herself.

On October 21, 1880, Archbishop Gibbons wrote to Mother St. Fulgence with news of the offer: "I have the pleasure of informing you that everything is ready to receive your Sisters; Mrs. Small has prepared her house and collected the money which you will need.  I would be grateful for knowing when we can hope to see your daughters in Baltimore. . . ."I The money that had been collected was about a thousand dollars, a substantial sum in that year.

In response, Mother St. Fulgence asked for a few months' delay and made further inquiries as to their promised home-especially in relation to the cloister.  The reply came: Mrs. Small has put her house at the disposition of your daughters for two years, thus allowing them all the time necessary to procure a definite abode for themselves.... This lady has reserved for herself an apartment in her own home; but this will not inconvenience the religious in the least.  As a matter of fact, the house has two entrances and two stairways completely independent of each other.... I will tell you again that several communities have offered us their services, my preferences are for your Congregation.  I greatly desire you to make .a foundation in my episcopal city, and I hope that you will be able to satisfy this desire.  In case you are not able to do so, I will accept the offers which have been made to me by other communities.

When this letter was presented to the General Council, a decision was made in favor of the foundation as they wished to respond to this need.  It was agreed that in the spring sisters would be sent to open the new foundation in Baltimore and Mother St. Fulgence wrote Archbishop Gibbons:

'Having read your letter to my Council and having prayed and reflected with them on the matter, I have the honor of informing Your Excellency, that a few of our Sisters, happy to answer your appeal, will leave for Baltimore in the near future.  There they will prepare the house, which has been offered to us, according to our Customs.  This will eliminate the need for us to bring from Europe those things which we could easily procure in the United States.... When our Sisters' departure date is decided upon, I shall inform Your Excellency; however, I do not believe that it can be sooner than the end of April.'

Finally, on May 1, 1881, Mother St. Fulgence wrote to Archbishop Gibbons:

 At last I am able to respond to Your Excellency's desire, and announce to you that three of our Sisters will embark from Queenstown on May 8, sailing for New York on the Parthia.  We hope that under the protection of the Immaculate Virgin Star of the Sea, they will be in Baltimore about the 18th....
 We are placing this new community under the patronage of Our Mother, and principal patroness, Our Lady Help of Christians; and since her feast occurs on May 24, we shall date our first foundation in America from that day.  So in order that God will bless and accept it, we earnestly ask Your Excellency's permission that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass be celebrated, on that same day, in the little oratory that will have been prepared for this purpose.'

A decision had been made; the next step was the selection of the sisters who were to be the founders.  A strong and durable foundation would depend on them.  Mother St. Fulgence, after many prayers and the prayers of her sisters, chose two French sisters working in Ireland and England who possessed, along with other qualifications, the ability to speak English-they were Sister St. Ferdinand from the London convent and Sister St. Flavie from the convent in Dublin.  Mother St. Domitille, superior of the convent in Dublin, was delegated to accompany them to Baltimore, and to remain a short time to direct and assist them.

Sister St. Ferdinand, the greater part of her religious life spent in Ireland and in England, wrote promptly to Mother St. Fulgence when she received her appointment: "I want to send you this very day my fiat .... Yes, it is indeed a real sacrifice but I belong above all to God and to the Congregation, and you may be sure that I shall answer faithfully to the fresh token of confidence you give me .... Of course I am sorry to leave London, . . but the Lord calls me elsewhere, Fiat!"' In a later letter, closer to the time of departure, Sister St. Ferdinand gave a deeper insight into her feelings: "So many thoughts fill my heart, now that I am about to leave Europe and all those I love, for this distant land.... but I trust in God .... So I am setting out, feeling happy to do His will, and committing myself anew into the hands of His Divine Providence.  Her health undermined by an earlier serious illness, Sister St. Ferdinand may have sensed she was leaving her sisters, her homeland and her loved ones forever.

From Dublin, Sister St. Flavie wrote to Mother St. Fulgence of her acceptance:

 I cannot tell you how astonished I was, dear Mother, when I read your letter, which tells me of the sacrifice you ask.  Above all I wonder that your choice should have fallen upon me for such a momentous work. it is true that it often pleases God to choose the most feeble, in order to confound proud and haughty minds; still I am far from being a foundation stone, especially in a country where we shall be the first Religious to exercise such a ministry.  But, after all, my will is God's will ....
 

The pioneer sisters met at Cork with Mother St. Domitille and spent a few days there preparing for their departure for America.  All the members of the congregation had received an appeal from Mother St. Fulgence to pray for the safety of the travelers and for the success of their mission.  Mother St. Fulgence also gave them details of the proposed voyage and the subsequent trip bv railway to Baltimore.  She enclosed an article from a Baltimore newspaper telling how the sisters' arrival was anticipated there and also how proficient the sisters were in caring for the sick.  Mother St. Fulgence doubtless appreciated all this favorable publicity, but the spiritual nature of the Bon Secours' apostolate was of prime importance to her and to all the sisters.  She wrote to them: "But pray especially that the Lord may bless this first foundation in the New World, and that it may become for our Congregation the means of winning many souls to God and thus extending His Kingdom.  "

Before the sisters arrived in Baltimore, this is what a local newspaper (name and date not preserved) had already published.

A letter addressed to Archbishop Gibbons brings tidings that some Religious of Bon Secours, belonging to a community of nursing Sisters, well known and much esteemed in France, will soon leave Paris, and will arrive at Baltimore during the month of May.  A lodging, situated at the S. E. corner of MacCollough Street and Hoffmann Street, has been made ready for them by the kindness of Mrs. Small to whom it belongs.
 These religious are not coming to take charge of a hospital nor to establish one, but they will go wherever their services are required for the care of the sick, in which work they excel, being accustomed to it and having had very much experience... they spend, when it is considered necessary, day and night at the bedside of the sick.  We therefore give them a hearty welcome.
 

The final preparations for departure were made in Cork.  The superior of the Cork convent visited the local shops to secure some items for the new foundation.  Among the purchases were a brass crucifix and candlesticks and, at the request of Mother St. Fulgence, a beautiful statue of Our Lady Help of Christians.  This was to be placed in the chapel of Mrs. Small's house, so that our Lady of Bon Secours could take possession of the new convent from the beginning and be the mistress of the house.  This statue has been reverently preserved through the years and still holds a place of honor in the Bon Secours Provincial House in Marriottsville, Maryland.  Mother St. Fulgence had prepared with her own hands the sacred vessels, vestments, altar linens, and other necessities to be used for the Sacrifice of the Mass when the sisters arrived in Baltimore.  These were all gifts from various convents of the congregation, as all the sisters were anxious to contribute to the new foundation.

Sunday, May 8, 1881, dawned clear and sunny.  The founding sisters found comfort in the warm rays of the sun as they said a sad good-bye to the sisters in Cork, three sister s accompanying them as far as Queenstown.  In the afternoon they boarded the steamer Parthia for New York.  According to a copy of the passenger list, or manifest, of the S. S. Parthia in the archives of the Provincial House at Marriottsville, Maryland, there was a total of 1,093 passengers making the voyage to America.  A breakdown of the list shows there were 42 cabin passengers, including a clergyman, and 1,051 steerage passengers.  The ship weighed 2,035 tons.  One could gather that it was not a very pretentious ship.

The S. S. Parthia set sail from Liverpool, England.  The voyage was uneventful except the sisters, who were cabin passengers, were very much tried by sea sickness.  No information is available as to whether the clergyman on board was a priest or whether they had mass.  The life-sized statue of Our Lady Help of Christians, which accompanied the sisters across the ocean, was a tangible link with Bon Secours everywhere, and this was comforting to them.  The sisters no doubt were grateful for a cabin but felt keenly the lot of the majority of the passengers who were obliged to travel steerage.  The Parthia sailed into the port of New York at five o'clock in the afternoon of May 18.  Sister St. Flavie carried the box which contained the sacred vessels and vestments.  She guarded it with anxious and jealous care and, as she passed through customs, one of the officers looked suspiciously at the ornate box.  Sister St. Flavie afterwards remarked: "I carried the box without fear and the officer was such a gentleman he never asked what it contained."

On the evening of their arrival in New York, the sisters had supper in the restaurant of the railroad station.  Sister St. Flavie recalled: "We were served by real black men... they were so respectful, and when Mother gave them a tip they bowed very low."" The sisters, though tired, were anxious to complete their journey, and they boarded the train that night for Baltimore.  No words have been recorded about this trip.  As day was breaking on May 19, they reached Baltimore.  They were met at the station by Mrs. Small's coachman, and as the carriage pulled up at the main entrance to her home, Mrs. Small was at the top of the steps, waiting to give them a warm and gracious welcome.  With her was a group of ladies who had supplied furniture, bed linens, and money for the new foundation.  All was in readiness.  Archbishop Gibbons was away on a Confirmation tour, but the vicar general, Father McColghan, and the superior of St. Mary's Seminary, Father Alphonse Magnien, welcomed them to Baltimore in the name of the archbishop.  Father Magnien, a native of France and a Sulpician, knew the Bon Secours sisters well.  He afterwards watched over their welfare and their work with an ever-increasing interest and affection.  Thus began a friendship which lasted until his death in 1902.

Though the sisters were fatigued from their long journey and the emotion of separation from loved ones and familiar places, one of their uppermost thoughts was to visit the Blessed Sacrament in the local parish church to offer prayers of thanksgiving and intercession to God.  Mrs. Small's house was in the parish of the Immaculate Conception, and after a brief rest, the sisters paid a visit to the church and asked God's blessing on themselves, the work they were about to begin, and on the sisters who would carry on their work.

