TABLE OF CONTENTS

Descriptive Summary

Historical Note

Scope and Contents

Arrangement

Restrictions

Administrative Information

Related Material

Index Terms

Bibliography

Detailed Description of the Collection

Series 1: Correspondence, 1834-1836, n.d.

Series 2: Handwritten Notebook, n.d.

Series 3: Printed Matter, 1832 - 1903

Series 4: Photograph and Sketch, 1872

Series 5: Scrapbook History, 1834 - 1894

Ursuline Convent, Charlestown, MA

An inventory of Ursuline Convent, Charlestown, MA Papers at The American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives

Mailing Address: The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. 20064

Telephone: 202-319-5065

Email: archives@mail.lib.cua.edu

URL: http://libraries.cua.edu/achrcua/index.html

Historical Note

The Ursuline convent on Mount Benedict in Charlestown, Massachusetts, was the realization of a dream of the Rev. John Thayer (1758 - 1815), a Protestant who converted to Catholicism and served as a priest in Boston from 1788 until 1792. The final years of his life were spent in Ireland, where he procured funds for establishing a convent in Boston. The funds that Thayer collected were remitted to the care of the Rev. Dr. Francis Anthony Matignon (1753 - 1818), who encouraged his parishioners in Boston to contribute to the project. The convent, however, did not become a reality until 1817, when the Rev. John Lefebvre de Cheverus (1768 - 1836), Bishop of Boston, got behind the effort. The Ursulines soon outgrew their original quarters and removed to a new edifice on Mount Benedict in July 1828.

The original members of the religious community were recruited by Thayer during his fundraising campaign in Limerick, Ireland. There he inspired two of the original founders, Mary and Catherine Ryan, to make their novitiate under the Ursulines of Three Rivers, Canada, which was a branch of the Ursulines of Quebec. Soon the convent consisted of ten sisters, the majority of them coming to Boston from Quebec including the Superior, Mother Mary Edmond St. George.

The Ursuline community's principal mission was to administer a boarding school for girls aged six to fourteen. The number of students rose to 55, a few of whom were French-Canadian, while the greater number were children of New England Protestants. The education was comprehensive, covering religion, classics, music, and social graces.

Public opinion soon was to rise against the Ursulines and their school. The revival of evangelical Protestantism in the early 1800s, plus disdain for working-class Irish immigrants, gave rise to militant anti-Catholicism and reemphasis on traditional nativism. The convent was an obvious target, and rumors spread that the Ursulines were mistreating their students. When the townspeople gathered at the gates of the building on August 11, 1834, they proceeded to burn down the convent without interference from authorities.

After the fire the Ursulines attempted to continue their work in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Once again they were harrassed. As a result, some of the religious decided to return to Quebec, and others joined the Ursulines of New Orleans. In 1838, an attempt was made to restore the Ursuline community in Boston, but there were no accessions to their ranks. Two years later, their Bostonian ministry was disbanded.

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Scope and Contents

The collection spans the years 1832 - 1903 and includes correspondence, a hand-written copy of an eyewitness report of the convent's burning, a scrapbook history, printed items including journals, pamphlets, and newspaper clippings, and a photo and sketch of the convent. It documents the ministry of the Ursulines of Quebec in Boston during the early 1800s and demonstrates the strong anti-Catholic sentiment that existed in New England.

The scattered correspondence (1834 - 1836) consists of communications to and from the Superior of the convent, Mary Edmond St. George. Topics of concern are the recruitment of children to attend the convent school, attendance at court proceedings after the fire, plans for the Ursulines to return to Quebec, and the safety of children attending the school after the attack by the mob.

The eyewitness report of the burning of the convent, recorded in a notebook, is an excerpt from a larger work on the Ursulines of Boston and comes from the Ursuline archives in Three Rivers, Quebec, Canada.

A scrapbook of newspaper clippings (1834 - 1894) documents the burning of the convent by mob action on August 11, 1834, and the continuing anti-Catholic sentiment in Boston. Included is a detailed history of the Ursuline community, before and after the burning, written by Dr. B.F. De Costa, an Episcopalian minister and nephew of one of the Ursulines, Sister Mary St. Claire De Costa, the first novice received into the convent.

Assorted publications and clippings, dated immediately before and running to 50 years after the fire, describe the founding of the convent, its destruction, the legal proceedings afterwards, and subsequent acts of violence against Roman Catholics in Boston. Found here is a novella, The Nun of St. Ursula, by Harry Hazel. Giving a fictional account of the burning of the convent, its view of religious life is distorted, and it could be considered an anti-Catholic tract.

Two loose pictures round out the collection. One is a photograph of an engraving of the convent as it looked in 1832. The other is a sketch of the ruins after the fire and is attributed to Dr. B.F. De Costa.

Note: See Oversize Collection for a cartoon lampooning the convent investigating committee.

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Arrangement

The Ursuline Convent, Charlestown, MA Papers consists of five series:

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

Due to the fragile nature of the original documents, access to some materials may be restricted.

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Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

There is no acquisition information for this collection.

Processing Information

Processing completed in 1998 by William Guy. Data entry completed in 1999 by Jennifer Jukes. Data entry revision completed by Rebecca Hurley in 2001. EAD markup and digitization completed by Washington Research Library Consortium in February 2003. Additional EAD markup completed by Jordan Patty in 2006.

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Related Material

The American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives:

Ursuline Convent Digital Collection

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Index Terms

This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.

Persons:

Organizations:

Places:

Subjects:

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Bibliography

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Detailed Description of the Collection

CONTRIBUTORS: All ACUA Staff

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