1900-1965: Let There Be Light!

Modern conveniences began to change our lives. Automobiles transformed travel. Radio brought the world into our homes. And electricity lit up the night. This was true for area Sisters as well.

When a community of Carmelite Nuns arrived in Davenport in 1911, they came by train as well as by exotic "horseless carriage." The small cloistered community first set up housekeeping in a little Queen Anne cottage on the corner of 15th and Brady. After hosting an open house for townspeople the monastery closed its doors, becoming a cloister for silent prayer that continued with its relocation up the hill in Bettendorf five years later.

New Challenges

Not all remained quiet following the move to Bettendorf, however. The Ku Klux Klan feared that Catholics were destroying America, and worked to intimidate them wherever possible. Sometimes the Klan's tactics worked, but when they erected fiery crosses next to the new Carmelite monastery in Bettendorf, the townspeople came to the nuns' defense. The KKK was put down.

Another cloistered community arrived 53 years later in Dubuque. The Trappistine Nuns baked cookies to support themselves while following a prayer schedule that stretched from before dawn until after dark. Eventually, they chose caramel-making over cookie-baking, a ministry for which they are well-known.

As the Valley's population grew, classrooms grew more crowded. Sisters often taught 60 or more students at a time, working 60 hours or more a week to keep up.

While immigration continued to increase area population, it also affected the Sisters' communities. The Clinton Franciscans saw 18 Irish immigrants join their community in 1908, followed by 51 Newfoundland immigrants over the next several years. Other communities experienced similar influxes. New building projects occupied nearly everyone.
 

A Benedictine Sister lines her students up for Mass at St. Mary's Academy, Nauvoo, Ill.

Education ... for All

Sisters met the educational, medical, social and spiritual needs of this exploding population as quickly as they could, but needed more education themselves to do so in a fully professional way. This presented a tricky problem. The busy Sisters could not spare time from their own classrooms to attend college. And in any event, many universities barred women.
 
Gradually, that changed, and communities began sending Sisters to summer school in a "20-year plan" to acquire bachelor's degrees. Some traveled to Milwaukee to attend Marquette University when permission was granted in 1912 "for ladies and even nuns" to do so. Others built and then attended nearby colleges such as Marycrest, Clarke, Mount Mercy, Viterbo and Mt. St. Clare.

Infectious disease continued to be a great problem into the 20th century, often brought by the immigrants. Tuberculosis, influenza, cholera and polio each took thousands of lives. Sisters tended the gravely ill in their homes and in hospitals, sometimes succumbing themselves. One young Dubuque Franciscan Sister died while caring for victims of the Spanish Flu, while four BVM members lost their lives to flu two years later.
 
Despite the great need for quality healthcare, it was not a profitable industry. The original Cedar Rapids Mercy Hospital earned $1.00 per day per patient at the beginning of the 20th Century. Surgeries were performed next to the women's ward on the second floor of a two-story home. The first operation - to correct a cataract - yielded a total of $27.40 for the hospital.
 

The Benedictine Sisters cared for orphans at their Boarding Academy, raising the little girls in an environment of tremendous love and security.

Caring for the Least Among Us

Orphans continued to be one of the great tragedies of war and disease. Some children had been born in the River Valley, while others came from New York by way of the Orphan Train. Many families opened their homes and hearts to the little ones. But for the children left behind, the Sisters spread safety nets.

The Dubuque Franciscans incorporated St. Mary's Orphan Home in 1912, while the Humility Sisters added farm buildings, dorms and a gymnasium to St. Vincent's Orphanage in Davenport. Other communities, including the Benedictines, provided loving homes via their boarding academies.
 

The Benedictine Sisters flooded an area of their grounds during the winter to create a skating rink for St. Mary's Academy girls.

Financial Challenges

Money was tight in the early days of every community. Students who could not afford to pay tuition often were allowed to attend for free, and needy families would often ask for help. Nevertheless, bills had to be paid.
 
The Panic of 1907 hit the Benedictine community hard, when an unscrupulous financier lost all of their funds. The Sisters were left penniless.
 
Years of begging, borrowing and doing without ensued as the Benedictine Sisters worked to buy back the buildings that had been acquired by the bank. Thanks to the efforts of the Sisters and their friends, the Benedictines were solvent again by 1926.
 
When the Great Depression hit just three years later, every community was affected. Not only did the Sisters themselves struggle, those to whom they ministered needed help, and "hobos" knocked daily at their back doors for a meal. To help keep afloat, Sisters often taught music lessons to area children.
 

Benedictine Mother Ricarda Gallivan, OSB, traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in the 1955 White House Conference on Education.

Mid-Century

By mid-century, the Sisters' ministries were beginning to yield great fruit. Enrollment in their schools and convents continued to climb, necessitating new building projects. Graduates of the Sisters' academies, colleges and hospital nursing schools were joining the ranks of teachers, administrators and healthcare professionals. Change was inevitable.
 
Orphanages, once bursting at the seams, were closing. Improved health care, sanitation and vaccinations were allowing people - parents and children alike - to live longer. For those children who needed safe haven, the foster system was gaining favor.
 
Diocesan schools began replacing those once run by religious communities. Lay teachers - many of whom had been educated by Sisters - were beginning to staff the classrooms and administrative offices. Lay administrators and nurses took hospital positions as well, often with credentials earned at the Sisters' schools and academies.
 

A circa-1950's student council from St. Mary's Academy in Nauvoo, Ill.

Modernization and the Approach of Vatican II
 
Now the Sisters of the Upper Mississippi River Valley began responding to Pope Pius XII's call, in the early 1950's, to begin modernizing their communities and customs to reflect the times.

By 1959, the BVMs had adopted a modified habit that allowed them to finally be able to see while driving! The Benedictines had adopted an English translation of the Liturgy of the Hours, allowing them to worship together in their own language. Pope Pius's call to enhance their professional, cultural and spiritual education was met with great enthusiasm.
 
As their ministries at home began to change, Upper Mississippi River Valley Sisters began to respond to needs further afield. Sisters from nearly every community journeyed to South America following a 1961 request by Pope John XXIII to teach children there. They expanded ministries among poor and underserved populations. They began building and staffing retreat centers.
 
The stage was set, for the social, religious and political changes that marked the years following the Second Vatican Council.

Next month: As social, political and cultural changes of the 1960's swept the nation, they arrived as well within the convents of the Upper Mississippi River Valley. We'll tell you about how religious life evolved to serve the changing needs of our time.