Monthly Reflections

May The Month of Yes!

May 8, 2023

Bringing Joy After Sorrow

Easter is a time of great joy. It is a time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, and to reflect on the amazing love that God has shown us...

April 8, 2023

The Feast of the Annunciation

We reflect on Mary’s wholehearted response to God’s request to become the Mother of Jesus.

March 8, 2023

There is a time for everything...

The seasons are changing and every day, small signs of spring move us out of the darkness of winter.

February 8, 2023

Happy New Year

Strengthen in us, O God, the work you have begun in us…

January 8, 2023

A celebration of life: The Society of the Sacred Heart arrives in England in 1842:

Marking anniversaries remind us of what matters to us and they provide opportunities to look back over the years since the event we are marking, to reflect with gratitude on how it has shaped us as an individual and a group.

December 8, 2022

May The Month of Yes!

May 8, 2023

Bringing Joy After Sorrow

Easter is a time of great joy. It is a time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, and to reflect on the amazing love that God has shown us...

April 8, 2023

The Feast of the Annunciation

We reflect on Mary’s wholehearted response to God’s request to become the Mother of Jesus.

March 8, 2023

There is a time for everything...

The seasons are changing and every day, small signs of spring move us out of the darkness of winter.

February 8, 2023

Happy New Year

Strengthen in us, O God, the work you have begun in us…

January 8, 2023

A celebration of life: The Society of the Sacred Heart arrives in England in 1842:

Marking anniversaries remind us of what matters to us and they provide opportunities to look back over the years since the event we are marking, to reflect with gratitude on how it has shaped us as an individual and a group.

December 8, 2022

Happy 180th Birthday

As our schools gather on the 8th December to say Happy Birthday to the Province of England and Wales, here is a special video they shared.

180 for 180

Each month for the next 12 months, we are going to highlight the lives of 15 women who are or have been part of the life and times of the Society of the Sacred Heart – a total of 180 women in all – as part of our celebrations of both the history and future of
the Society.

We would love your help! If you have memories you would like to share of an RSCJ who was your teacher or friend, who made a difference in your life, please let us know and we will include her in our 180 for 180!

Stories

St Madeleine Sophie Barat, foundress of the Society of the Sacred Heart in France in
1800, had long been hoping to establish schools and communities in other countries. It
is worth noting that in 1842, the year that schools were established in England and
Ireland, they were also founded in Algeria, at Lemberg in Galicia (modern-day Poland),
and Padua, Italy. Sophie’s trusted assistant Mother Aimée d’Avenas was instrumental in
the English foundation, accompanying the foundresses in looking for suitable locations
and travelling to and fro several times. Eventually a site was chosen at Berrymead, in
Acton, now part of London. Berrymead was described as ‘a charming residence built by
the famous Lady Montagu, on the ruins of an ancient Benedictine priory’.

On 8th December, 1842, four RSCJ, accompanied by Mother d’Avenas and a
manservant, arrived with two pupils from the Paris school to start their new adventure:

Lucie Mérilhou

The first Superior at the new foundation in Berrymead, Lucie was born in Cherveix in southwestern France. She entered the Society in 1831 at Amiens, and had only recently made her Profession (1841) at the time she was chosen. A measured and enterprising person, she oversaw the transfer of the convent school and community to Roehampton in 1850, went on to be the first vicar of England-Ireland, and then took charge of the Belgian vicariate.
Image: the early logo for the Society of the Sacred Heart

1807–1889

Laura Ivers

The only English member of the group, Laura was an Aspirant, having entered the Society in Paris in 1838. She returned to Paris in 1843 because of her health, and died at Nantes on 9th December 1844. Her sister Georgina had also entered the Society, in 1834, but left as an Aspirant in June of 1844.

Image: Berrymead, site of the first Society of the Sacred Heart school and community in England

1816–1844

Constance Thomassin

A Belgian RSCJ who had entered the Society in 1839, at the time of coming to England Constance had only recently made her First Vows; she made her Profession at Berrymead in 1848, and remained in England until 1857, becoming Mistress of French and English, needlework, home economics, and finally Assistant Superior. She was Superior at Glasnevin in Dublin (1857–1862), then was recalled to France to spend the next 17 years as Superior at Society boarding schools in Orleans, Poitiers and Bordeaux, and Assistant Superior at Perpignan, where she passed away.

Image: Berrymead

1818–1879

Jacquemine Perqui

A French Aspirant born in 1807, Jacquemine entered the Society in 1838. Her tasks at Berrymead included domestic work and cookery. She left the Society in June1844.

Image: Berrymead

1807

Hélène de Retz

One of the first students at Berrymead, Helene’s record does not include her date of birth, but does note the fact that she made her First Communion in 1836. Her parents’ address is noted as Chateau de St Lambert, près Marogol (Lozère). She left the school in August of 1843. Hélène later took the habit at Conflans. There is no further mention of her in Society records, so it would seem she joined a different Congregation.

Image: One of the earliest photographs of Society of the Sacred Heart students in England, 1859

Mina Karpfenbach

Another of the earliest students at Berrymead, Mina’s date of birth is given as 29thAugust 1827; the date of her Confirmation was 18th July 1838. No address is listed for her parents. She left the school in August of 1845. A Child of Mary – the Children of Mary being an organisation established by St Catherine Labouré in 1830 and comprised of young people between the ages of seven and eighteen who wish to consecrate themselves to the Blessed Mother – Mina was also a recipient of the Blue Ribbon, to this day awarded to students for outstanding practice of the five Sacred Heart goals: faith, intellect, social awareness, community, personal growth.

Image: Society of the Sacred Heart students, 1881

1827

Olympe de Causans

Part of the second group of RSCJ who arrived in England on 15th December 1842, Olympe had entered the Society at Amiens in 1818 and made her Profession in 1823. She remained at Berrymead until 1850, when she returned to Amiens and then went on to Paris and finally to the day school at Niort.

Image: Society of the Sacred Heart Convent, Amiens, France

1798–1867

Hélène Bailly

Born in Madras, Hélène entered the Society in Paris in 1840, and made her First Vows at Conflans in June of 1842. Six months later she made the voyage to England. She left the Society in 1859.

Image: Berrymead, site of the first Society of the Sacred Heart school and community in England

1820

Brigitte Gillespie

A former Brigidine Nun born in 1819, who had entered and made her First Vows at the Society in 1842 (at Roscrea, in Ireland) and came to Berrymead as an Aspirant. She left Berrymead and the Society on the 26th of March 1844.

Image: Berrymead

1819

Margaret Henneberry

Formerly a Brigidine Nun named for Saint Philomena, she entered the Society at Roscrea in August of 1842. At Berrymead for part of 1843, she is mentioned in Mother Adèle Cahier’s biography of St Madeleine Sophie Barat as having been sent to Conflans for her noviceship. She died in Conflans in 1843.

Image: Berrymead

1827–1843

Catherine Fontaine

A convert to Catholicism who entered the Society at her birthplace in Metz in1825, Catherine made her Profession at Berrymead in 1843. She remained at Berrymead, undertaking household employments, until 1845, when she was transferred to Jette-St-Pierre, Brussels, Belgium. She was at Jette until the time of her death.

Image: Berrymead

1803–1877

Françoise Elizabeth Pilon

Born in Le Mans, Françoise entered the Society in 1836 at Le Mans, took her First Vows in September of 1838 and made her Profession at Lille on 21 November 1853. At Berrymead she undertook household employments from 1843 to 1852. She died in Lille in December 1882.

Image: Berrymead

1810-1882

Marie Plourdeau

An Aspirant on arrival at Berrymead, having entered the Society in 1838 and taken her First Vows in 1842, Marie was engaged in household employments at Berrymead from 1843 until 1848, when she left to make her Profession in Paris. She remained in France – in Paris from 1848 to 1855 and then in Amiens until her death, aged 77.