 The morning after their arrival, the Baltimore Sun welcomed them:

 Three Sisters of the order of "Bon Secours," anxiously expected in Baltimore for some time, arrived early yesterday morning, having reached New York the night before, on the steamer Parthia, of the Cunard Line, after a trip of eleven days from Queenstown .... With the exception of occasional fogs, they had not a bad crossing .... They will immediately begin to prepare and make all necessary arrangements for the installation and reception of three other Sisters who are to join them in a short time.  Thus will be established the first foundation of the "Soeurs du Bon Secours" in America.  The object of the order is particularly the care of the sick of all denominations suffering from diseases of any character, whether infectious, contagious or innocuous.. . .
 The punctuality and thoroughness with which they carry out the orders of the physician at all times, day and night, make no little difference in the chances of recovery of the cases submitted to their nursing; they are now at the house of their praiseworthy hostess, awaiting the call of those who may need their experience and services, without money and without price.

The days immediately following the sisters' arrival at Mrs. Small's house were busy ones.  The sisters were tired from their journey and, not being used to the Baltimore climate, they found the heat very oppressive.  But they proceeded with preparations for their Foundation Day on May 24. That patronal feast was only a few days away, and they needed to have everything in readiness for their official inauguration with Holy Mass.

In addition to settling down in their new home and arranging everything in the house according to their customs, they had above all to prepare a chapel.  In a few days, they had embellished Mrs. Small's parlor 'with all the beautiful things brought with them from Europe, and the statue of Our Lady Help of Christians was enthroned in a place of honor.  Like M@re Geay, they wanted to be poor in everything, but they wanted God to be treated as God-the clothes they wore were their only worldly Possessions, but their chapel was richly adorned.  Mother St. Domitille 'wrote to Mother St. Fulgence: "You would be delighted with our little Convent, because you love all that breathes holy poverty!  And we are so glad to be poor!"" But a few weeks later, writing of the chapel she said "Everyone wonders at the many and beautiful things we have for our oratory, and we are both happy and proud to reply: 'It all comes from our Mother House and the communities of Bon Secours, who wished to send a loving remembrance to the last-born of the family.

On the morning of Tuesday, May 24, the first mass was celebrated in their chapel by Father George Devine from the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Blessed Sacrament was reserved.  As they prayed in their new chapel, the loneliness of exile left the sisters' hearts.  Mother St. Domitille wrote: "We have Him at last among us; up to this time we had felt in want of everything, because He who was everything to us was not with us by His Real Presence."

When Archbishop Gibbons returned from the Confirmation tour that had prevented him from greeting the sisters, Mother St. Domitille called upon him to receive his blessing for herself and the sisters.  A few days later, accompanied by Father Magnien, the archbishop came to see them and expressed his gratification at their presence in his archdiocese.  He told the sisters that their constitutions were made of wise and holy rules, and he outlined a plan according to which they might remain faithful to the spirit of the congregation and at the same time have a proper regard for the manners and customs of the American people.

On the morning of June 20, the archbishop returned again with Father Magnien, and he gave the sisters the great joy of celebrating mass in their little chapel.  Sister Flavie recalled well that happy morning, the privilege of cooking the breakfast, and how they all met in Mrs. Small's dining room.  The archbishop addressed them on the beauty of their apostolate, and gave them words of encouragement and advice.  He also said: "Never will you be nearer God than when you will have alleviated the pains of others, never will you be more truly the children of the Father who is in heaven than when you have given sunshine to hearts darkened by affliction."

The formation of a new parish, Corpus Christi, placed the residence of Mrs. Small beyond the limits of the parish of the Immaculate Conception Its founder and first pastor was Father Starr, who began his ministry in a rented hall on Bolton Street.  There the sisters attended daily mass, except on special occasions when they held it in their own chapel.

The sisters were beginning their ministry at the height of the Industrial Revolution.  Until a few years before, there were few new mechanical inventions; people were still using the appliances that had been in use at the time of the pharaohs.  Suddenly, a series of inventions made in England beginning about 1760 completely revolutionized existing methods of industry.  Greater and more far-reaching mechanical changes occurred in the next few decades than in all prior world history.  The factory system supplanted the domestic system and, by 1880, this became known as the Industrial Revolution.

By 1881, Baltimore had re-established trade with the South and had recovered from the worst effects of the Civil War.  Old businesses expanded, and new industry was initiated.  Big business attracted masses of workers into the cities, where they lived in poor areas, were underpaid, were poorly educated, and heard little of God.  Hope of prosperity brought immigrants in great numbers to Baltimore and they settled in ethnic groups in the east part of the city.  Sanitary conditions in America's cities were very poor, and Baltimore was no exception.  Increasing population and primitive sanitation were among the causes of the rampant epidemics that plagued the city.  In addition, it was not unusual for the cities of the 19th century, with steam pumps at their disposal, to use the water source nearest at hand, though it was the same river into which they dumped sewage.  Such practices led to the great typhoid epidemics of the 19th and early 20th centuries.  It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that American cities began to filter their water supplies.  By the beginning of World War 1, the fight for pure water in the cities was practically over, though typhoid fever was still common in rural regions with a low standard of living.

Diphtheria and scarlet fever were also prevalent and were considered acts of Providence by many poor people.  They had little awareness that improved living conditions could remedy the situation.  Again, it was not until the beginning of the 20th century that people became convinced that milk should be not only clean of dirt, but also free from disease-producing bacteria.  With increased knowledge, the incidence of diphtheria and scarlet fever also decreased.  This was the 1881 American milieu in which the Sisters of Bon Secours found themselves.

They had come to the United States to give nursing care to all classes of people, rich and poor alike, and to all races, nationalities, and creeds.  Ironically, however, the first recorded care was given to a French woman.  In writing to Mother St. Fulgence on May 24, 1881, Mother St. Domitille tells, among many other things, that Sister St. Flavie was already busy ministering to a patient and bringing her spiritual comfort.  Sister St. Flavie had been called to nurse a young compatriot who was teaching in a boarding school.  The young woman was at the point of abandoning her faith.  Sister St. Flavie, ever mindful that the ministry of the Sisters of Bon Secours is "one of zeal and charity for the relief of the body and especially for the salvation of souls,"" succeeded in bringing to this patient relief of body and peace of soul.

From the very beginning of their work in Baltimore, the sisters were greatly in demand.  Their first calls came mostly from the poor and the sisters looked upon this fact as a distinct blessing from God.  Mother St. Domitille, having only two sisters to send out to the sick, was deeply grieved by their inability to help all who sought assistance, for many times a day she was forced to deny help to even the most urgent cases.  She pleaded with Mother St. Fulgence to send more sisters as soon as possible and on July 4, three more arrived in New York, two from France and one from Dublin.  So great were the demands for the sisters that without a day's rest after their arrival in Baltimore they were sent out to the poor and the sick.  Mother St. Domitille would not let a call for help go unanswered if there was a sister available.

When a call came for help, religion was not questioned.  Among the first calls was one to the daughter of a Protestant minister.  She had contracted a very severe case of typhoid fever.  The girl recovered, and the minister and his family became good friends of the sisters.  The abridged history of the congregation also relates that, on the very day of Mother St. Domitille's departure for Europe (August 31, 1881) a priest of a neighboring parish came to ask for a sister to take care of a poor Protestant family in his parish who was living on charity.  The four children had scarlet fever and the mother herself was too ill to take care of them.  Sister Angelina, who had arrived with the second group of sisters on July 4, was sent to take care of thie family.  She nursed them day and night for many weeks.  According to Father Hayes' history of the Bon Secours, they were simple, country folk, and very religious.  They knew nothing of the Catholic Church and had never seen a Catholic sister.  When Sister came in her religious habit, with her gentle ways and loving care, they thought her an angel, as her name implied.  Imagine her amusement when she asked for something to eat, and they asked in amazement, "Sister, do you eat?"

Sister St. Ferdinand loved her work at the bedside of the sick, and like M@re Geay, she had hoped to spend her life alleviating the sufferings of others.  This hope was not to be fulfilled, for she was very soon asked to assume the role of superior of the Baltimore community.  Mother St. Domitille, whose mission had been to remain in Baltimore until the sisters' work was well established, was about to return to France before resuming her post of superior of the Dublin convent.  In submission to God's will, and in a spirit of sacrifice and generosity, Sister St. Ferdinand accepted her new appointment, even though this charge went against her humble nature.  All the sisters were present in the little chapel in Mrs. Small's house when she was installed as the first superior of the Baltimore community by Archbishop Gibbons on August 26, 1881.  On August 31, Mother St. Domitille set sail from New York, leaving the sisters in tears but the new foundation in capable and loving hands.

Like Mother St. Domitille, Mother St. Ferdinand did not know how to respond to all the requests made for the sisters, and the few sisters there worked incessantly.  Once, when she apologized to a doctor for being unable to send a sister to nurse one of his patients, he exclaimed: "There ought to be forty of you!"" The need for more sisters in Baltimore was also well known at the motherhouse in Paris.  In the latter part of 1881, a few more sisters arrived in Baltimore and, in the ensuing years, they continued to arrive in small groups.  According to the Directory of Charitable and Beneficent Organizations of Baltimore," there were 23 sisters engaged in home nursing in 1901, confirmed also by the 12th census of the United States," taken in 1900, which showed a tally of 23 sisters and 2 lay helpers living at the Bon Secours convent, 2000 West Baltimore Street.  One of the helpers, Annie Wondur, lived and worked at the convent for about 50 years.  However, the number of sisters quoted above was not the total number of sisters who had come to the United States since 1881.  Several, exhausted from their labors among the poor and the sick and some having contracted contagious diseases, had already made the supreme sacrifice of their lives.

