ROCHESTER HISTORY the Academy of the Sacred Heart

ROCHESTER HISTORY Edited by Ruth Rosenberg-Naparsteck City Historian Vol. LXV Fall, 2003 No. 4 The Academy of the Sacred Heart by Vincent Lenti Main entry and adjacent rooms of the Academy of the Sacred Heart at 8 Prince Street, 1968, (Hans Pedelt, Landmark Society, Rochester) Cover: The Academy of the Sacred Heart at 8 Prince Street, 1968. (Hans Padelt, Landmark Society, Rochester) ROCHESTER HISTORY, published quarterly by Rochester Public Library. Address correspondence to City Historian, Rochester Public Library, 115 South Avenue, Rochester, New York, 14604. www.libraryweb.org Subscription to the quarterly Rochester History are $8.00 per year by mail. Foreign subscriptions $12.00 per year, $4.00 per copy back issue. IMAGEPRINTER-1 ©ROCHESTER PUBLIC LIBRARY 2003 US ISSN 0035-7413 Interior of the Academy of the Sacred Heart at 8 Prince Street, c. 1968. (Hans Padelt, Landmark Society, Rochester). Closing Sacred Heart Academy 1968-1969 On February 12, 1968, the administration of Sacred Heart Academy, a private elementary and secondary Catholic school operated by the Society of the Sacred Heart, announced that the venerable Rochester institution would close its doors and discon- tinue operation in June of the following year. The announcement was made by Sister A. McDonell, R.S.C.J., superior of the school, 3 who outlined in a news release the basic reasons behind the decision to close the 113 year old school: Consideration has been given to the mounting cost of education, the inadequacy of our present buildings, the tremendous out- lay needed to build and maintain a school of the future, and the fine Catholic high schools where openings are available. Mem- bers of the Father’s Advisory Committee have explored many av- enues and presented a number of proposals. These have been reviewed, but no acceptable solution has been found.1 It is interesting to note that, in addition to mentioning various financial considerations, Sister McDonell also referred to the “openings” for students in area Catholic high schools. Less than a half dozen years earlier, the Rochester Roman Catholic Diocese had opened two new high schools, Bishop Kearney in Irondequoit and Cardinal Mooney in Greece. These schools were both co-institu- tional (rather than co-educational), with separate classes for boys and girls maintained in separate wings of the school buildings. The two new institutions joined four other Rochester area high schools - Aquinas Institute and McQuaid Jesuit High School for boys, and St. Agnes High School and Nazareth Academy for girls. The com- petition for high school students had rather dramatically increased. At the time of the announcement that the Academy would close, the school had an enrollment of 280 students, including forty- three boys and girls in its kindergarten. Except for the kindergarten, Sacred Heart Academy was a girl’s school and enrolled 150 students in its elementary school and 87 in its high school. The Academy was, therefore, a relatively small institution, and Sister McDonell acknowledged that “a small school cannot make it as a school of the future in this day and age.” In 1968, the school was staffed by a faculty of fifteen lay teachers and eleven sisters. Tu- ition costs were between $500 and $650 depending upon the grade level of the student. The news of the academy’s closing met with much sadness and considerable surprise among those who had come to admire and appreciate the contribution which the Sacred Heart nuns had made in Rochester. As a courtesy Mother McDonell sent out the following letter to parents, alumnae, and friends two days prior to the official public announcement: 4 For a long time the problems of our school here at Prince Street have been under consideration. A final decision has been reached by the Province of the Society of the Sacred Heart: Prince Street will close in June, 1969. This decision is painful and difficult for you and for us indeed for all the Religious of the Sacred Heart. Such a decision, and our concern for all whom it affects, re- quires that no delay be made in informing you. At the same time, we want to express our gratitude to all of you for your genuine interest during these last years. Especially, we thank the members of the Fathers’ Advisory Committee who have given so generously of their time and support. They have studied the problems, worked unselfishly, communicated with experts in the field of education; indeed, they have done all they could to solve these problems. The proposals have been reviewed, but no acceptable solution was found. Through the many years we have been in Rochester we have experienced the loyalty and appreciation of parents, alumnae, students, faculty, friends, and devoted employees. Our roots are deep; the ties that bind us are unbreakable. We count much on your