Image: Society of the Sacred Heart Convent, Amiens, France

1814–1892

Mary Catherine Morgan

One of the first English pupils at Berrymead, Mary was one of four girls from the same family, two of whom went on to become RSCJ themselves. Mary took her First Vows in 1850 and made her Profession in 1857. She taught English classes at the boarding school in Jette before joining the teaching staff at Roehampton (the Sacred Heart school moved to Roehampton from Berrymead in 1850) to help with the day-pupils; later she was Mistress of needlework and religion. After 25 years at Roehampton she taught English at the Sacred Heart schools in Brussels (1875–1881) and Calais (1881–1882). Her great-niece Muriel Noel Morgan also became an RSCJ. Mary Catherine was also one of the signatories on the contract for the school and convent buildings at Roehampton.

Image: Sacred Heart Convent students at Roehampton, 1881

1825–1882

Leonora Emily Morgan

Like her sister Mary, Leonora was a Sacred Heart student who later made her Profession (in 1864). She taught English and Music at the Sacred Heart School in Amiens from 1855 until her death in 1867.

Image: Sacred Heart girls, Roehampton, 1885

 

1827–1867

Charlotte Goold

The next 15 years in the history of the English vicariate of the Society witnessed the opening (and closing) of a school and convent at Cannington in Somerset (1843-1844), and the move of the school and convent from Berrymead to Roehampton (1850), where it would remain until the Second World War. Elsewhere in the Society, both St Philippine Duchesne, who had established the first Sacred Heart schools and communities in the United States (from 1817) and the Society’s foundress, St Madeleine Sophie Barat, passed away (in 1852 and 1865 respectively).
In her short life, the English-born Irishwoman Charlotte Goold was the first Superior at Cannington, and later Superior at Berrymead (1844-1848) and Mistress General at Berrymead (1848-1849).

Image: the document declaring the establishment of a Sacred Heart school at Cannington in Somerset

1804-1849

Marcella Goold

Sister of Charlotte Goold, Marcella succeeded Lucie Mérilhou as Provincial Superior (1867-1872) and was Vice-Vicar from 1864. She was the first Irish Vicar of the Roehampton vicariate in 1866, which at that time consisted of three Irish convents and one English one. Recalled to Paris in 1872, she was succeeded as Vicar at Roehampton by Mabel Digby.

Image: Roehampton

1819-1880

Eleanor Clifford

Also among the first ‘cohort’ of English-born RSCJ, Eleanor took her first vows (at the Villa Lante in Rome) in 1840 and after three years of teaching at the Society boarding school in Paris at the Hotel Bîron, she left with Mother Charlotte Goold for the foundation at Cannington. Her father, the 7thBaron Clifford of Chudleigh, had been educated at Stonyhurst and was of huge help with establishing the school and community at Cannington. Eleanor went on to teach at Berrymead (1844-1848) and then, after the move from Berrymead to Roehampton, at the school there until 1867. After this she was librarian at Society schools which existed at the time in Germany.

Image: Hotel Bîron (now site of the Rodin Museum)

1820-1871

Madeleine Tice

Born in England and orphaned at the age of 16, Madeleine entered the Society in 1839 in Paris. After making her First Vows she was sent to teach at the Society school in Roscrea, Tipperary - the first Sacred Heart school and community to be established in Ireland, the same year (1842) as the English foundation at Berrymead. She made her Profession in 1850, by which time she had sadly become incapacitated through ill-health. She died at Roscrea.

Image: Roscrea

1809-1853

Emma Fowler

Born in Bristol, Emma entered the Society at Berrymead in 1849 and made her First Vows in 1851, by which time the school and community had relocated to Roehampton. She was Class Mistress and Mistress of Studies at Roehampton for many years. Her record states that she ‘spent her religious life between England and Belgium’ – there being a Sacred Heart school (and later site of the Mother House) at Jette, Brussels.

Image: Jette

1826-1878

Sophie Carden

Born on the Isle of Wight, Sophie entered the Society in on the 1st of January 1841 and made her Profession in 1854. Mistress of Discipline, she also taught English while at the Society boarding school in Nantes (1850-1859), and French at the school in St Louis, Missouri – a school established by St Philippine Duchesne – from 1859 to 1863. She returned to England to be Sub-Mistress General at Roehampton for the next four years, and then was sent to work as Sub-Mistress General, councillor and teacher of French and religious instruction at the Society school in Chile. She died in Concepcion, Chile.

Image: Villa Duchesne, Convent of the Sacred Heart, St Louis, Missouri

1826-1869

Clementine Blundell

Born in Crosby, Lancashire, and one of ten children, Clementine entered the Society aged 31 and took her First Vows at Berrymead in 1844. She made her Profession at Roehampton in 1851 and, as a Coadjutrix Sister, was Portress at Roehampton up until the time of her death.

Image: Roehampton

1810-1860

Evelina Leveque

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Evelina’s father was a Protestant who converted to Catholicism. She was educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in St Michel, Louisiana, and entered the Society at St Michel in 1828. Part of a large family, four of Evelina’s sisters also entered at St Michel. She took her First Vows and made her Profession at St Michel, before going on to be a class mistress at the first Society foundation in Canada, at Sault-au-Récollet. Her various employments took her to New York, Paris, Nantes, Calais and Roehampton. She died in Beauvais, France

Image: Sault-au-Récollet, Montreal, Canada

1811-1892

Charlotte Theresa Mary Ryan

Born in Waterford, Ireland, Charlotte entered the Society at Roscrea (Tipperary) in 1836. A Coadjutrix Sister, her duties during her time at Roehampton (1851-1867) included being Portress and ‘Vestiaire’. From 1867 until the time of her death she was at the Society’s school and community in Armagh, teaching needlework.

Image: Roehampton

1819-1875

Emilie Froumy

In the England/Wales Society archives Emilie’s surname is given variously as Froumy, Froumi and Fourmy, and her first name as Madeleine Emily or just Emilie. Born in Champagne (France), she was a Coadjutrix Sister who took her First Vows in 1839in Paris. She undertook various domestic tasks at the Society boarding school in Berrymead (1842-1848) but then was transferred back to the Mother House at rue de Varenne, Paris. She died as an Aspirant (i.e. before she was Professed as a religious Sister) in March of 1851.

Image: Berrymead

1804-1851

Eliza Croft

Born in Wales, Eliza entered the Society in 1831 and took her First Vows in 1833. She made her Profession in 1839. After being Mistress of Class and of Needlework, Mistress of Health and then Assistant at the boarding school in Rue Monsieur, Paris (1831-1842), she went on to be Foundress and the first Superior at the school at Roscrea (1842-1851).

Image: Roscrea

1800-1859

Genevieve Gauci

Genevieve entered the Society on the same day as her younger sister Filomena (17 October1858). Her long and distinguished career saw her employed as sacristan at the boarding school at Trinità dei Monti (1860-1865) and going on to fulfil various roles at Roehampton, Mount Anville (Dublin), Paris, Chicago, Maryville, Havana, St Louis and finally becoming Superior Vicar of the West and Louisiana Province. From 1896 she was at the Kenwood Sacred Heart Convent in Albany, New York, where she died in 1898.

Image: Kenwood

1834-1898

Filomena Gauci

Among the first RSCJ to be from Malta (at the time a British Crown Colony), Filomena was born in Valletta. Educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Trinità dei Monti, Rome, she entered the Society in 1858 and made her First Vows in 1860. While still a novice she taught Italian and looked after the community linen room at the Society boarding school in Roscrea, Tipperary. She was professed in 1868 at the Mother House in Paris, then returned to her duties at Roscrea until the time of her death.

Image: Trinità dei Monte

1836-1871

Orizia Leite

Soon after the first school was established student numbers grew rapidly, and prestigious Catholic families from the UK and Europe such as the Bellasis family, the Stonors, the Herberts and the Silvertops sent the first of generations of their daughters to be taught by the nuns at Roehampton.

