Sister Ann Alexis. The child of a prominent Pennsylvania family named Shorb, she had joined Mother Seton's
community in 1825 and was only 28 years old when she was called to help the Church of Boston.
Bishop Benedict Fenwick had felt the need to establish charitable institutions, particularly for orphans. He recognized
that American women were beginning to assume a more active role in society. He wrote to the Sisters of Charity
founded by Saint Elizabeth Anne Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland and asked for their help. When he received word
that three sisters would come to Boston, he called a public meeting for Sunday afternoon, March 18, 1832, for "all
who felt interested for their success." The meeting was attended by a "large concourse of charitably disposed
persons (principally ladies). The participants agreed to form an association the "Roman Catholic Female Charitable
Society." Fundraising began that very afternoon. The institution they sponsored became known as the St. Vincent
Orphan Asylum, and it had a long and distinguished history that lasted until the final closing of its doors in 1949.
Sister Ann Alexis was the one who established a solid financial base for the Asylum, skillfully managing its meager
resources for the more than 40 years until her death in March of 1875. In the eulogy of her preached by James
Augustine Healy, Boston's first Chancellor and later Bishop of Portland, she was described as "a lady of noticeable
refinement and education," one who "charmed all who met her." The key to her success was more than charm,
however. "Her great administrative ability" combined with a dogged persistence: she was, Father Healy said, "always
aiming at a more extensive and more useful institution until her wishes were realized."
From Generation to Generation: Stories in Catholic History From the Archives of the Archdiocese of Boston, by James M. O'Toole,
Preface by Humberto Cardinal Medeiros pages 42-45. Used with permission © Daughters of Saint Paul, Boston, MA
6. "Principally Ladies"
In the early decades of the nineteenth century, American
women were beginning to assume a more active role in society.
Where their predecessors had been by and large confined to the
more domestic existence of the home, the women of the 1820's
and 1830's were participating in increasing numbers in the social
movements of the day. Various reform causes in education,
health, and politics were taking shape, and women were playing
their part. In New England especially, the descendants of Yankee
stock were active participants in these reforms. But records in the
Archives of the Archdiocese show that their Catholic sisters were
not far behind. Bishop Benedict Fenwick left behind a manuscript
volume of notes that serves as our source for learning about the
arrival in Boston of the diocese's second order of women religious,
Sister Ann Alexis
the Sisters of Charity, and the formation of an organization known
as the "Roman Catholic Female Charitable Society."
From the time of his arrival in Boston at the end of 1825, Bishop Fenwick had felt the
need to establish charitable institutions, particularly for orphans. When he began
publication of his newspaper, The Pilot, in 1829 he specified that the surplus profits from
the venture would be used to establish an orphanage. Such profits were not to materialize,
but he still searched for ways "to have the poor Catholic children of Boston placed under the
superintendence and instruction of some Religious association, the better to form their
morals and train them up to habits of Virtue." Accordingly, in February 1832 he wrote to
the Sisters of Charity of Emmitsburg, Maryland, asking the community to send four nuns to
Boston to undertake the task.
The sisters were no strangers to this kind of work. Founded in 1812 by St. Elizabeth
Seton, they were active in what we would today call the social mission of the Church.
Fenwick observed that they were "ever anxious to do all the good in their power,
notwithstanding the many draughts which had been made upon their House." When he
received word that three sisters would come to Boston for the purpose he had in mind, he
called a public meeting for Sunday afternoon, March 18, 1832, for "all who felt interested
for their success."
The meeting was attended by a "large concourse of charitably disposed persons
(principally ladies) who had assembled to manifest their zeal." The participants agreed to
form an association that would look after such practical but important details as renting a
house for the sisters to live in and providing it with furniture, in addition to purchasing
books and other school supplies for the children. Fundraising began that very afternoon.
Anyone "subscribing any sum not less than a Dollar…shall be considered a Benefactor and
as such shall be entitled to have his or her name recorded in the Book of the Association."
More than 400 such benefactors came forward that day, most of them giving one dollar
and pledging another for the future. Several women—Eleanor Whelan, Ellen Connell, and
Bridget Ryan among them—contributed the comparatively enormous sum of $3. A woman
named Johanna Linihan seems to have been particularly well-off, giving $3 and pledging
another $2. An unnamed clergyman (perhaps Fenwick himself) gave $5, and the Charitable
Irish Society, an organization still in existence today, was the only "corporate" sponsor with
a gift of $25. The long list of benefactors copied out in Fenwick's hand not only provides
the names of the individuals who were the Catholic community at that time. It also reveals
how large that community was and how relatively prosperous many of its members were.
The meeting that afternoon adjourned with the formation of the Female Charitable Society,
which continued to meet regularly.
The institution they sponsored became known as the St. Vincent Orphan Asylum, and it
had a long and distinguished history that lasted until the final closing of its doors in 1949.
That long life was due in no small measure to the founding efforts of one of those three
original nuns who arrived from Emmitsburg in early May 1832 and took up residence in a
house on Hamilton Street in Boston's Fort Hill section. She was Sister Ann Alexis. The child
of a prominent Pennsylvania family named Shorb, she had joined Mother Seton's community
in 1825 and was only 28 years old when she assumed direction of the Boston project.
She was the one who established a solid financial base for the Asylum, skillfully
managing its meager resources for the more than 40 years until her death in March of 1875.
In the eulogy of her preached by James Augustine Healy, Boston's first Chancellor and later
Bishop of Portland, she was described as "a lady of noticeable refinement and education,"
one who "charmed all who met her." The key to her success was more than charm,
however. "Her great administrative ability" combined with a dogged persistence: she was,
Father Healy said, "always aiming at a more extensive and more useful institution until her
wishes were realized."