During their first year in Baltimore, the work of the sisters was almost exclusively confined to the poor.  The sisters had no income and had to depend upon the offerings of the friends they were making.  The Baltimore foundation also claimed a large share of the attention and interest of Superior General Mother St. Fulgence.  She wrote often to the sisters, sending them some things for their convenience and comfort, and some for the use and adornment of their chapel.

As their first Christmas approached, Mother St. Ferdinand prayed that the sisters might be home to celebrate it together, even though she had little besides companionship to offer them.  She prayed to St. Joseph to provide a priest to say Midnight Mass, and also something extra for their Christmas dinner.  St. Joseph did not fail her.  A few days before Christmas, Mrs. Small met a priest from a neighboring parish on the street.  He inquired about the sisters and promised to say Midnight Mass for them.  After hearing confessions all afternoon until eleven o'clock at night, Father arrived at the convent at midnight.  The sisters had placed a cross outside Mrs. Small's house and a plaque that bore their name.  Mother St. Ferdinand's brother had given the sisters an organ and they sang age-old Christmas carols.

St. Joseph not only arranged for Midnight Mass, but he also provided the Christmas dinner.  One of the sisters was taking care of a patient in the country.  Because the patient was convalescing, the family let sister go home to celebrate Christmas with her community.  As she was leaving, the mother gave her a basket to take to the convent.  It contained everything usually served at Christmas dinner.  The mother explained that it was in appreciation for the care given her sick daughter, and added a gift of money.  The sisters' first Christmas was blessed with both spiritual and temporal gifts.

As the first year of their work in Baltimore came to a close, the sisters were contemplating the purchase of a new building to be used as a convent because, although they had enjoyed the home of Mrs. Small, their increase in number necessitated a larger one.  They also wished for a home of their own.  In spite of Mrs. Small's kindness, they did not have the freedom and independence that a home of their own would offer, nor the privacy and seclusion of a convent.  Mother St. Fulgence came to Baltimore to help the sisters find suitable property.  She was accompanied by two more sisters who came to join the Baltimore community.  Their voyage to America had been a perilous one; they had endured the hardships and dangers of a very stormy passage.  They landed safely in New York, April 6, 1882.  The next day, Good Friday, they arrived in Baltimore.

Within a short time the desired house and property were secured.  The fulfillment of this desire has been attributed to the intercession of a young girl dying of tuberculosis.  The day before she died, this little patient said to the sister taking care of her: "Sister, I am going to die tonight.  What shall I ask for you when I am in heaven?" The sister replied: "Well, little Mary, ask our Blessed Lady to find a house for US.1112 A few days later Father John Foley, pastor of St. Martin's Church in West Baltimore, came to Mrs. Small's house and asked to see Mother St. Ferdinand.  It was Holy Week.  He came to tell her of an opportunity to buy at a very low price a piece of property in his parish, and he promised to help her find the money as well.  The owner of the property was a Jew, Mr. Jacob Ellinger, whom he had recently received into the Church.  Mrs. Ellinger and the children were Catholics.  Mr. Ellinger was seriously ill and about to die.  He had expressed the wish that his home become a convent.  He declared that while his wife and children were attending Holy Week Services, the Blessed Virgin had appeared and had told him to dispose of his house in that manner.  Father Foley urged Mother St. Ferdinand to lose no time in seeing the place, as he considered it most suitable.  Besides, other religious communities were anxious to obtain the property, but Father Foley wanted the Sisters of Bon Secours in his parish.

Mother St. Fulgence received this good news on her arrival in Baltimore.  Without delay she went with Mother St. Ferdinand to the Ellinger home.  Mr. Ellinger, close to death, was scarcely able to speak.  He told Mother St. Fulgence the sisters could have the house for $16,000.  He said he would gladly donate it except that he wished to leave the money to his wife and children.  Without further ado, the deal was settled.
 The sisters incorporated April 17, 1882, under the title "The Sisters of Bon Secours for the care of the sick, of Baltimore City." When all business transactions had been arranged satisfactorily, Mother St. Fulgence set sail from New York the following May 3.

Father Foley, who became agent for the sisters for the estate of Jacob Ellinger, was authorized by Archbishop Gibbons to make a loan for $16,000 from a local bank to allow the sisters to buy the property.  At this time, the esteem in which the sisters were held by the medical profession was evidenced by four appreciative doctors in Baltimore who became security for the purchase money.  The house was bought and the deed delivered.  A cash sale was made to the trustees on June 20, 1882.

No details are to be found of the transfer by the sisters to their new property on West Baltimore Street but it has been recorded that they comfortably and happily settled into their new home, where the high ground and open spaces gave a welcome relief from the crowded conditions of the downtown area.  The sisters now also had a large garden of their own.  The area they were in was referred to as Steuart Hill, covering nine acres.  The property that was now theirs had once been bought by Mr. Ellinger from George Steuart and was only three blocks from St. Martin's Church.  In succeeding years, the sisters bought more property from George Steuart.

On July 3, 1882, Archbishop Gibbons solemnly blessed the new convent, assisted by Father Foley and Father Magnien.  Father Foley, pastor of the parish, sang the High Mass.  To him, under God, the sisters owed the possession of their new home.  It was a solemn occasion.  Some 40 friends and benefactors were in the room the sisters had transformed into a chapel.  The beloved statue of Our Lady Help of Christians was in the place of honor above the altar.  In his address to the sisters, Archbishop Gibbons said: "I do not know a community able to do more good than the Sisters of Bon Secours, when they remain faithful to their calling, for there is not a single work so comforting and so fruitful of conversions as the visitation of the sick and the afflicted .... Always remember that the best and most beautiful work you can be engaged in is service to your suffering neighbor...".

The sisters were burdened by heavy debt.  They had already endeared themselves to the local people by their zealous and devoted care of the sick, and the people of Baltimore were generous in their subscriptions for the new convent.  But further financial assistance was needed.  The archbishop gave the sisters permission to beg.  Mother St. Ferdinand did most of the begging herself and made many friends as she called upon the people of Baltimore.  One story is told about how, on one occasion, she got a cold reception in a downtown office in Baltimore; however, the story had a pleasant ending.  Mother St. Ferdinand, both humble and gracious, knocked on an office door that was opened by a young man.  When she asked if she could come in, he roughly answered, "Try." She did enter, but the young man's father received her very coldly.  What words passed between them are not known, but before she left the office he had become her staunch friend.  He was Mr. Walters, a non-Catholic, and a truly charitable man.  He also had founded Walters Art Gallery, still in existence.  He made a generous offering.  Ever afterwards Mother St. Ferdinand could turn to him in her difficulties and he never failed her.  When she died he insisted on paying all the funeral expenses and over her grave had a monument erected to her memory as a token of the gratitude of the inhabitants of Baltimore.  In later years his son continued his father's interest in the community.

To further liquidate the debt on the convent the sisters decided to hold a big bazaar in 1884.  The archbishop not only approved the idea but requested the clergy and people of Baltimore to assist Father Foley in conducting it.  All Baltimore-Catholic, Protestant and Jew-rallied round Father Foley.  News of the bazaar reached the motherhouse in Paris and spread to all the other houses of the congregation.

Mother St. Fulgence decided to go to the United States again, setting sail from Le Havre September 27.  She took with her Mother St. Honorat, mistress of novices at Paris, who in later years became the second superior of the Sisters of Bon Secours in the United States.  They brought with them a great number of gifts donated for the bazaar by the houses in France, Ireland, and England.  Mother St. Fulgence described the preparations for this great event:

People are busy here in Baltimore about this famous bazaar.  If you go in a street car the first thing you will see is a placard advertising the fair for the benefit of the Bon Secours Sisters; even the conductors are selling tickets for it. You will find these placards posted on the doors of the churches; the newspapers advertise the fair, and have written articles praising the Sisters of Bon Secours and their work.  It is indeed astonishing and touching to see the interest that everyone is taking in this affair.  Quite a number of Protestant ladies are engaged in it; and, when I think that the bazaar is to last twelve days and is to be open all day up to midnight, I cannot help admiring such a display of interest and devotion.

The bazaar was a splendid tribute to the work of the sisters and a great token of the gratitude and appreciation of the people of Baltimore.  The net result, the sum of $10,000, was a phenomenal amount.  With it, the debt on the property was cleared.*
 Even though the only house of the congregation in those early days was in Baltimore, the sisters were often called to distant places.  One of these calls came from a small town about 60 miles above New York.  The patients, a young man and his wife, had typhoid fever.  The young man recovered, but his wife died.  The family of the husband had a small farm in Maryland.  They were poor people but rich in gratitude.  They wished to repay in their own way for the services of the sister.  One morning a woman came to the convent door and told Mother St. Ferdinand that she had brought a gift.  It was a young cow named Molly, who placidly stood on the sidewalk.  The woman was a sister to the man who had recovered from typhoid fever.  The sisters graciously accepted the cow, thankful they had a garden in which to keep her.  Molly supplied them with milk and butter for many years, and these they were able to share with the poor.  As the story goes, Archbishop Gibbons, who paid regular visits to the convent, went one day with Mother St. Ferdinand to the garden to see the special gift.  Molly knocked some peaches off of a tree for him.