Orizia was one of 13 girls from the extended Leite (and Pinto-Leite) family who would attend the school at Roehampton. She started at the school when she was 11, in 1855 - just five years after the school had moved from Berrymead to Roehampton - and left in June of 1860.

Image: Roehampton Lane c.1848

1844

Florence Douglas

Lady Florence was a pupil at the Sacred Heart school at Roehampton from the age of eight, and went on to become a highly respected author, war correspondent and feminist. Her nephew was Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas, whose father (Florence's brother, the infamous 9th Marquess of Queensberry) initiated the court case (in 1895) that led to Oscar Wilde’s imprisonment.

Image: Lady Florence Dixie (née Douglas)

1855-1905

Mabel Digby

The years 1872–1887 saw much growth and change in the Society of the Sacred Heart in England and around the world, and Mother Digby was central to much of this. A major figure in the history of the Society, while Superior at Roehampton (1872–1894) she established the elementary school for the poor (1872; now Roehampton Sacred Heart Primary School), a secondary school in Brighton (1877) and the teacher-training college then known as Wandsworth College and located at West Hill. This college relocated in 1905 to North Kensington and was renamed St Charles’ College; after the Second World War the site and name of the college changed yet again: this time moving to Roehampton and renamed Digby Stuart College, today one of the four constituent colleges of the University of Roehampton.
A convert to Catholicism (1853), Mabel was born in Staines and educated at home with a governess. She entered the Society at Marmoutier in 1857, taking her First Vows in 1859 at Conflans. She made her Profession at the Mother House in Paris in 1864, and served as Superior at Marmoutier 1865–1872.
In 1895 Mother Digby became the fifth Superior General – and the first Englishwoman to serve in this post – of the international Congregation, a position she held until her death in 1911. She guided the Society at a time when the anti-clerical French government expelled all religious congregations. From a temporary Mother House in Ixelles, Belgium, Mother Digby directed the Society’s growth, relocating some 2,500 French RSCJ to other countries.
Mabel Digby is buried in the Sacred Heart Chapel on the Digby Stuart College campus.

Image: Mabel Digby. A biography written by M.K. Richardson RSCJ is available online or from the Provincial Archives

1835–1911

Charlotte Leslie

Charlotte Leslie RSCJ was the first Principal of Wandsworth College in West Hill, established by Mother Digby in 1874.
Born in Wandsworth, she entered the Society at Conflans in 1859 and took her First Vows at Marmoutier in 1862, teaching English, Italian, drawing and needlework there until 1867, when she made her Profession. After serving as Assistant at Mount Anville and at the novitiate in Roehampton, she was appointed Superior and Principal at Wandsworth College (1874–1879). After this she was Assistant at Sacred Heart schools in Bois l’Eveque, Armagh, Roscrea and Carlisle, ending her days as Choir Mistress at Hammersmith Sacred Heart Day School (1902–1915).

Image: West Hill, site of Wandsworth Sacred Heart Teacher Training College (c.1900)

1833–1915

Fébronie Vercruysse

Born in Courtrai, Belgium, after completing her education with considerable distinction at the Sacred Heart Convent at Jette, Fébronie indicated her desire to become a religious – her family, however, objected. She persisted in reaffirming her intention to enter the Convent, and after ten years, aged 27, Fébronie entered the novitiate at Conflans. During the Franco-Prussian War she organised and directed a hospital to care for the wounded. In 1874 she was Econome – similar to a Bursar/Administrator – first at Roehampton and then at Brighton, supervising the building of the Sacred Heart school there (1877). She went on to become Superior and foundress of the SH school and foundation at Rose Bay, Sydney, Australia, where she remained from 1882 to 1894. She spent the final year of her life as Assistant at the Sacred Heart school in Brighton.

Image: Mother Vercruysse and the first RSCJ at Rose Bay (1882)

1832–1895

Johanna Bumann

Johanna Bumann RSCJ was born in Germany and entered the Society at Riedenburg, Bregenz, Austria in 1862. She made her First Vows in 1864, also at Riedenburg, but made her Profession at Roehampton in 1873. A Coadjutrix Sister, for the next 34years she worked as a cook at the Sacred Heart communities and boarding schools in Roehampton, Brighton and Dublin.

Image: SacredHeart school, Riedenburg (Friedrich Böhringer)

1839–1907

Henrietta Kerr

Born in Devon to Lord Henry Kerr and Louise Dorothea Hope, Henrietta Kerr was educated at the Convent of St Margaret in Edinburgh from the age of 11 and entered the Society at Conflans in 1862. After a time as organist and teaching English at the Sacred Heart boarding school in Rome (at Trinità dei Monti, site of the original fresco of Mater Admirabilis painted by Pauline Perdrau RSCJ in 1844), she became Mistress General at Roehampton from 1872 until the year before her death. During her relatively brief life she wrote several influential works including ‘Meditation in Preparation for the Feast of Mater Admirabilis’, ‘Notes of Instructions on the Sacred Heart, Our Blessed Lady and Love of the Church’, ‘Instructions to the Children of Mary (Enfants de Marie)’, two Novenas for the Immaculate Conception and other Notes of Retreat.
A biography, written in 1886, can be found in the Provincial Archives.

Image: Henrietta Kerr, 1876

1842–1884

Lucy Worswick

The foundations of the Sacred Heart Chapel at Roehampton were laid in 1856; however, plans for its completion could not be carried out due to a lack of funds. The architect was William Wardell (1823–1899), a disciple of Augustus Pugin(1812–1852). The interior work of the chapel was begun as a result of the wishes of Sister Lucy Worswick, who was Professed on her death-bed at the age of 26. A former pupil of the school, Lucy had entered the Society in February 1864. Dying of tuberculosis, she asked the Superior (Lucie Mérilhou) to write to her father to express that her last wishes were for him to provide the means to enable the Sacred Heart Chapel to be completed. Her father donated a considerable sum in memory of his daughter, and it was with this money that the altarpiece and reredos were added in 1868. The origin of the reredos is unclear, though there is an undated note in the Society’s Provincial Archives that states that it ‘came from Germany’. The figures, originally unpainted (as shown in this photograph c.1870) portray Jesus revealing his Sacred Heart to the French Visitation nun, St Margaret Mary Alacoque.

1843–1867

Lucy Laprimaudaye

The Laprimaudaye family play a significant role in the history of the Society in England. One of seven brothers and sisters – her sister Madeleine was also an RSCJ; two others were religious Sisters in the Society of the Holy Child Jesus; a brother was a Jesuit priest – her parents Charles and Anne had been converts to Catholicism in 1851. Lucy was educated at the Society’s schools in Rome and Roehampton. Hers does not seem to have been an easy decision to become a religious Sister, as the records show that she initially entered in November 1867 but promptly left in December of the same year, entering again in 1873 and taking her First Vows in 1875 at Roehampton. She taught at the Convent school in Roehampton 1875–1877, and was Mistress of Studies at the brand new teacher-training college (established by Mother Mabel Digby) in Wandsworth from 1877–1883, during which time she made her Profession (1880). After this she returned to teach at Roehampton up until the time of her death in 1884.

Image: The chapel at West Hill, Wandsworth

1845–1884

Anne Pollen

Anne Gertrude Mary Pollen RSCJ came from a family of artists. Her mother Maria (another member of the Laprimaudaye family) was a respected authority on the history of textiles and particularly on antique lace; her father John Hungerford Pollen was a writer and decorative artist (and former Anglican priest). They had settled in London the year after Anne was born, and took active roles in the artistic and literary community there, renewing a friendship with members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which led to John Pollen’s role in the decoration of the Oxford Union debating chamber.
Anne entered the Society in 1881 at Roehampton and made her Profession in 1889. She taught religious instruction and mathematics at the Sacred Heart schools in Roehampton, Brighton and Hammersmith from 1884 to 1914, and wrote well-researched and insightful biographies of her father (1912) and of Mother Mabel Digby (1914). From 1915, however, the records show that she was unwell, and from 1918 she is no longer listed in the annual catalogue of the Province. A later record indicates that she was in a hospital for those suffering mental health problems for the last 16 years of her life, first in England and then in Ireland. She is buried at the Sacred Heart cemetery at Mount Anville, Dublin.