prayers and understanding in the difficult months ahead. For all of us this is a time of great sacrifice, but also, a time to grow in trust. A grand tradition of excellence in education and dedication to the students who turned to the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Rochester was coming to an end. In addition to maintaining a very high academic standard, the Sacred Heart Academy had a reputa- tion for developing the best possible personal qualities in its students. Its stated aims were “to form manners and principles of the young ladies and train them up in the habits of order, politeness, neatness, and industry.”2 The academy had been founded in 1855 by the Society of the Sacred Heart, an order of nuns which was dedicated to educating young women. Established in France by St. Madeleine Sophie Barat during the chaotic years of the French Revolution, the Sa- cred Heart sisters had first come to the United States in the 1818. By 1968 the order numbered more than 6,500 members world- wide, and they operated thirty-five different schools in America. To prepare for the closing of its Rochester academy, Sister McDonell announced that they would not admit a first grade during its final year of operation. However, the school would continue the other 5 grade levels if enrollment was conducive to the aims of good education. In June 1969, however, the Academy of the Sacred Heart would close its doors after 114 continuous years of educating young women in Rochester. Troubled Beginnings in Buffalo, New York 1849-1855 The Rochester Academy actually had its origins in nearby Buffalo, and its establishment in that city was associated with the Rt. Rev. John Timon, D.D., who was appointed Buffalo’s first Ro- man Catholic Bishop in 1847. His new diocese encompassed most of western New York, including Rochester. Until 1847 all of New York State was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop in New York City, but in that year two new dioceses were created, one in Buf- falo and one in Albany. John Timon was a Vincentian priest (after St. Vincent dePaul, their founder), an order of Catholic priests some- times called “Lazarists” because their original headquarters had been at the ancient Priory of Saint-Lazare in Paris. During the French Revolution and other upheavals of that time, the Vincentians had been dispersed and lost their churches in France, Poland, Italy, and elsewhere in Europe. But they had re-established themselves in 1817 and experienced a marvelous revival during the next few decades. The Vincentians first came to America to assist in the vast Diocese of Louisiana which then extended from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border. Father Timon ministered princi- pally in the south and southwest, and while in Missouri and Loui- siana he became acquainted with the work of the Sacred Heart sisters. Because of his high regard for their work, Bishop Timon asked the Sacred Heart sisters in Manhattanville if they might send several members of their congregation to Buffalo in order to establish a school in his diocese. In response to his request, a group of nuns led by Mother Trincano arrived in Buffalo from New York on June 22, 1849, after a journey of thirty hours. They soon established themselves in the Sherwood House on Lake Erie and opened their new school in September with four boarders and fourteen day students. They had a total of fifteen cents in the convent treasury. Eight of the eighteen students were non-Catholics, and this group included Mary Abigail Fillmore, daughter of Millard Fillmore, then 6 the Vice-President of the United States and soon to be elected Presi- dent in the 1850 elections. Facilities at the new “Buffalo Academy for Young Ladies” were very spartan. The chapel altar, for ex- ample, was a make-shift arrangement involving the placement of wooden planks across the backs of several chairs and then covered with a table-cloth. Establishing the school and attracting sufficient numbers of students proved to be an arduous task. The convent journal, faith- fully maintained by one of the sisters, included a comment in Oc- tober of the school’s first year that people were “frightened by our poverty and dare not send us their children, lest they be wanting in comfort and convenience at the convent.”3 The community’s leader at the time was Mother Branagier. She had arrived in the United States too ill to immediately continue to upstate New York and only arrived in Buffalo in October. Her continued ill-health led to her departure two years later, and the rapid succession of new leaders clearly suggests that health concerns and the general difficulties of their vocation took a heavy toll on these poor Sacred Heart nuns as they valiantly attempted to establish themselves in Bishop Timon’s city.

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