Because of oral testimony and the memories of older sisters, a few stories have been preserved about the sisters.  In the early days, they shared their experiences with one another but committed very little to writing; therefore, early printed material supplies most of the facts available.  An editorial written in the Charities Record in Baltimore (February 1895) reads:

To the mass of the poor, their own wretched stuffy sickroom is their only hospital.  Their poor home the place where they must recover, and where they must be taught to live healthily.... Not a week passes that we do not have appeals for a "trained nurse" to go to some poor home.  Within a few days a whole family, father, mother and four children were stricken down with scarlet fever and diphtheria; not an available trained nurse would go to the case for under $25.00 a week.  We had decided to tax our Golden Book Fund, when a Bon Secours Sister was secured, a second one being paid for by a gift.

To show the ecumenical nature of the work of Bon Secours, long before the term "ecumenical" was commonly used, there is the following story.  A call was received to care for a poor girl who lived alone with her father.  The father made a meager living selling the Protestant edition of the Bible.  The only food in the house was bread and raw tomatoes.  There was no bed where the sister could rest when she could leave her patient.  So for two nights and a day, with no place to sleep and very little to eat, the sister nursed the sick girl.  At a point at which she could leave her patient, worn out from lack of sleep and proper nourishment, she went to a neighbor's house and asked for a place to rest.  They were poor people, too, but they gave her a bed.  When the sister was ready to leave and return to her patient, the kindly neighbor had prepared for her some boiled meat, bread, and tea.  This simple kindness was great enough to take its place in history.  When she returned to her patient, the doctor was there.  He gave the sister a prescription that had to be filled at once, but neither the patient nor the sister had the money.  With faith and humility, the sister went to a drug store.  The pharmacist recognized the patient's name, because he was her Sunday school teacher at the Methodist Church.  Not only did he fill the prescription, but offered to renew it if necessary.  Later, even his mother came to visit the patient and brought a basket of food.  Christian charity knew no barriers here.

The charitable nature of the sisters' work was written into a history, Baltimore: Its History and Its People by Clayton Colman Hall:

Aside from the hospitals enumerated above the "new era" (the reorganization in 1881 of the charitable work of the City of Baltimore through the efforts of Doctor Gilman, president of Johns Hopkins University) was signalized by the establishment of a large number of special charities, among them the Sisters of the Convent of Bon Secours, who began their work in Baltimore in 1881.  They are a branch of a Roman Catholic order founded in 1822, whose special work is free nursing in homes without regard to race or denomination.

Mother St. Ferdinand had never been strong or robust, and her health felt the strain of those early eventful years.  She had never completely recovered from an attack of typhoid fever she had contracted about a year after they moved into their new convent.  The sisters found it useless to try to make her rest; a favorite saying of hers was; "Why take so much care of ourselves?  We shall soon be in Heaven, and there, we shall have rest.1121 Still, the sisters were concerned about her even though she had the power of a resolute and determined will.  When Archbishop Gibbons was elevated to the Cardinalate and received the Red Hat in March of 1887, Mother St. Ferdinand was ill.  In a letter written at that time to the cardinal, she expressed her regret at being unable to go in person and extend her congratulations and express her joy for the honors bestowed upon him.  Plaintively, she regretted that never again would she be able to go and visit him.  After expressing her "fiat," she asked his blessing on herself and her community.  Mother St. Fulgence came to see her in the spring of 1888; at that time, her health seemed to improve, but it was only temporary.  News of her failing health became known outside the community.  Cardinal Gibbons came to visit her on several occasions.  Often people would claim to have fruit or some other little gifts to give her, but in reality they had come to be able to hear her speak of the things of God.  Towards the end of 1888, her health declined steadily, but she looked after her community until the end.

She had great devotion to the Holy Eucharist.  Once, returning from the chapel, she was heard to say: "If only we could realize the privilege of living so near to our God!" Because Holy Thursday was the day the Holy Eucharist was instituted, she had often said that she would die on a Thursday.  It actually came to pass.  During the last 15 days of her life she had the great happiness of having mass said in her room.  Part of the convent garden had been consecrated as a cemetery; she herself chose the spot in which she wished to be buried.  A few days before her death, supported by two sisters, she went to a window overlooking the garden.  She looked around in a farewell gesture on the scene before her, and saw the spot where she would soon be at rest.  As the sisters were taking her back to bed she said smiling: "I did not know it was so sweet to die."" Surrounded by her sisters, and one of her brothers who had come from France to be with her at the end, she died peacefully on Thursday, February 14, 1889.

Sister St. Odon, who had come to Baltimore with the second group of sisters, had been Mother St. Ferdinand's assistant.  It was through her devotion and help that Mother St. Ferdinand was able to care for her community until her death; she was given charge of the Baltimore community until a new superior could be appointed.  After much prayer and reflection, on the part of the general council and the sisters, Mother St. Honorat, novice mistress in Paris, was chosen for this post.  In August 1889, she came to the convent in Baltimore as its second superior.

Her coming was hailed with joy.  Most of the sisters in Baltimore had made their novitiate with Mother St. Honorat in Paris and had never lost the confidence and love they had acquired for her then.  The sisters found her companionship, caring ways, and advice a great joy when they returned to the convent, sometimes weary, from their duties in the homes of the sick and the poor.

In addition to being a kind superior, Mother St. Honorat was a capable administrator.  In a notebook written in French in the provincial archives we read that at the time of the visitation of the superior general, Mother St. Fulgence, in March of 1889, the Baltimore community still owed the bank $4,000 on the land purchased by Mother St. Ferdinand. (Considering that payments for services to the sick received in that year amounted to $1,173 and that $1,202.78 was paid out for expenses, it was indeed a marvel that this was the only outstanding debt).  Loans from the motherhouse and the help of benefactors paid off the balance in a short time.  Dauntless and full of faith, Mother St. Honorat even bought another piece of land in May of 1891, for $11,050.  This land also belonged to George Steuart and was bought in the name of Rev.  Thomas Broydrick, pastor of St. Martin's Church and successor to Father Foley, who had been named Bishop of Detroit a few months prior to Mother St. Ferdinand's death

Thoughts of an addition to the convent and the erection of a chapel had been considered for some years, but restrictions placed on the property bought in 1887 still existed; doubtless there were restrictions on the new property as well.  However, the sisters'lawyer, Michael A. Mullen, wrote on May 19, 1891, that the settlement for the property of George H. Steuart was at last finalized: "I have to congratulate you and myself that this troublesome matter is at last ended.  You are now at liberty to take possession of the lot and use it at your pleasure.

At the beginning of 1892, Mr. W. T. Walters, the friend of Mother St. Ferdinand, asked and obtained the stipulation that the new land be free of taxes.  Mother St. Honorat obtained permission from Mother St. Fulgence to build a stable, landscape the property and put a wall and fence around the land.  The work began in May of 1892, and was completed the following August.

Like her predecessor, Mother St. Honorat had great devotion to the Holy Eucharist.  It was Mother St. Ferdinand's dream to build a beautiful chapel, and Mother St. Honorat prayed for it too.  Even though the sisters had transformed the most appropriate room in the convent into as beautiful a chapel as possible, it was still not a proper one.  Like Mere Geay, they @anted the best for God, wishing only "that God should be treated as God." Their prayers were answered when Mrs. Walter Abel, a wealthy woman in Baltimore, offered to build it for them.  Because the convent needed to be enlarged to house the growing community, Cardinal Gibbons and Mother St. Fulgence approved plans to do all the building, at one time.  In her notebook, Mother St. Honorat wrote:

In 1893, a good and charitable lady offered to build a Chapel for us.  It was difficult to place it.  It could not be attached to our House which was much too small.  We had hoped to enlarge our House at some future date, as this was badly needed.  We had always declined doing this because of lack of resources, and we did not wish to increase the debt at the bank.  The architect, Mr. Baldwin, and several friends of the Community, having examined the situation, advised us to commence the needed addition to the Convent right away.  They pointed out the economy and advantage of this for us, not obliging the workers to return, etc., etc.  We relayed this advice to Rev.  Mother General, asking her permission to follow it, and to make the addition to the Convent.  On the advice of her Council Notre Rev.  Mere willingly acceded to our request and authorized us to borrow the necessary money for the work.  His Eminence, Cardinal Gibbons, also permitted and approved the enterprise.

Thursday, October 19, 1893, ground was broken for the foundation of the new building.  Rev.  T.J. Broydrick, Pastor of St. Martin's Church, Baltimore, blessed the cornerstone on Monday, October 30.  On November 3, first Friday of the month, ground was broken for the Chapel.  The Sacred Heart of Jesus looked after us in a visible manner.  We had exceptional weather.  The workers did not lose more than three or four days during the entire Winter.  In April 1894, we had the great joy and the great advantage of a visit from Rev.  Mother General, and from Sister St. Natalie, the General Treasurer.  Notre Rev.  Mere was very interested in the building.  She inspected everything while she was with us, and made many good observations.  We profited from her good ideas and where it was possible put them into effect.  On August 3, 1894, the first Friday of the month, the architect came to inspect the Chapel and the addition to the Convent.  He found everything in good condition, and properly finished.  All the conditions of the contract being fulfilled he gave us possession.  Monday, August 27, Father Broydrick celebrated the first Mass in our Chapel and blessed the whole House.              