Image: portrait sketch of Maria Margaret Laprimaudaye Pollen by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1857

1856–1934

Helen Rumbold

Known affectionately as ‘Nellie’ by her family and fellow RSCJ, Mother Rumbold was born Helen Hopewell and was raised Protestant by an aunt and uncle when her parents separated; she converted to Catholicism aged 16. In 1868 she married Sir Arthur Rumbold but he died less than a year later, leaving her with a baby son who also died some eight years later. After travelling for the next ten years to Italy, France and the West Indies, she entered the Society in 1882, took First Vows in 1884 and made her Profession in 1889. She was Mistress of Novices at Roehampton (1896–1899) and Superior at Hammersmith (1899–1903) and then at the new foundation in Malta (1903–1907). She became Superior Vice-Vicar of the province of Algiers, Malta and Cairo, then Assistant General at the Mother House in Rome, ending her days back at Roehampton in the summer of 1921.

Image: Mother Rumbold’s sketch of how to adapt one’s habit for playing cricket!

1847–1921

Minnie Murphy

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Mary ‘Minnie’ Murphy was the eldest of 12 children. Educated at home until the age of 14, she was then sent to Roehampton and the Sacred Heart Convent school from 1872 to 1876. She entered the Society in 1880 at Roehampton, taking her First Vows in 1882 before returning to her native Australia and the new Society foundation at Rose Bay, Sydney, in 1883. For the next 40 years she worked as Mother General, Mistress of Studies and in charge of the poor school at the Sacred Heart communities in Australia and New Zealand. In 1923 she was sent to Tokyo to be class mistress at the international school there, then was librarian and Mistress of Studies at the Sacred Heart boarding school in Kobe, Japan, from 1924 until the time of her death.

Image: Rose Bay

1857–1931

Arizia Pinto-Leite

Many of the most distinguished Catholic families in England and from all over Europe, such as the Keppels, Stourtons and Bunburys, continued during the years 1872–1887 to send their daughters to the Sacred Heart Convent schools at Roehampton and Brighton. Among these were another member of the Pinto-Leite family: Arizia, who attended the boarding school at Roehampton from 1881–1889.

This photograph of Arizia is from 1886.

1870–1913

Annie Dunne

Annie was born in Dublin in 1857 and was a pupil at the Sacred Heart school in Roehampton from 1874–1875. A note in the register tells us she received the blue ribbon marking her out as a Child of Mary (Enfant de Marie) and that, ‘if she can master her emotions, she will prove to be of great promise.’

Image: Annie Dunne, c.1874

1857

Sarah Ann Busteed

Born in Bristol in 1864, Sarah Busteed was a student at the Sacred Heart school in Roehampton from 1880–1881. A note in the margin of the school register reads 'Lady Holt'. A bit more digging leads us to the information that she became Lady Holt after having wed Sir Maurice Percy Cue Holt (1862–1954), Major-General and specialist in operative surgery, on 9thFebruary 1887.

The photograph here of Sarah (and her frankly magnificent coat and hat) was taken in 1880.

1864–1959

Christina Gresham-Wells

Christina was born in Kensington in 1866 and attended the Sacred Heart Convent school at Roehampton from 1879 to 1883. An exceptional student, a note in her records praises her singular judgement, virtue and distinction. Christina went on to be one of the very first members of the Roehampton [alumnae] Association, serving at different times as President, Vice-President and Treasurer. She was also Secretary and Treasurer of the Children of Mary at Hammersmith for some years. Upon her death in 1938, the Association received many warm tributes including, from a lifelong friend, ‘I think all her many friends will join in saying ‘‘She spent her life in doing good.’’’
This photograph of Christina was taken in 1881.

1866-1938

Mary Bunbury

Mary was born in Croydon in 1867 and was among the first pupils educated at the recently-established Sacred Heart boarding school in Brighton, where she was a student between the ages of 11 and 13 (1878–1880). The picture of her here is from 1882.

1867

Georgiana Fullerton

For this International Women’s Day we continue our celebration of 180 years of the Society of the Sacred Heart in England.
The years 1887-1902 continued to see the growth of the Society in England. Two new schools and communities were established – at Carlisle in 1889 and in Hammersmith, London in 1893. The Carlisle foundation relocated to Gosforth in1903 and then to Fenham, Newcastle in 1905. In addition, the wider global community meant that many women who started their vocation in London ended up in far flung places like the US, Egypt, Mexico or Japan.

The philanthropist, biographer and benefactor Lady Georgiana Fullerton was considered one of the foremost Roman Catholic novelists of the nineteenth century. She was a convert who, after the tragic death of her only son, devoted her life to philanthropic and charitable works. Georgiana assisted Frances Margaret Taylor in founding, in 1870, the school and community of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God Incarnate, and was a benefactor of that Congregation and of the Society of the Sacred Heart. She is buried in the Sacred Heart cemetery in Roehampton.

Image: Lady Georgiana Fullerton

1812-1885

Josephine Errington

Born in Dublin, Mother Errington entered the Society at Roehampton in 1878 and made her Profession at the Mother House in Paris in 1884. Her uncle George Errington was Archbishop of Trebizond and Coadjutor Archbishop, with Nicholas Wiseman, of Westminster. Josephine served as sub-Mistress General, Mistress General and Mistress of Studies at Roehampton (1884-1895) and at the teacher-training college at Wandsworth (1895). She was then sent to the Society boarding school in Manhattanville, New York, where she served from 1895 until her death, and was there for the Manhattanville school’s 50th anniversary celebrations in 1897.

Image: Manhattanville

1853-1902

Leopoldine Keppel

Leopoldine was born into the distinguished Coutts Keppel family. Her father was Viscount Bury who served as an MP and Under-Secretary of State for War (1878-1886); her mother Sophia was daughter of the Premier of the Province of Canada; her niece Hilary Davidson was also an RSCJ; and her great-great-niece is Camilla, Queen Consort. Leopoldine worked as a writer before she entered the Society in 1887,and made her Profession 1896. She was Secretary of the Vicariate over many years, while also serving at the Society schools in Hammersmith and Brighton. She helped in the General Secretariat in Conflans (1908-1909) during the time that the Mother House was there, and in Rome at the Trinità dei Monti, teaching French and English to converts. She organised the men’s retreats at Hammersmith(1928-1938), and in the last ten years of her life was at the Society’s community and school in Hove, writing and engaged in translation work. Mother Keppel’s books include biographies of St Madeleine Sophie, St Philippine Duchesne, Pauline Perdrau RSCJ (painter of ‘Mater Admirabilis’), Janet Erskine Stuart RSCJ and Anne du Rousier RSCJ; she also was editor of the first publication of Mother Stuart’s ‘Prayer in Faith’ (1936) and translated the work of Josefa Menendez RSCJ.

Image: Mother Keppel’s book about ‘Mater Admirabilis’

1866-1948

Constance van Crombrugghe

Born in Ghent, Constance was educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Jette St Pierre, Belgium. Her elder sister was also an RSCJ, and Constance made her Profession in 1853. She worked as Sacristan throughout her life, first at the original Society foundation in England, at Berrymead (1844-1850), then Roehampton(1850-1872). After a time as Sacristan at Roscrea (1872-1879), she returned to hold this post again at Roehampton up until the time of her death.

