Baltimore’s Irish Catholic community, and the city in general, has benefitted immensely from the efforts of Women Religious, known by most as Nuns or Sisters. Many religious orders dedicated themselves to the spiritual, medical and educational needs of several waves of immigrants to a young nation and city, and include the Oblate Sisters of Providence, “the first successful Roman Catholic sisterhood in the world established by women of African descent”.  The Sisters of Charity played an essential role in Baltimore’s earliest years, educating thousands in Baltimore’s earliest parishes. These Nuns cared for the suffering Irish as they arrived on coffin ships, and some laid down their lives once they contracted ship’s fever from those who were in a deplorable state. Their nursing saved many, and the Sister’s efforts in parish classrooms helped to transition the formerly rural Irish into educated, capable contributors in a vibrant urban setting.

West Baltimore’s St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church and schools placed an Irish order of Nuns to begin the 1855 school year. Archbishop Kenrick reached out to Diocese of Pittsburgh, asking for members of the Sisters of Mercy, a Dublin based order that had its first American posting there, to take over St. Peter’s Female School. The serving community was established by Sister Mary Catherine McAuley in 1831, in Dublin, Ireland. They arrived in Baltimore on June 28, 1855, led by Reverend Mother M. Catherine Wynne.  

A neighboring building (pictured) had been purchased by Mrs. Emily Caton MacTavish to serve as their convent. She was the favorite granddaughter of Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Mrs. McTavish presented the building as a gift to the Order, and the Convent of the Immaculate Conception became a home for nuns and support staff, as well as future novitiates.

Upon seeing the multitudes of young girls that sought to be educated at the Female School, Mother Wynne exclaimed, "There must be well nigh a thousand in that crowd!". Thankfully she had been accompanied to Baltimore by Sisters M. Neri Bowen, Mary Colette O'Connor and Mary Anne Rigney. Many of their charges lacked any semblance of formal education, regardless of age. The nuns gathered their pupils in the church hall and did their best to form them into class groups without the benefit of dividing walls between them. Some classes were gathered onto elevated platforms, and students were moved to the next grade level based on behavior and aptitude, rather than merely by age. These girls were described by the Sisters as “listless and lawless”, but time and perseverance convinced their students to assume a better demeanor.

The Academy of our Lady of Mercy was opened by the Sisters that same year, designed for girls from wealthy families that could afford to pay tuition. Advanced courses in music, needlework and fine art were offered to a student body of 60. The Sisters also established a home for distressed women, known as the House of Mercy, in a separate house in the rear lot. This work among the distressed was an important addition to the primary mission of the Sisters of Mercy. Poor families of the parish also benefitted from the Sisters’ efforts in the distribution of food collected at the end of the day at nearby Hollins Market.

Several religious Orders adjusted their priorities at the outset of the Civil War in April 1861.Two of those earliest arriving Nuns,  Sisters M. Colette O'Connor (pictured with military officers) and M. Anne Rigney, joined 22 other Sisters of Mercy Nuns at Douglas Memorial Hospital in Washington D.C. to care for the wounded. Nursing took precedence over education for a time, and they have been remembered on Washington D.C.'s "Nuns of the Battlefield" memorial.

Once the war was over, the Sisters of Mercy gathered in full force to continue educating the young girls of West Baltimore. The Female School met in the main church basement until 1869, when a school building of six classrooms was added in the rear of the convent. Attendance grew significantly, and their good works were an example to many neighborhood girls. Several came to admire their vocation, and desired to join them once their initial years of education were complete.

Among them was the future Sister Mary Rita Liberty (pictured), a niece of James and Sarah Feeley who lived at 918 Lemmon Street (home of the Irish Railroad Workers Museum). She was baptized at St. Peter’s Church as Ann, daughter of John and Ann Liberty, on March 15, 1868. Her parents were illiterate, and Ann’s father made his living by selling from a mule-drawn cart.

Ann studied under the Sisters of Mercy at St. Peter’s Female School. She entered religious life as Sister Mary Rita Liberty, and taught at Mount Saint Agnes College (established by the Sisters in 1878) in Mount Washington, a suburb of Baltimore. She returned to St. Peter’s School in 1910, teaching boys and girls where she once attended herself. Her career flourished in future years, and she became Mother Superior at St. Vincent’s Male Orphanage. Sister Liberty also taught at both Gonzaga School in Washington, D.C., and Sacred Heart Convent in Mount Washington. She died on November 25, 1922, at the age of 54.

Teresa Julia Holbein (pictured) also grew up in the neighborhoods surrounding St. Peter’s Female School. She followed an older sister into the Sisters of Mercy order in 1905. Becoming Sister Mary Hildegard Holbein, she traveled down two different vocational tracks: both as an educator and as a nurse. Sister Holbein did several stints as a teacher at St. Peter’s Female School.

Baltimore’s 375-bed Mercy Hospital was her major workplace, and she served there as a Nurse and Instructor for 43 years. Her time was interrupted dramatically in 1943 by a placement at St. Martin de Porres Maternity Hospital in Mobile, Alabama: a modest five-bed facility where she served as supervisor, midwife, “chief cook and bottlewasher” for five years. Sister Hildegard’s experiences there enriched her life, and she encouraged other Nuns to become “pioneer workers” in similar settings, giving care to “Miniatures of Christ in Ebony”.  She passed away in 1977.

The Sisters of Mercy continue to provide for the city’s spiritual, medical and educational needs to the present day, as well as in 25 countries around the world, administering 195 secondary schools. They have also been known to root for a certain local sports team!

Thanks to Sharon Knecht, Nancy Van Horn, Kathleen Garvey Norris, the Oblate Sisters of Providence and the Sisters of Mercy for their contributions to this article.