On October 18, his Eminence Cardinal Gibbons came.  It was his great wish to bless the Chapel and dedicate it to Our Lady Help of Christians.  The High Mass was sung by Father Broydrick.  Father Whelan of the Cathedral was deacon, and Father Boland of St. Vincent's was sub-deacon.  Father Gaynor and Father Hannon of St. Martin's were Masters of Ceremonies.  The Cardinal preached on the Gospel of the day.  He spoke of the influence of priests and religious upon the sick.  The men and women of St. Martin's choir had the goodness to come and sing at the Mass.  Miss Jennie Rinn played the harmonium.  After the ceremony, His Eminence, the priests, Dr. Donovan, Mr. McKee, Mr. Foley, Mr. Casey and Mr. Roberts ate in our refectory.  The lay people had a lunch served in the parlor.  We deeply regretted the absence of the Very Rev.  Father Magnien who was obliged to assist at the consecration of the Bishop of Trenton on that day.  It had been necessary to change the order of the ceremonies.  The Altar was consecrated on Friday, October 10, nine days before the blessing of the Chapel.

Not many records of this type are to be found about the early days of Bon Secours, so an original source giving a glimpse into the past is a valuable discovery. The acquisition and enlargement of the convent, the successive purchases of land, and the donation of the chapel, all within a short span of years, give testimony to the high esteem in which the sisters were held by the people of Baltimore.

Although the work of the Sisters of Bon Secours in the homes was primarily private-duty nursing, the sisters did not refrain from doing visiting nursing and social work among the poor, as they had done from their earliest days in the United States.  During Mother St. Honorat's term of office, more sisters arrived in the United States from France and Ireland; yet, even with this increase in numbers, there were still not enough sisters available to answer all the calls received.  An article written by Sister Donat in The Trained Nurse and Hospital Review in June, 1928, reads:

 'Requests for the Sisters' ministrations became so great in those pioneer days that besides caring for the sick the Sisters found there was an urgent necessity for visiting nursing and social work among the poorer classes, that much good could be accomplished thereby, and a vast field lay open before them.... Therefore, a certain number of Sisters were appointed to undertake the task, responding to the calls from physicians, clergy, and those interested among the laity.  Moreover, these Sisters set out alone to the districts assigned them, carrying a little "black bag" which was filled with all sorts of comfort for the sick-sometimes it was food, medicine or tonics; at other times-clothes, bed-linen etc.  In fact you could almost find anything needed for the sick in that "black bag" as many visiting nurses have observed.'

Down in the slums of South and East Baltimore their charitable work was admirable, as they passed from home to home ministering to the sick and poverty-stricken families, cheering and uplifting many types of people with whom they came into contact during their daily round of duties.

There were no trolley cars in those early days so the sisters traveled on foot.  The first commercial electric streetcar line in the United States began operation in Baltimore in 1885, but was discontinued in less than a year because of hazardous conditions relating to electrical power.  It wasn't until some years later that service was resumed.  Unable to come home for a noonday meal, the sisters often carried tea and bread for themselves so as not to burden the families of their patients, most of whom were extremely poor.  When the sisters left the convent in the morning, they were gone for the day, often up to 16 hours.

The Bon Secours sister with her black bag and fluted cap was a familiar figure in the streets of Baltimore.  Unaccompanied, and trusting in God, she went out at all hours, day and night, to the homes of the poor and the sick.  Her black bag was made of heavy serge, the same material as her habit, and contained all that was necessary in the sick room.  Sometimes it also carried a sister's personal belongings for a prolonged stay in the home of a patient.  This bag was looked upon with wonder by the poor, for it contained so many things that they needed.

By the year 1898 there was a large and thriving community of sisters in Baltimore, still their only convent, though their ministrations spread into other states.  The sisters had a large and comfortable house, with ample grounds around the building, and a large and beautiful chapel.  A priest, impressed by the community's harmony, wrote to Mother General and said, "I have always been struck by the air of peace and contentment that characterizes this Community."" This was the community that Mother St. Honorat left when she went to Paris in October of 1898 to attend the meeting of the general chapter.  She was accompanied by Sister St. Urban as delegate from the Baltimore community.  When they said good-bye to their sisters, they believed that they would both return.

At the general chapter, Mother St. Honorat was re-appointed superior of the Baltimore community.  Before returning to Baltimore, she and Sister St. Urban visited Cork, Ireland, where Mother St. Honorat received a summons from Mother General to return immediately to Paris because the mistress of novices there had died unexpectedly.

Mother St. Honorat and Sister St. Urban parted in Cork.  Mother St. Honorat, who had previously held the position of novice mistress, was re-appointed to the Paris position.  Years later, when her work in Paris was finished, she was allowed to return to Baltimore to spend the last few years of her life.  She died February 12, 1918 and was buried in the convent garden.

Sister St. Urban, accompanied by another young sister, returned to Baltimore.  Two days later, on November 14, she was appointed superior of the community.  She was to become a cornerstone of Bon Secours in the United States.  Father Magnien and Father Broydrick were both present at her installation.  When she entered upon her duties as superior, Mother St. Urban found a model community.  But she also found a heavy debt incurred in the construction of the wing to the original convent and in the purchase of additional land-a debt that Mother St. Honorat had only been able to partially diminish over the previous four years.  Mother St. Urban had a long struggle to meet this debt, but she never worried her sisters with the burden.  She ruled firmly yet kindly and was scrupulously just to all.  One sister recalls: "She always saw good if it was there to be found." Mother St. Urban was also blessed with a good sense of humor that lightened her burdens and she possessed an innate courage.

In some miraculous way, she was able to meet the sisters' financial obligations.  There was always interest to be paid on the debt, yet she was always able to feed and clothe the poor and sometimes to provide them with fuel.  If one of the sisters worried about money, Mother St. Urban would say: "We'll make Saint Joseph help us out.  Let us beg his intercession." She had confident patience in awaiting results which she was convinced would come.  St. Joseph never failed her.  Her charity remained boundless and, like the proverbial bread upon the water, it always returned to her.  In proportion to what she gave, she received.

In fact, when Mother St. Fulgence came to Baltimore in May of 1900, she expressed her pleasure and approval of everything she saw.  There was an excellent spirit among the sisters, and their zeal and charity in fulfilling their duties were exemplary.  She found material conditions highly satisfactory, but with one drawback-the need for more ground to meet future growth and development.  One day she was looking at the ground adjoining their property, and she said: "Sister Urban, this ground has been waiting for us all these years; we must have it." The ground she referred to was the northern half of the block.  Some months later, after Mother St. Fulgence had returned to France, the ground was purchased.

Mother St. Urban was a good business woman with a keen mind and a resolute will as well as being open to suggestions and advice.  And she recognized and appreciated Father Broydrick's keen insight and business ability.  With his help, the community borrowed private money and applied it to existing debts. (The sanction of the State of Maryland was obtained for all grants, sales, and deeds made to and for the use and benefit of the Sisters of Bon Secours.  This legal guarantee gave further security to the sisters in the use of the property for their own benefit.  The sisters were in possession of the entire block bounded by Fayette Street on the North, Baltimore Street on the South, Payson Street on the East, and Pulaski Street on the West, and eventually a wall and fence were built to surround the entire property.  Apparently, Montrose Street that cut through the property was no longer used as a public thoroughfare; in the course of time it innocently became part of the convent garden.  The fact apparently went unnoticed, and for nearly 60 years the street lay idle to the use for which it had been intended.  Only in 1958, when an addition was to be made to Bon Secours Hospital that would traverse the long-forgotten Montrose Street, did the issue come to light.)

The first five years of Mother St. Urban's nursing career were spent in London, where she took care of a patient for the renowned English physician, Sir William Jenner.  Under his direction, she learned how to take the temperature of a patient with a non-self-regulating thermometer, unusual for a nurse in those early days.  She was one of the first nurses to use the thermometer without a doctor's assistance; however, it was not her skill that made her outstanding, but her compassion.  She had been nursing in Baltimore for 12 years before being appointed superior, and most of her time was given to the sick and the poor.  Now, as a superior, she was in a position to help them even more.  Like her predecessors, M@re Geay and Mother St. Ferdinand, she would have been happy to stay at the bedside of the sick, and in the homes of the poor all her life.

Sister St. Flavie related the following to the author of The Life of Mother St.  Urban: In those days there were many poor in the vicinity of the Convent; so, when there were no Sisters at home to answer a sick call especially at night, Mother St. Urban would go herself.  Annie who worked at the Convent accompanied her carrying a lantern, for at that time the street lights were poor and the houses far apart.  She spoke of these sick calls as her happy duties, for the sick who were poor had a special place in her heart.  In her they found comfort in their sorrow, especially when a member of the family was about to pass away.  Often she would spend not one night but several with the dying person, then at break of day would go back to her duties in the Convent.  In those long hours of the night, sitting by the bedside of the patient, she watched and prayed, the while doing all that could be done to comfort and strengthen the soul about to take the long journey into eternity.

Sister St. Flavie tells another story.  An urgent call came late one evening for a sister to attend a poor woman who had suffered a stroke.  She lived alone and had a little candy and notion store.  Her neighbors had found her lying on the floor.  The sisters available for nursing were all out on calls, so Mother St. Urban answered this call.  Again, accompanied by Annie carrying the lantern, she went to the patient's home.  The patient was still lying on the floor with a pillow under her head and a group of neighbors standing around.  Mother St. Urban had a little bed brought down from upstairs and placed the patient in it.  Then she sent for a priest to administer the last rites.  Oddly enough, callers kept coming to make purchases at the store.  Because the business had to be taken care of, Mother St. Urban waited on the customers while keeping an eye on the patient.  Callers continued to enter the store, but it was very likely they were more interested in the sister than in making a purchase.  It was past midnight when Mother St. Urban finally locked the door.  She returned several more nights to stay with the woman, comforting her until she died.