Image: Berrymead

1821-1893

Mary Anne Charlotte Eaton

Educated at the boarding school at Roehampton and the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Pau (France), Mary Anne made her Profession in 1891. She studied for a university degree at Mount Anville, Dublin (1899-1905) and worked as a lecturer at the Society’s teacher training colleges in West Hill (London), Fenham (Newcastle) and Craiglockhart (Edinburgh) for most of her life. She was the author of several books including ‘The Little Ones’, ‘The Faith for Children’, ‘Our Inheritance’ and ‘The Bible Beautiful’.

Image: cover of ‘The Little Ones’

1862-1934

Marie Lucie-Smith

Born in Georgetown, Guyana, Marie entered the Society at Roehampton in 1884 and made her profession in 1891. Mistress of French at Roehampton, Hammersmith, Mount Anville and Brighton 1894-1902, she was then sent to Havana, Cuba and worked as Mistress of English in various places throughout Mexico including Monterrey and Nuevo Laredo for the next 34 years. The school founded at Monterrey is today part of the University of Monterrey.

Image: University of Monterrey, Mexico

1855-1936

Aline Lucie-Smith

Aline followed her older sister Marie into the Society after being educated at the Convent school in Roehampton. She took her First Vows at Roehampton in 1889,then was sent first to Mount Anville to work as class mistress, and from thereto Grand Coteau and the community and boarding school founded by St Philippine Duchesne. She went on to serve as Mistress General of the day boarding school in New Orleans (Rue Dumaine) 1904-1912, and as Mistress General at the Society boarding school at St Michel, Louisiana (1912-1913).

Image: Grand Coteau, Louisiana

1868-1913

Elizabeth Atkinson

Born in Straffan, County Kildare, Elizabeth was the eldest of nine children and converted to Catholicism (she had been christened in the Episcopalian church) a few years before she entered the Society at Roehampton in 1886. She took her First Vows and studied at the teacher training college in Newcastle in 1892, then taught in Society boarding schools and colleges in the UK and US, working at Kenwood (Albany, New York); Providence and Elmhurst, Rhode Island; Roehampton; Gosforth; Hammersmith and Fenham, Newcastle. From 1911-1947 she served exclusively in the United States, in St Louis and St Joseph Missouri; Chicago, Illinois; Ohama, Nebraska; and Detroit and Grosse Point, Michigan. Infirm for the last two years of her life, she spent this time at the university college in Omaha.

Image: Gosforth

1859-1949

Françoise Nivet

Françoise was born and baptised in Plédrau, Côtes du Nord, France, and entered the Society (1886) and made her First Vows (1888) and Profession (1896) at the Society convent in Le Mans. She worked as cook and ‘dépensière’ at Le Mans (1886-1903) and as cook in Wetteren, Belgium (1903-1924) and Aberdeen (1914-1917) before being sent to work at the Society community in Bonchurch, East Dene, Isle of Wight, which had been founded in 1904.

Image: Bonchurch

1857-1920

Clara Lawlor

Clara was born in St John, New Brunswick, Canada and was educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She entered the Society in Halifax in September of 1886. After her clothing (in December 1886) she went to Manhattanville for her Noviceship, returning to Halifax for her First Vows in1889. She taught at the boarding school in Le Sault-au-Récollet (Montreal) for five years, then made her Profession in Paris before returning to Le Sault and moving from there to Bordeaux, Quadrille and La Ferrandière. From 1901-1903 she was at Roehampton, serving as ‘Surveillante’. From here she returned to Le Sault for over 25 years, and from there to Manhattanville for the last three years of her life. For a period of six years she wrote short stories for the American journal 'Messenger of the Sacred Heart' under the name ‘Bride Clare’.

Image: Halifax

1859-1932

Julia Müller

Julia was a native of Altdorf, Switzerland, and was educated at the convent schools of the Franciscan Sisters and the Sisters of the Cross before completing her secondary education at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Chambéry. She entered the Society at La Ferrandière in 1886, and made her Profession in 1894. Her employments brought her to Malta (then part of the English vicariate) 1903-1906, and from there to Egypt, where she worked in the Sacred Heart boarding schools in Cairo, Alexandria and Heliopolis from 1906-1930.

Image: Malta

1861-1930

Mary Anne Stück

Born in Peckham, London, Mary Anne trained as a lay student at the Society’s teacher training college in West Hill, Wandsworth (1881-1882) before entering at Roehampton in 1887 and taking her First Vows in 1889. She made her Profession at Hammersmith in 1899, and taught there for the next 11 years before being sent to teach in Tokyo (1910-1913) at the school founded there in 1908. She was in charge of the kindergarten at the Sacred Heart Junior School in Japan from1913-1942. Interned with the Dames de St Maur in their large school building with 86 other nuns (27 of these RSCJ) during the Second World War, she returned to the school in Tokyo from 1944 until her death in 1954. The 1963 edition of Digby Stuart College’s Chronicle has a lovely four-page obituary and tribute to Mary, which mentions that during her internment, when she was then some 81 years old, she had ‘used her age and her charm to obtain all sorts of concessions from the authorities’. The article also mentions that she lived to enjoy her Golden Jubilee and her 90th birthday, as well as a visit to the new Society foundation at Susono.

Image: Society of the Sacred Heart school, Tokyo

1862-1954

Katherine Heenan

Katherine was born in what is now a suburb of Barrackpore in West Bengal. She went to primary school at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Dublin (Harcourt Street) and to secondary school at Roehampton, where she was Head Girl in 1876. She entered the Society at Roehampton in 1887, and made her Profession in 1895. After teaching at the boarding school in Armagh and being in charge of the Poor School at Mount Anville, she was Superior at the day school in Leeson Street, Dublin (1901-1903) and Mistress General at Roscrea 1903-1908. From 1908 to 1926 she taught English at the Sacred Heart school in Tokyo.

Image: Kuni Palace campus, Japan

1860-1926

Blanche Gooday

Blanche was born in Sudbury, Suffolk and attended the boarding school of St Mary’s Sisterhood in Brighton, after which she studied music in Germany for four years, and painting and music in Florence, Italy for two years. She entered the Society at Roehampton in 1885, and after teaching at Mount Anville (1888-1889) she was sent to New Orleans for four years, returning to Europe to make her Profession in Paris in 1893. For the next 23 years she taught in Sacred Heart schools in the US, chiefly in Louisiana (at Grand Coteau and St Michel) but also in Missouri (Maryville and St Louis) and Ohio (Cincinnati). For the last four years of her life she was sadly infirm and was looked after by the community in Maryville.

Image: Maryville, St Louis

1851-1931

Edith Tyrell

Edith was a student at the Society’s teacher-training college at West Hill. On the occasion of her marriage, in 1890, she was gifted with a commemorative album filled with drawings, poems and other works of the imagination created by her friends and relations. Albums of this kind were all the rage in Victorian and Edwardian times, and this particular one is now in the Provincial Archives, offering a fascinating record not just of how accomplished Edith’s friends were but also of what the Victorians found beautiful, amusing or otherwise important enough to be included in a commemorative album such as this.

Image: a caricature from Edith’s album

c.1870

Janet Erskine Stuart

The years 1902-1917 saw more growth and change within the English Vicariate of the Society of the Sacred Heart. The year 1903 saw new schools and communities sprouting up in Leamington, Paignton, Gosforth and Malta; in 1904 a community was established at Bonchurch on the Isle of Wight; in 1905 the school and community opened in Fenham, Newcastle. By 1917 the teacher-training College had relocated from West Hill to St Charles Square in Kensington (1905), and a school and community had been  founded (1914) at Tunbridge Wells.

This was also the period when Mother Janet Stuart took over as Superior of the Province from Mother Digby (during the years 1894-1911), whom she then also succeeded as Superior General from 1911 until her death in 1914, aged just 56. One of the most important and influential figures in the English province, then and now, much has been written about (and by) her, and her work and legacy continue to be studied by and an inspiration to educators, historians and religious communities throughout the world.