Mother St. Urban was most ingenious in finding ways and means to relieve the distress of the poor.  She not only provided food, clothing and medicine for them, but she often paid their rent and fuel bills, sometimes procuring positions for those out of work.  One sister recalls: "She considered it a duty to give to the limit, and when she had no more to give she would herself turn beggar for them. 113' The sisters shared in this generosity also.  A familiar figure in the markets in Baltimore was a sister with a basket upon her arm, going from stall to stall receiving offerings of food for the poor-offerings that were given as if the sister was doing them a favor.  A butcher in Hollins Market deemed it a privilege to supply the sisters with meat for themselves and for their needy patients.  A baker woman on Druid Hill filled their bags with bread and also regularly sent bread and cakes to the convent for the sisters themselves.  One druggist never refused donations of medicines.

By this time, the convent garden was well cultivated with fruit trees and a large vegetable patch.  The produce from it likewise found its way to the convent table and to the tables of the needy.  Nothing was wasted. Economy, not penury, was the order of the day.  The sisters needed nourishing food, and they got it.  Their other needs were likewise met, but generally life was simple and their wants few.  Referring to those years, Sister St. Flavie wrote: "For a few years there was nothing extraordinary, many of us going out after supper to sit up at night, with us was our little black bag containing many things, not forgetting a little bite, and some coffee in a bottle, which often we shared with our patients of which we were glad.

On May 24, 1906, the congregation celebrated the 25th anniversary of its foundation in America.  The convent chapel was beautifully decorated and the large sanctuary filled with priests.  The rest of the chapel was crowded with the sisters and their many friends who had come to share their joy.  The Solemn High Mass was sung by Monsignor George Devine, the same priest who 25 years before had said the first mass for the sisters in the little oratory in Mrs. Small's house.  He wore the same vestments, and used the same chalice as he had on that occasion.  The sermon was preached by Father Broydrick.  There were 40 sisters in the Baltimore convent at that time.  However, 40 was not the total number of sisters who had served in the United States.  As Father Broydrick said that day:

In the life of a Community such as this the period of twenty-five years is a short one; but in the life of the individual in the Community it comprises the best part, the vital force and energy of life, for the graves in the little cemetery beyond tell us of the early sacrifice of magnanimous souls to the exhausting work of tending the sick and dying.... And today there are many grateful souls in heaven rejoicing with us in this celebration, for they owe in some measure their salvation to your beautiful religious example, consoling advice, and untiring ministrations.

Mother St. Urban had prepared 25 baskets of food, in honor of the 25 years they were celebrating, and had them sent to the homes of 25 poor families. (This was not the only occasion on which baskets were given to the poor.  Christmas was a season for rejoicing and the sisters who could conveniently leave their patients came home to the convent to celebrate.  Days and weeks in advance, Mother St. Urban was busy collecting food and other necessaries to fill baskets for the poor.  She had so many generous friends that she had no difficulty.  On Christmas Eve and on Christmas morning the sisters at the convent were sent out with the baskets.  Frequently, Mother St. Urban would carry baskets herself.)

But in no way did Mother St. Urban limit the work of her sisters to the poor.  On the occasion of her death in 1933, it was said:

 Thousands sounded her praises-rich men and poor men, great men and low men, prelates and priests.... for she was the friend and nurse of all.
 

Men and women lying on cots in hovels knew her ministrations; so did the great American "Churchman and Citizen," Cardinal Gibbons, whom once she befriended in the city of London; so, too, Bishops of the American Hierarchy, priests beyond number, members of religious sisterhoods and brotherhoods, millionaires and paupers.  They thanked God for her and prayed for her....

This wonderful woman was truly one of the heroines of this nation.  Everywhere she went she was blessed; everywhere she went she had a compelling power which enabled her to enroll hundreds in her works of mercy.

After completing her third term as superior in Baltimore in 1907, Mother St. Urban was called back to London as superior of the convent there.  When the Eucharistic Congress was held in London in 1908, Cardinal Gibbons was there for the occasion.  He went to see Mother St. Urban.  London was cold and foggy at the time and the cardinal, who had made no provision for the weather, was insufficiently clothed.  "Mother," he said, "this cold is piercing.  I expected nothing like this; I am in misery."" Within a short time, Mother St. Urban had supplied him with warm clothing.  The cardinal never forgot this kindness.  He missed her in Baltimore and wanted her back in the United States.  When the cardinal asked her if she wished to return to America, her reply was characteristic of her spirit of obedience.  Even though she longed to be back in America among the people and places she had grown to love, she answered: "Your Eminence, I have only one wish and that is to do as I am told.

At the close of the Eucharistic Congress in London the cardinal called upon the mother general at Paris, and he asked her to send Mother St. Urban back to America, for work was waiting for her there.  Little doubt but that the words of the cardinal remained in the mind of the mother general when the occasion arose.  Some 15 months later, in December of 1909, Mother St. Urban returned to America to make the foundation in Detroit; in 1911, she returned to Baltimore as superior of the convent there.  The cardinal then said to her, "Now you are in the right place." Now that the congregation had two foundations outside of Baltimore, the Baltimore convent became the center for the Sisters of Bon Secours in the United States.  Mother St. Urban, though not officially superior over the other houses, was looked upon as the unofficial head of the foundations in the United States.  It wasn't until after the general chapter of 1934, a year after Mother St. Urban's death, that Mother St. Juliana was appointed the first regional superior of the Sisters of Bon Secours in the United States.

The scope of the work of the sisters in this country and their care for all classes of people was attested to at the centennial celebrations of Bon Secours' foundation, May 24, 1924.  The Baltimore Catholic Review of that date reads:

This country and other lands owe much to France for giving to the world the Sisters of Bon Secours.  This Archdiocese and other cities in the Union owe much to His Eminence, the late Cardinal Gibbons, for the impulse that led him, while staying in France, to ask the Sisters to come to Baltimore. From Baltimore the order has spread to other cities.

These sisters have soothed [sic] the pillows of hundreds of sick in this land, including leaders of the hierarchy and distinguished laymen in this country . Members of the order were at the Cardinal's bedside when death came to him.  The work of the Bon Secours Sisters forms an edifying chapter in the history of the Catholic religious orders in this country.  They have served rich and poor.

What was said of Sister St. Flavie, one of the pioneers, at the time of her death in July of 1941, could be said of any Sister of Bon Secours: "Sister kept before her mind's eye the vision of the Divine Healer .... She saw her Lord in the stricken, dying person at whose bedside she sat or knelt, just as truly as she saw Him in the Tabernacle.

The latest revision of the constitutions states: "All activity is apostolic when it is designed to lead others to Jesus Christ and to witness God's redeeming love."' In taking care of patients the sisters have never forgotten the higher needs of the soul.  Although busy relieving physical suffering and assuaging mental distress, they also strove to bring peace and comfort to troubled souls.

Sometime during the first decade of this century a call came from New York for a sister to care for a patient dying from tuberculosis.  The husband of the dying woman was a noted atheist who had spent his life and fortune in an effort to destroy in the minds of people the idea of God.  When the sister arrived, the husband told her that while in his house she must not mention the name of God.  The sister replied: "Praise be the name of God, no power on earth can prevent me from pronouncing His adorable name.  "I Angry at her response, but amazed at her courage, he did not throw her out of the house.  The patient in her heart knew and loved God, but had been dominated by her husband and could not express it openly.  At night when the husband had gone to his room she begged the sister to pray with her and help her save her soul.  They prayed together and the patient made fervent acts of faith in God and His Church.  It was impossible to admit a priest to the house, but the sister baptized her patient conditionally.  Later the woman died a holy and peaceful death.

Time passed and the same sister was called to New York, this time to take care of the atheist himself.  He had been such a difficult patient that no nurse would stay with him for very long.  The sister endured many insults and rebuffs in the hope of saving his soul as she cared for him for three months.  He forbade the mention of the name of God, and refused to see a priest who called to visit him.  The sister redoubled her prayers for his salvation and wrote to the Baltimore convent petitioning the sisters' prayers for him.  When he went into a coma, sister baptized him conditionally; he regained consciousness shortly afterwards and asked to see a priest.  He lived for ten more days.  The priest came every day during that period, gave him religious instruction, and prepared him for the last sacraments.  He also baptized the man and gave him his first Holy Communion; in tears, the man asked God's forgiveness for a life spent blaspheming and denying Him.  This was in August of 1911.

In her own notes referring to the work done in those early days, Sister St. Flavie wrote: "The Sisters have been generous, and have given their youth, their strength and many their lives in the cause.  "' Sister St. Flavie herself worked hard, and she lived to the venerable age of 93.  The following tribute was paid to her in the Catholic Review on her death in July of 1941: "The life of Sister Saint Flavie is a story of patience, self-denial, zeal and charity that endured through seven decades .... In those early days of her life in Baltimore she was to be seen going to the homes of those who were sick to nurse them.  She went into the homes of the prominent and the wealthy and she went into the homes of the poorest of the poor .... The number of her patients was beyond computation.... She had a great love for the young Sisters particularly.

Before concluding this exposition of the scope of the sisters' services, one other item of historic interest is worthy of record.  Two Sisters of Bon Secours took care of General Philip H. Sheridan, of Civil War fame, in his last illness.  As his nurses, they accompanied the veteran general from Washington, D.C., on board the war boat, "Swatara," to Nonquitt, Massachusetts, on the New England coast, where he died August 5, 1888.  He was a devout Catholic and the sisters' presence and prayers were comforting to him in his last days as he was leaving a wife and four young children.  He was only 57 years old.  Sister St. Urban was one of these sister nurses; the name of the other sister has not been recorded.  General Sheridan was brought back to Arlington National Cemetery for burial.  Cardinal Gibbons preached at his funeral mass which took place at St. Matthews Church (now Cathedral) in Washington, D.C. General Sheridan was the son of Irish immigrants.

Priests have always had a special share in the services of the sisters.  Bishops, monsignors, and innumerable priests have been cared for since the first foundation in the United States was made.  The Bon Secours sisters have always had a deep respect for the priesthood and consider it a very special mission to care for them in time of illness.  The priests who from the very beginning befriended and helped the sisters remained their friends all through their lives, many of them later dying under the care of the sisters.

Father Magnien, who welcomed them to the United States the day they arrived in 1881, died in 1902.  He spent the last weeks of his life at the Baltimore convent where he was given nursing care in the special guest rooms provided for this purpose.  According to Father Fenlon, provincial of the Sulpicians at the time of the Golden Jubilee of the Sisters of Bon Secours in 1931: "If Father Magnien showed a fatherly interest in your foundation, from the very day your Sisters reached Baltimore ... you certainly repaid him a hundred fold by your kind ministrations during his last illness, in this very house.

Father Broydrick (later Monsignor) was another example of mutual devotion between the priests and the sisters.  For twenty-seven years he came every morning at six o'clock to say mass at the convent for the sisters.  During all those years he was never once late.  He understood the worth and the work of the sisters and he gave unreservedly of his advice, encouragement, and spiritual guidance.  The Bon Secours convent became a second home to him, and the sisters were his most devoted friends.  The guest rooms at the convent were always at his disposal.  He was left to do what he liked and to come and go as he pleased.  During the last years of his life, when his health was failing, he regularly came to the convent on Wednesdays for a day of complete rest.  Otherwise he drove himself relentlessly.  It had been his wish that he be allowed to end his days at the convent.  A few months before his death, in June 1915, he came to the convent for his final stay.  In Memoriam to Rt.  Rev.  Msgr.  Thomas J. Broydrick we read: "And when at length he came to them in his last sickness he found a home in the hearts as well as in the house of the good Sisters; he found in their skillful hands a help which surpassed all earthly expectation.  No money could ever buy such service, no ties of kindred could ever have assured any better care."" Before his death, he said to Mother St. Urban: "Mother, during the time the Sisters nursed me I realized that they ceased to be women, and became angels."" He died at the convent on Baltimore Street on Tuesday, October 5, 1915.  He was 67 years old.

Vested as for mass, with purple biretta on his head, and his chalice in his hands, Monsignor Broydrick was laid out in the convent parlor.  For two days, thousands came to pray by his side.  It was past midnight of both days before the last visitor left.  Then the sisters continued the vigil for the night; another token of gratitude for the benefits of his worldly wisdom and the riches of his spiritual knowledge which he had bestowed on them for nearly 30 years.  On Friday morning he was taken to St. Martin's Church where he was laid out in state until finally taken to his last resting place.

It was fitting that at the end of his long and fruitful life Cardinal Gibbons should also be under the care of the Sisters of Bon Secours in his last illness.  It was now 40 years since he had brought them to the United States.  In December of 1920, he felt the need of a rest, and he went to the home of his lifelong friends, the Shriver family in Union Mills, Maryland.  This family was also well known to the Sisters of Bon Secours who had on various occasions taken care of members of the family.  One of the Shrivers had married into another well known Maryland family, the McSherrys, also nursed for years by the sisters.  So the sisters were no strangers to the Shrivers when they received the summons to come to Union Mills.  On December 9, while saying mass in the little chapel of the Shriver home, Cardinal Gibbons almost collapsed at the altar.  He managed to finish his mass, but it was the last one he celebrated.
 

The Sisters of Bon Secours were called to come and be present at his bedside.  Sister Ludovic was sent immediately, and shortly afterwards Sister Columba was sent to help her.  His weakness increased.  On December 17, he was anointed.  On Christmas Eve, Midnight Mass was celebrated in his bedroom.  He said, "I want to go home to die."" He meant Baltimore.  On January 3, he left Union Mills in an improvised ambulance, accompanied by the sisters to his residence on North Charles Street.  His strength returned a little and he even took a few automobile rides through the streets of his beloved Baltimore.  Later, as his condition worsened, a third sister went to help care for him.  The sisters would not leave him for a moment because he had periodic lapses of breathing.  Sister Ludovic related: "He was a wonderful patient.  Very humble and very easy to take care of.  He often repeated, 'Sister, as often as you did it unto one of the least of my brethen, you did it unto me.' Mother Urban always tried to give him something special to eat.  Sister Ephraim was a very good cook, and Mother would send something special up to him cooked by her.  One day he sent for Mother Urban saying he wanted to talk to her.  He said to her: 'I want to thank you, Mother.  I thought I knew the Bon Secours Sisters, but I did not; it is only since I have been sick that I have learned to know them, and their kindness to the sick.' "" On Palm Sunday, March 20, there was a sudden change in his condition, and after periods of unconsciousness in the succeeding days, he died peacefully on Holy Thursday, March 24, 1921.  He was 86 years old.

During the celebrations for the 50th Anniversary of the Sisters of Bon Secours in the United States in May of 1931, Father Vieban, superior of the Sulpician novitiate said:

If today the Fathers and the students of the Seminary make an exception to their rule to take part in your joyful thanksgiving, it is not merely because fifty years ago the Superior of St. Mary's [Father Magnien] had a share in bringing your Sisters to Baltimore; it is chiefly because they want to express their gratitude for all you have done for them, for other priests and for the seminarians.... There are priests in this diocese and elsewhere, who to their dying day will remember you in their daily Mass because some of your Sisters did for them all that a sister or a mother could do, and even more.
    

Among the latter is Monsignor James J. Walsh, now-pastor of St. Agnes Church, Key Biscayne, Florida.  To his dying day he will be grateful to another great woman, Mother St. Juliana.  Sister St. Juliana first came to Baltimore in 1901, to nurse the sick in their homes.  It was in the mid-1930's,after the death of Mother St. Urban, when she was regional superior at the convent in West Baltimore Street, that she helped the young and very sick seminarian, Jimmy Walsh.  He was studying with the Sulpicians.  Mother Juliana was a combination of queenly dignity and gracious kindness that won both the esteem and love of all who knew her.  Priests found in her a true friend and mother.  Only God Himself knows of her many kindnesses and charity to those in need.      Whenever it was possible for her she went to the Bon Secours Hospital, opened January 1919, to visit patients, and made it a special point to visit sick priests and seminarians.  Jimmy Walsh suffered from a very severe form of arthritis that completely immobilized him.  He was hospitalized at Bon Secours Hospital, Baltimore, for 14 months.  Monsignor Walsh told of the sisters' care:
    

    I grew up within the shadow, barely a half block away, of the first Bon Secours Hospital.  My whole family, for two generations, benefited from their loving care, both at home and in the hospital. When I became ill as a seminarian, they cared for me as a patient for fourteen months.  This was in the late years of the depression, when they were treating 40% of all patients without any charge.  I know for a fact, because my parents kept after Mother Donat (superior and administrator at the hospital) for a bill.  She always promised them with convincing gestures that there would indeed be a bill.  She kept her word.  But my parents didn't get it.  I did.  I got it the day Father John Selner, S. S., was taking me at doctor's orders, to St. Petersburg, Florida.  I got orders from Mother Donat not to open it until I got on the train.  On the train I opened the discouraging looking envelope and found a bill-a green one-a $50.00 bill that needed to be cashed, and that for fourteen months in the hospital.
     I well remember the day Mother Juliana came into my room, I can see her yet standing at the foot of my bed.  She had heard the news the Doctor had told me.  He had said, in his opinion, I wouldn't get through the Winter unless I got to a warm climate-Florida.  So she came over.  Along with everything else I had had pneumonia and had lost a lot of weight.  I knew nothing about Florida except Tampa cigars.  I had no idea of any place.  She said: (Mother used to wink her eye) " You know now, there's a young priest in St. Petersburg, Father Jim Enright, he owes me more than one favor.  I'll give him a call." Long distance calls were rare in those days.  She called him and he said: "Yes, there is a brand new hospital in the parish.  It just opened a few weeks ago.  Run by the Allegheny Franciscans-St.  Anthony's Hospital." She came over next morning and she said: "We've made all the arrangements for you to go to St. Petersburg to the hospital there.  Father Enright will meet you at the station."
 I honestly believe I never would have come to Florida if it hadn't been for Mother Juliana.  Indeed in all truth I may never have become a priest without her help.  I remember her every time I say Mass.

Mother Juliana started the whole chain of events leading to the ordination of Jimmy Walsh.  After three years in St. Anthony's Hospital, and many more months in a hospital in Miami Beach he was ordained by Archbishop Hurley in 1944.  Mother Juliana lived to hear the good news of his ordination.