Image: Mother Stuart

1857-1914

Marie Therese D'Arcy

Born in County Carlow, Ireland, Mother D’Arcy entered the Society in 1872 at Mount Anville. After one month as a postulant there, she went to Conflans for her Noviceship. Three months before taking her First Vows, she came to Roehampton. She made her Profession only three years after her First Vows. By 1895 she was Mistress General at Roehampton, after having been Assistant at the Society’s day school in Dublin, and was Mistress of Novices at Roehampton from 1911 until 1917.

Image: Mother D’Arcy

1845-1927

Rose Thunder

Born in County Meath, Ireland, Rose Thunder was one of 15 children and was educated at home by a governess. She entered the Society at Roehampton in 1874, and made her Profession in 1882. Superior at Hammersmith (1903-1907) and at Mount Anville (1907-1911), she succeeded Mother Stuart as Superior Vicar at Roehampton 1911-1923. A biography of Mother Thunder, written by Maud Monahan RSCJ in 1930, is in the Provincial Archives.

Image: Mother Thunder

1852-1926

Gwendoline Walpole

Born in Middlesex, Gwendoline was educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Roehampton 1876-1877 and at the Convent of the Sisters of the Assumption, Kensington Square 1877-1879. She entered the Society at Roehampton in 1886, and made her Profession in 1893. She was Mistress of Discipline at the day school in Leeson Street, Dublin, then Mistress General at the Sacred Heart schools in Brighton (1893-1897) and Mount Anville (1897-1899), after which she was Superior at Aberdeen (1899-1903), at the new foundation at Leamington (1903-1904) and at the day and boarding schools at Wandsworth (1907-1909). Mistress of Novices at Roehampton (1909-1911), the years 1911-1928 saw her as Superior first at Bonchurch and then Mount Anville, Leeson Street Dublin and St Julian’s, Malta. Finally, she served as Superior at the Sacred Heart boarding school that then existed in Budapest (1928-1934).

Image: Gwendoline Walpole

1864-1934

Franziska von Galen

Born in Münster (Germany), Franziska entered the Society in 1887 at Riedenberg and made her Profession in 1895. She served for many years as Mistress of Health at Society of the Sacred Heart schools in Cincinnati, Mount Anville, Maryville and St Charles (Missouri) and Grand Coteau (Louisiana). For the last 20 years of her life she was in charge of religious instruction at the boarding school in St Louis.

Image: St Louis

1867-1938

Gertrude Selina Newdigate

One of three biological sisters to become Sisters in the Society of the Sacred Heart, like her sisters Gertrude was born in Kirk Hallam, Derbyshire, to parent who were converts. She herself converted to Catholicism aged 14 and was educated at the Sacred Heart school at Roehampton 1875-1877. She entered at Roehampton in 1881 and took her First Vows in 1883, but then sadly died as an Aspirant in 1888.

Image: aerial view of Roehampton

1861-1888

Agnes Newdigate

Born in Derbyshire, Agnes was educated at the Convent of the Sisters of Charity of St Paul for primary school and received her secondary education at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Roehampton. She entered at Roehampton in 1889 and made her Profession in 1897. Her long career in the Society saw her teaching drawing and needlework, and serve as portress and choir mistress at the Sacred Heart schools in Roehampton, Hammersmith, Leamington, Brighton, Bonchurch, Levens Hall (the site where the Roehampton school was evacuated to during the Second World War) and at St Charles teacher-training college in West Kensington.

Image: Agnes Newdigate

1870-1953

Edith Newdigate

The third Newdigate to become an RSCJ, Edith attended the Sacred Heart school in Roehampton 1883-1890 and entered in 1894. She made her Profession in 1902. Mistress General at Leamington 1902-1906, Edith went on to teach and serve as Assistant and Sacristan at the Sacred Heart schools and communities in Roehampton, Tunbridge Wells, Brighton, Bonchurch and finally, when the school at Roehampton relocated to Surrey, at the Sacred Heart school in Woldingham (1946-1965).

Image: Edith Newdigate at Woldingham

1872-1965

Margaret Mary Clutton

Known as ‘Daisy’, Margaret Clutton was born in Chislehurst, Kent and after an initial education at home with a governess came to the Convent school at Roehampton from 1885 to 1892. She followed her older sister May into the Society in 1893 at Roehampton, and was Professed in 1902. Before making her Profession she taught religious instruction and drawing at the school (1896-1901) and then was lecturer in drawing and religious instruction at the Sacred Heart teacher-training college in West Hill (1902-1906). Between 1906 and 1920 she taught at Roehampton, except for the years 1913-1914 when she taught at the Sacred Heart school in Riedenburg, Germany. From 1920-1928 she was Mother General and Mistress of Studies at the newly-established Sacred Heart school at Tunbridge Wells. After this she served as Mother General and Mistress of Studies at the teacher-training college (1928-1933) and as librarian and teacher of religious instruction at the Sacred Heart school in Brighton (1933-1939). From 1939-1941 she taught at the Sacred Heart teacher-training college in Fenham, Newcastle, and then during the later years of the Second World War (1941-1945) she was class mistress at Lutwyche, where the students of the Brighton school had been evacuated. From 1945-1964 she taught history of art and again served as librarian at the school in Brighton.
Mother Clutton wrote a lively and informative series of memoirs beginning with ‘Memories of My Childhood, 1874-1885’ which are kept in the Provincial Archives.

Image: Margaret Clutton

1874-1964

Julia Fudakowska

Born in Poland, Julia entered at the Sacred Heart Convent in Riedenburg in 1902 and was Professed at the Mother House in Ixelles, Belgium in 1911. Her employments with the Society took her to Lemberg, Graz, Lwow, Jette, Warsaw and Budapest, and she also served at Roehampton for two years (1920-1922) teaching French. She died in Warsaw.

Image: Jette

1874-1963

Mary Agnes Stourton Langdale

Mary Agnes was the cousin of Charlotte Hornyold RSCJ and is among those commemorated on the Grade II Listed Sacred Heart War Memorial located on the campus of Digby Stuart College. A devoted music teacher, describing music as ‘a supreme and international language, understood of all peoples and nations, and continually enriched with the best products of human thought,’ Mary published the landmark article ‘A Plea for a Broader Treatment of Music in our Schools’ in the Catholic educational journal The Crucible in 1908. Mary volunteered as a nurse during the First World War and was stationed at Tidworth Military Hospital. On 09 February 1917, she died while on active service of an illness contracted while on duty.

Image: Sacred Heart War Memorial plaque

1877-1917

Letitia Burnett

Born in Aberdeen, Letitia worked as a governess in Russia before entering the Society in 1911. She made her Profession in 1920. In the course of her distinguished career she served as Mistress General and Mistress of Studies at West Hill (1924-1931), Mistress General at the school at Roehampton (1931-1945) – a period that included the years that the school was evacuated first to Newquay and then Stanford for the duration of the Second World War – and as a member of the Council at Froebel College (1945-1951). The last 15 years of her life saw her teaching religious instruction and acting as Secretary at the day school at Hammersmith. A relation of Lettie Burnett’s has compiled a collection of her letters; a copy is stored with the Provincial Archives.

Image: Lettie Burnett

1880-1966

Mary Catherine Ashburnham

Known as Catherine, Ashburnham was born in 1890 and was a pupil at the Sacred Heart Convent school in Roehampton (1899-1908). She entered the Society aged 22 in 1912, but then due to family commitments she had to leave in 1913 as a novice. Although she had left, she kept in touch with Mother Stuart and, upon Catherine’s death, Catherine's family kindly donated a collection of letters sent by Mother Stuart to Catherine, now held in the Provincial Archives.

Image: letter to Catherine Ashburnham from Janet Erskine Stuart RSCJ

1890

Mary Chisholm

Born in 1892, Mary Chisholm was a student at the Society school in Halifax, Canada. In 1910 she came to study at the Convent school in Roehampton; over the next year she kept a diary of her experiences. After her death, her grand-daughter found this diary, transcribed it and kindly donated the transcription to the Provincial archives. The diaries recount not just events at the school but Mary’s trips to other communities, including this extract recounting part of a visit to the Mother House at Jette in Belgium:

 Tues. Sept. 13 [1910]

Awakened at about eight and went down to breakfast in the pupils’ refectory. There are some beautiful paintings … one in particular of Mother Barat with the children under her favourite cedar tree. Everything is so different here – French windows everywhere, funny doors with still funnier handles and so on. After breakfast the Mistress General took us for a little walk in the garden and then to the chapel where we disgraced ourselves and our country laughing at a man who was dancing up and down the chapel. So it appeared to us at any rate but he was really polishing the floor with some sort of a machine on one of his feet which he held on with a cord. This house has so many lovely statues from the houses that have been closed in France.

Image: Roehampton Convent School alumnae c.1912

1892

Claire Coveliers

Claire Coveliers was born in 1902 and was a student at the Sacred Heart school in Roehampton. She and her family were Belgian refugees, one of many thousands who fled to Great Britain when Belgium was invaded by the German army at the start of the First World War. She entered the school in September of 1916 and left in July 1917.

Image: page from the Roehampton Convent School register

 

1902

Philomena Josephine Blount

The years 1917-1932 continued to see change, in Britain and around the world. For the Society, new foundations were established at Oxford (in 1929 and1932), and Madeleine Sophie Barat was canonised as a Saint on 25th May 1925. In the wider world there was revolution in Russia and Ireland – as a result of the latter, a distinct Province in Ireland was created separate from the English one. Finally, on 11th November 1918, the First World War came to an end. The War Memorial at what is now Digby Stuart College in Roehampton was dedicated on the 24th of  May1918 – one of its many unique qualities is that this was done before the war had ended. Erected to commemorate relatives and friends of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart and staff members and students of the Society’s primary and secondary schools in Roehampton, Hammersmith and Brighton, and of St Charles College in Kensington (which would relocate in 1946 to Roehampton and be renamed Digby Stuart College), the Sisters started raising funds for the Memorial in August of 1917, when there were already over 180 lost sons, brothers and fathers – and in one case, a daughter – whose families donated between £1 and £5 (the equivalent of £55-£275 in 2023) for a commemorative plaque. There was no set pattern for the inscriptions: families of those honoured were free to compose their own. In 2017 the Memorial was given Grade II Listed status. In its report, Historic England described the Memorial as ‘especially poignant for the individual tales of loss and their honest unmediated expression’.
Philomena Blount RSCJ was born in Newport, Wales, and educated at the Convent of the Religious of the Holy Sepulchre, New Hall, Chelmsford, Essex from 1860-1876.She entered the Society at Roehampton in October of 1887. In a long and distinguished career she was Superior at the Sacred Heart school at Blackheath, London (1905-1906), Superior at the teacher-training school at Wandsworth (1906-1907), and Vicar at the newly-created Vicariate of Newcastle, Aberdeen, Leamington, Bonchurch and Hammersmith (1907-1911). She went on to be Superior at St Charles’ teacher-training college (1918-1922) and at the boarding schools at Brighton and Bonchurch (1922-1928 and 1928-1929 respectively). She gave instruction to coadjutrix novices at Roehampton (1935-1940) and then was evacuated with the Brighton community and school to Lutwyche Hall (1940-1944).
Image: Mother Blount

1850-1944

Wanda Szczepanowska

Born in Liverpool, Wanda’s mother was the concert pianist and author Juliana Scott, among whose accomplishments were her contributions to Charles Dickens’ journal ‘Household Words’. Wanda's maternal grandfather was the portrait painter William Scott (1797-1862); her half-brother was the engineer and inventor Sebastian de Ferranti, whose daughter would also be an inventor and also a student at the Sacred Heart school at Roehampton. With this background, it should come as no surprise that Wanda was herself a gifted artist.
Wanda entered the Society three times between 1882 and 1887, making her First Vows in 1889 at Roehampton. She was professed in 1894. Her employments during an active life included teaching drawing, painting, music, French and English classes and working as portress, in the Community linen room and helping in the school infirmary at Sacred Heart boarding schools in Brighton, Roehampton and Mount Anville (Dublin). Among the paintings and frescoes she created was a portrait of Blessed Philippine Duchesne, shown here.
Image: Portraitof St Philippine Duchesne by Wanda Szczepanowska RSCJ

1850-1941

Mary Verdon

Born in Drogheda, Ireland, Mary was educated at the Convent of the Assumption, Kensington Square, London, and got her teaching diploma at the Society’s Wandsworth College in 1890, having entered the Society in 1882 at Roehampton. Mistress of the ‘poor school’ at Roehampton 1890-1891, she went on to work as lecturer in French, dressmaking and the organ at Wandsworth (1891-1902) and then served as Superior at Goodrington, Leamington, Aberdeen and Bonchurch between the years 1904 and 1928. From 1929 until the time of her death she gave private tuition at the Sacred Heart school at Tunbridge Wells.
Image: Bonchurch

1854-1940

Cecilia Mary Clifford Feilding, Countess of Denbigh

Cecilia was the mother of ten children including Agnes Feilding RSCJ and her sons Henry and Hugh, killed in the First World War and commemorated – as is Cecilia – on the Sacred Heart War Memorial at Roehampton. A supporter of the Catholic Women’s League, before the outbreak of war Cecilia was one of only a handful of women to be a member of the Central Committee for Territorial Nurses and worked closely with the Red Cross, as well as being the county head of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Families Association. When war broke out, Cecilia turned her home– Newnham Paddox – into a Red Cross hospital complete with 80 beds. Another of her daughters, 24-year-old Lady Dorothie Feilding, served at the Western Front in Belgium as an ambulance driver. Dorothie was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French and the Order of Leopold by the Belgians, and would also become the first woman to be awarded the British Military Medal.

Image: War Memorial plaque commemorating Cecilia Feilding

1860-1919

Honora Sheil

Honora was born in Dublin and was educated at the Convent of the Ursulines in Waterford (1873-1875) and then at the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Roehampton (1875-1880). She entered the Society at Roehampton in 1881, taking her First Vows there in 1883. While still a Novice she taught at the Sacred Heart schools in Roehampton and Brighton. She made her Profession in1889 at the Mother House in Paris. She went on to teach French at Mount Anville, Leamington, Bonchurch (where she was also in charge of guest pupils)and then was Chair of English Studies, singing and organ at the Society’s schools in Egypt and Malta. Honora died in Cairo on 25 May 1951.

Image: Sacred Heart school, Heliopolis

1862-1951

Helen Bodkin

Helen Bodkin was one of five biological sisters who became RSCJ. Born in Limerick to Dominic Bodkin and Marian (nee O’Kelly), she was educated at the Convent of the Dames de l’Instruction Chrétienne at Doorsele Abbey, near Ghent. She entered the Society at Roehampton in 1887 and made her Profession in 1895. Over the course of a long and distinguished career she served as Mistress General and Superior at the Sacred Heart boarding schools in Carlisle, Brighton, Newcastle and Hammersmith.

Image: Helen with her sisters Gertrude, Madeleine and Minna

1866-1940

Constance Perry

Born in Staffordshire, the sixth of eleven children Constance Winifred Mary Perry was educated with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Jette, Belgium (1882-1884), entering the Society at Roehampton in 1888. After teaching singing and organ at Hammersmith and Brighton, she became Assistant at the teacher training college at West Hill and then lecturer and Superior when the college moved to St Charles, Kensington (1906-1923). From 1923-1930 she was Superior of the Province, having taken over this role from Rose Thunder. She then served as Assistant General at the Mother House in Rome for the next16 years, returning to England as Superior at Brighton from 1947 until the time of her death.