The priests of St. Martin's Parish, the Sulpicians, and the Marist Fathers were very kind to the sisters in Baltimore and in return received kindness and care.  The guest room at the Baltimore convent and later the guest room at the convent in Washington were open to priests needing rest and a quiet respite from their duties.  In the later years of his life, Father Nicolas Weber, former provincial of the Marist Fathers, spent several days a week at the Washington convent prior to his last illness and death at Bon Secours Hospital in Baltimore.  Other priests and prelates, without distinction, have received kindly care from the sisters, and some have spent months and sometimes years at the hospital in Baltimore.

May 1931 was the Golden jubilee of the foundation of the Sisters of Bon Secours in the United States.  For three days the event was observed with a solemnity and joy that befitted the occasion.  Each day began with a Pontifical High Mass and ended with Solemn Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.  Bishops, monsignors, and scores of priests assisted at the celebrations and members of various religious communities came and joined in congratulating the sisters.  Sisters of Bon Secours who could be spared from their nursing duties came from Washington, Detroit, and Philadelphia.  Mother St. Bartholomew had come from Paris, and Pope Pius XI sent his blessing for the occasion.

The celebrations began on Monday, May 18, the date the first three sisters of Bon Secours landed in New York.  The first day was Sulpician Day, set aside for the Sulpicians because the first sisters in Paris were trained for the religious life by the Sulpician Fathers.  Father John F. Fenlon, provincial of the Sulpicians and president of St. Mary's Seminary, preached the sermon at the mass.  He said:

Our Fathers in Paris have seen your untiring charity, your self-sacrifice and courage.... They have admired your skill in nursing, your carefulness in your work, your love of the sick.... The priests of St. Sulpice in Baltimore have equal reason for gratitude to the good Sisters of Bon Secours.  Ever since the establishment of your hospital, our students have enjoyed the benefit of your knowledge and skill and of your kind and unremitting care.... Your kindness to our Fathers, too, has been without stint.  You are a small community with no ambition of greatness.  You love, in fact, your very littleness and obscurity, as safeguards of your spirit, which is precious beyond all, and though willing to undertake any work within your power, we may say you have almost an ambition to be small.  This is, I believe, in accordance with the prophecy of the Saintly Cure of Ars, who foretold that yours would be a small but fervent community which would make little noise in the world but do great good....

If the Bon Secours Sister sees Our Lord in every human soul, she sees Him, above all, in the priest who is appointed by God to represent His Son before men.  All who are familiar with your hospital know how very much alive in the Sisters is this spirit of faith, in their care of sick and dying priests.  We ourselves have very often seen it manifested toward our own priests and toward our students who aspire to be priests, and surely it is a spirit which will be richly rewarded by God.

The second day of the Golden Jubilee celebration was called Marist Day, because Archbishop de Qu6len had given the spiritual direction of the Sisters of Bon Secours into the hands of the Marist Fathers.  In Paris from the early days, and in Baltimore for nearly 50 years, the Marist Fathers had been the spiritual directors of the sisters.  On this second day of celebration, Bishop Michael J. Keyes, a Marist, and Bishop of Savannah, celebrated the Pontifical High Mass and Father Nicholas Weber, S.M., delivered the sermon.  The students from Marist College in Washington, D.C. sang the mass.

The third day was Secular Clergy Day, the crowning day of the Golden Jubilee celebration.  Three bishops, many monsignors, many of the archdiocesan clergy, and clergy from other religious orders of priests were present.  The sisters invited their friends among the people of Baltimore and of other cities.  More than one thousand invitations were accepted.  Because the convent chapel could not accommodate all who wished to attend the ceremonies, Pontifical High Mass was celebrated on an altar erected in the convent garden.  Archbishop Michael J. Curley of Baltimore officiated.  Even the patients from the hospital across the garden took part in the celebration, following the services from their beds on the porches or from their places beneath the trees in the garden with doctors and nurses standing near by.  This final day of celebration closed in the afternoon with a ceremony of reception and profession, ending three days that would continue to be an inspiration for many years to come.

Through the years of the administration of Mother St. Urban and her successors, the work of the sisters at the Baltimore convent continued unceasingly.  A few glimpses of what went on in those years can be obtained from the account of Sister Ludovic who came to Baltimore in 1909, and who spent many years nursing in the homes.  Sister Ludovic recalls going to many places to care for the sick of all classes.  In her ministry she cared for patients in Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Chester, New York, Gettysburg, and many other places.  Sometimes she went alone and was responsible for the patient twenty-four hours a day.  Where possible it was the practice to send a young sister on a case with an older sister; on one such occasion Sister Ludovic was the younger sister.  She recounts:

I remember one time when I was taking care of a patient, Sister Yves was with me.  I was a very young Sister then.  The patient's daughter said to Sister Yves: "Don't you think this Sister is too young to take care of my mother?" Sister Yves answered gently: "Not at all.  She's young but that's not a fault of her own.  Sister knows a good deal about taking care of the sick." I was glad when I proved I was capable.  Sister Yves was always so kind.

Sister Ludovic also spoke of the strong community spirit that existed among them even though they spent much of their time outside the convent; of the warm welcome they received when they returned home from a case, or when they came home on Friday afternoons, circumstances and distance permitting, to go to confession and get a fresh supply of linen and other necessities.  They found great joy in being together again.  On such occasions the recreation period was extended and their afternoon tea became more special.

In her old age, Sister Yves, living over again her memories of the past, wrote:
 0 blessed nights of care and watching!  What a precious souvenir they are to my soul!  How often, during those long, silent nights when everyone was sleeping and even the patient slumbered, I would go in spirit to the nearest Church and say, "My God, we are the only two watching.  Bless me, Jesus, that I may be able to keep awake," and Jesus did.  Yes, our life was a truly happy one, praying to God and helping His poor suffering children.

Speaking of their work in the homes of patients Sister Ludovic relates that they went to early mass whenever possible, but never at the risk of neglecting the patient or inconveniencing the family.  Sometimes in country places, or where circumstances didn't permit, they got to mass only a couple of times a week.  In all cases they adapted themselves to the situation and shared the lot of each household in which they found themselves.  They often left the convent for weeks at a time.  In cases of prolonged illness they rotated every three months.  This was according to their rule.  Sometimes the patient was their only responsibility, but at other times in addition to caring for the patient they undertook household duties as the need arose.

Before the constitutions were modified in 1958, and revised in more recent years, there was an article specifically regulating the amount of rest a sister should have when out in the homes nursing the sick.  This was with a view to guarding the health of the sisters.  "The Sisters who shall be out with the sick must retire seven hours out of the twenty-four.  They may not demand more.  However, if the patients desire them to take a longer rest, they will do well to profit by it."" Prior to the revision of the constitutions in 1933, six hours was the prescribed amount of rest.  Also, after the revision of the constitutions, the limit of time a sister could stay with the same patient was changed from three months to two months.  If there was only one sister on a case, and that happened frequently, sometimes a responsible member of the family was taught essential and simple procedures so that the sister could get some rest.  However, when alone she was responsible for the patient twenty-four hours a day, and subject to call.  As much as possible, the sisters abided by the constitutions.

The following story is one of many told of those earlier years.' Sister Ludovic and an older sister were sent to care for three children in York, Pennsylvania, two boys and a girl, who had typhoid fever.  An older child, Mary, had died a short time before from the same disease, and the mother had died a few months previously from a heart condition.  Older members of the family had married and left home except for the father who was keeping house for the younger children.  When the sisters got there, they realized he was ill too.  He was worn out from work, grief, and anxiety.  He was admitted to a nearby hospital where he died shortly afterwards.

As was customary in that region, the parish bell tolled when somebody died.  One of the boys, Pius, asked: "Sister, who is that bell tolling for?" It was a delicate moment.  Her heart ached for the children, but they were still at a critical period of their illness and the news of their father's death would be dangerous.  Weeks later, the children were told the sad news.  Then came another sad duty when it was time for the sisters to leave.  They had to close up the house and take the children to the home of a relative.

Many years later the sisters received a letter from one of the children they had saved from typhoid fever.  Letter writing in those days was strictly regulated.  It would be impossible for the sisters, in any event, to keep up correspondence or communications with all the families they met in their ministry to the sick.  But, their goodness and kindness bore fruit in various ways, and was not forgotten.  The letter was from Pius.  Pius told them that he had heard them saying the rosary together when he was recovering from typhoid fever.  It was then that the thought first came to him of doing something good, of doing something for God.  He did.  He became a priest.  He wanted to thank the sisters for the inspiration they had given him.

At a later date Sister Ludovic, now a senior sister herself, went to Waynesborough, Pennsylvania, to take care of a patient; it was Father Pius who welcomed her to the parish.  Sister Ludovic later said: "The Sisters were devoted to the sick.  They gave great consolation to the families.  They were satisfied with their lot, far or near, rich or poor, that was the work of the Sisters.  At times it was very difficult, but they did the best they could.  Often times, through the influence of the Sisters, people who had fallen away from their duties came back to the Church."

Thus the work of kindly care continued to be extended, from the convent at 2000 West Baltimore Street, for many years into the future, under different leadership and by a continuing band of dedicated Sisters of Bon Secours.  It is an old saying and true that what is well begun is half-done.  The poverty, the humility, the generosity, the self-denial and the spirit of prayer and love of the sisters during those early years form a chapter that no human pen may write.

*Mother St. Ferdinand bought additional land from George Steuart in 1887.

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