Image: Mother Perry

1867-1950

Grace Sheil

Grace Sheil's mother Mary Leonora married Justin Sheil in Paris in 1849. Justin, a younger son, had a long career in the British East India Company and later in the Army including being a member of the British legation to the court of the Shah of Persia. He and Mary Leonora travelled to Teheran after their marriage and their first four children were born there. Mary Leonora published an account of her time in Teheran, Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia, in 1856. Justin Sheil was later knighted and the family returned to Britain in 1854, moving between Dublin and London for the next few years. Mary Leonora died just five months after giving birth to Grace; Grace’s elder brother Edward, 18 years her senior, was guardian to her and his other younger siblings. Edward was a MP for a short time in the 1870s.
Grace entered the Society in 1889 and was professed ten years later. She taught at Sacred Heart schools in Armagh, Hammersmith, Roehampton, Leamington, Newcastle, Wandsworth, Aberdeen and Dublin. She attended the canonisation ceremony in Rome of St Madeleine Sophie Barat, and during the Second World War was evacuated with the Tunbridge Wells Sacred Heart school to Allbrighton Hall. Among her writings are a biography of Mother Forbes and many plays composed for the Sacred Heart students.

Image: Grace Sheil RSCJ

1869-1951

Gertrude Bodkin

Born in Killarney, Gertrude was educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart schools in Roehampton and Carlisle. She entered the Society in 1894 and was Professed in 1902. For the next 64 years she served tirelessly as Mother General and Mistress of Studies at the boarding schools in Brighton and Wandsworth, and as Superior at Blackheath, Aberdeen and St Julian’s Malta (1902-1909). In 1909 she was sent to the New York to be Mistress of Novices and Mistress of Choir at Kenwood, posts she held until 1932 when she was made Superior (1932-1935). From 1935-1945 she was Superior at Manhattanville University College and Albany-Kenwood boarding school, then served as Superior Vicar of the U.S. province, based primarily in Greenwich, Connecticut, from 1945-1955. She died in Albany.
A published biography of Mother Bodkin written by Margaret Williams RSCJ is in the Provincial Archives.

Image: Gertrude Bodkin RSCJ

1875-1966

Winifred Archer Shee

Remembered with great fondness by all who were taught by her and were novices she looked after, Winifred Archer Shee served as Provincial Superior (a role then known as Vicar General) from 1930-1946, taking over in this duty from Constance Perry.
Born in Birmingham, Winifred studied at Bristol University and entered the Society aged 26 in 1908; she was professed in 1916. She founded the Society’s community at Oxford in 1929 and was Superior there for a year before becoming Vicar General. During the years of the Second World War she oversaw the evacuation of the Sacred Heart schools to various places throughout England. After the war she was Superior at Tunbridge Wells for five years, then Mistress of Novices at Roehampton until 1971.
Winifred’s father Martin and her half-brother George were participants in the cause célèbre that was the inspiration for the play ‘The Winslow Boy’ by Terence Rattigan. While a Royal Navy cadet, George was accused of stealing a five-shilling postal order. At the trial George was successfully defended against the charges by the noted barrister, judge and politician Sir Edward Carson. When war broke out, George joined the Army and was commissioned into the 1stBattalion, South Staffordshire Regiment. He was killed at the First Battle of Ypres, aged just 19, and is commemorated with a plaque at the Sacred Heart War Memorial in Roehampton.
In her memoirs, held in the Society’s provincial archives, Mother Archer Shee writes, ‘This place [Roehampton] has always meant more to me than any other place.’

Image: Mother Archer Shee

1882-1972

Mary Josephine ('Moya') Plunkett

Daughter of the barrister, art historian, nationalist and Papal Count, George Noble Plunkett, Moya was born in Dublin and entered the Society at Roehampton in 1914; she took her First Vows in 1916. Back in Dublin, her brother Joseph Mary Plunkett (born 1887) was executed at Kilmainham goal in Dublin for his part in the 1916 Easter Rising. After teaching religious instruction and singing at St Charles’ teacher-training college in London and at the Sacred Heart school and college in Fenham, Newcastle, Moya left the Society as an Aspirant in 1923. She worked as a qualified midwife in Uganda for six years, but died in 1928 enroute from Uganda with the Franciscans back to Ireland.

Image: Joseph Plunkett and his wife, the artist Grace Gifford, who were married just hours before his execution

1890-1928

Winefryde Smith-Sligo

Winifryde was from Fife where her family had built Inzievar House in the mid-nineteenth century. They owned the coal mines there and were a prominent Roman Catholic family. Two of her cousins – Helen and Susan Fletcher – were Sacred Heart pupils at Roehampton; this would seem the most likely reason that both Winifryde and her brother Archibald have plaques on the Sacred Heart War memorial.
Winefryde joined the Women’s Legion in 1918 and was assigned to work as a mechanic and driver. While on duty at Aldershot she crashed her car, apparently having fainted. She survived the crash, but she would not survive the cause – she had come down with influenza. She died just a few days before the First World War ended.

Image: War Memorial plaque dedicated to Winefryde

1900-1918

Muriel Noel Morgan

Born in Mexico, Muriel’s great-aunt Mary Morgan had also been an RSCJ and was one of the signatories on the deeds of the property at Roehampton where the school and community were established in 1850. Muriel was educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Roehampton 1911-1919 and entered the Society in 1922. She was Professed in 1931. She taught needlework and served as Sacristan and in the linen rooms at Brighton and Fenham. In later years her duties centred round social work at the school in Hammersmith and in the Society’s community in Surbiton, where she passed away in 1978.

Image: Mother Noel Morgan with Jean Kirkpatrick and unnamed novice, c.1966

1903-1978

Maureen O'Sullivan

Maureen O’Sullivan was a pupil of the Convent school at Roehampton who entered the school in September of 1922 and left in July 1926, going on to study at Trinity College, Dublin. A note in the register states that she was a ‘good child, but wanting in energy’ – this she clearly made up for later in life, starring in several of the ‘Tarzan’ films (as Jane, no less) and raising seven children including the actor Mia Farrow.

Image: Maureen O’Sullivan class photo, c.1922

1911-1998

Vivien Leigh

The famed actress, born Vivian Mary Hartley in Bangalore, India, was the daughter of a general in the Indian cavalry; her mother was Gertrude Yackje. Sent back to England to the Convent school at Roehampton, she began her life at the school on 21 September 1920, aged not quite 7. She later recalled, ‘I was the youngest child there and so I imagine I was rather spoiled. I remember I was allowed to take cats to bed with me. I’ve always been mad about cats.’ She remained at the school until July 1928. Notes in the school register give an address for her grandparents in Bridlington, Yorkshire, and note that ‘Vivian improved very much during her last year. Went to school at our house at San Remo.’

Image: Vivien Leigh class photo, c.1922

1913-1967
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Prayer of Thanksgiving and Hope


One hundred and eighty years, time to take stock.

To look back with Gratitude

To look forward with Hope

To see how Sophie’s desire to spread the Good News of the Lord’s Love,

Through the education of women in England and Wales, has fruited.

We give thanks for the dedicated lives of the Sisters

Who gave their all for this work.

We give thanks for the many girls and young women who went on

To live fulfilled lives in the home, through their work in Education,

In the Arts, in Politics, in Law, in the many avenues open to them.

We look forward with Hope as others take this work into the future,

May they find strength in the Lord’s Love, especially in dark and difficult moments.

May they nurture each young person, helping them to grow into courageous and

Confident forgers of the future.

May each and every one of them draw strength from knowing

That difficulties can be overcome, that others have walked the way

Before them and came through.

No mean achievement Lord – Thank you.

Amen