By Marie Louise Martinez, RSCJ
Adapted from a talk given in 1989
When the house in Puerto Rico was founded in 1880 within the vice-vicariate of Louisiana, Adele Lehon was superior general and Mary Elizabeth Maran the vice-vicar. There were already four houses in the group: Grand Coteau, St. Michael's, Mater Admirabilis (the day academy in the French Quarter of New Orleans), and Havana which had been transferred from the New York vicariate to Louisiana in 1874. The story of the founding in Puerto Rico must be sketched through the fast thirty years as its stability was not assured until 1908.
When overtures were made to the Society by the Diputación, the colonial legislative body in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to make a foundation in that island, Mother Lehon instructed Mother Moran to go to the house in Havana (often referred to as the Cerro) and herself to select the foundresses. She chose as superior Micaela Fesser whose mother was Cuban, Arméline Morin as assistant to go with her, and a coadjutrix sister, Victoire Gingras; the latter two were from Canada. All three had been admitted by Aloysia Hardey while both Canada and Havana belonged to the vicariate of New York. Both Fesser and Morin had been novices at Manhattanville; Sister Gingras, on the other hand, had been sent to make her noviceship in Havana.
The three foundresses received a great welcome on April 10, 1880. Housed at first by the Daughters of Charity, they were able soon to move into provisional quarters in the Palacio de la Diputación Provincial and by May 13 had daily Mass in their own chapel. On June 9 the second colony arrived from the Cerro: Rosa Fleury from Louisiana, Julia Durán, a Mexican, and María Pilar Ferrer from Cuba; all had been novices at Grand Coteau under Victoria Martinez. Of the three Puerto Ricans already in the Society, Catalina Mojarrieta, trained at Kenwood, did not come to her home island until 1894 while Josefina Marín led her short apostolic life in Havana, and only Rita Rivera served in Puerto Rico in foundation days. She and a Cuban, Luisa Lopez, arrived in August 1881; like Marín, they had been trained at Grand Coteau. In the same month Mother Camille Parmentier sent two coadjutrix sisters from Spain, María Valenti and María Gracia. Thus the founding community represented six native lands and had been trained in four different noviceships.
Until 1898, the year the Spanish-American War broke out, additions to the international community came from 1) Spain–Teresa Tur and Leocricia Méndez plus several sisters of whom one left the Society; 2) Louisiana–Claire Fleury, sister of Rosa, Armide Guidry, Medora Hamer, Fannie Teresa Brand, Sarah Smith (cousin of Aloysia Hardey), and Azéma Richard; and 3) Grand Coteau where there were more Cuban and Mexican novices than Puerto Ricans. Among these were María Luisa de la Herrán, a Mexican, and three Cubans, Matilde Diago, Isabel Batista, and Matilde Moreyra, all of whom lived part of their apostolic life in Puerto Rico. A few had been trained at Conflans, like Josefa Sanmartí, Odilia Ferrer, Susana de Bolívar, and Victoria Miranda; two received by Mother Hardey at Manhattanville eventually arrived: Justine Metzler, Canadian, and Mary Quinn, Irish. Several coadjutrix sisters entered in Puerto Rico; of the early ones, Carmen Engelbrecht, Julia Geigel, and Justina Torres persevered. Sorne sisters were sent from Havana and others from Mexico; a single Frenchwoman was sent to the community, Louise Geffroy. Until well into the 20th century there were not a great many choir vocations among the Puerto Ricans. Nine entered at Grand Coteau before 1896 but only six remained in the Society. (The establishment of an Antillean noviceship in Cuba in the 1940s was a very big help in forming new members. After the departure of RSCJ from Cuba in 1958-61 and an interim when the novices were at Kenwood or abroad, Puerto Rico trained its own at home.)
When the general council of 1884 ended, the vice-vicariate of Mexico/ Antilles was spun off from Louisiana and Mother Moran went with it as vice-vicar. It first included the Cerro in Havana, Puerto Rico, and Mexico City, established in 1883. Two other houses were soon to be founded in Mexico, Guanajuato and San Luis Potosi, as well as a day school in Havana, Tejadillo. In 1885 the group became a full vicariate. Mother Moran could no longer draw upon Louisiana in the same way for new laborers, although her successor there, Augusta von Sartorius, was as generous as possible and New York sent help too; but vocations came flooding in from Cuba and, above all, from Mexico. Nearly all of these went to Grand Coteau which, in 1888, was annexed to the Mexico/ Antilles vicariate for the training of choir novices of that area.
During this pre-1888 period, the Diputación had a house built for the Society at Parada 15 (trolley-stop No. 15) in Santurce, a large suburb of San Juan where later there was a temporary house at Parada 23. Called Miramar, it was not to be owned by the Society, but to be furnished and supported by the Diputación, at least as long as tuitions were not sufficient for the upkeep and operation of the establishment. (That the Society never held legal title to the property was the reason it could be so easily, and rather brutally, put out by the United States military governors soon after the change of government in 1899.) While classes and retreats for poor children and for working girls had been attempted from the beginning, it was only in 1883 that Mothers Moran and Fesser saw their way clear to starting a free school. The Diputación was very pleased with the proposal and offered to pay for the wooden building. There was no financial subsidy offered, however; it was quite the Society's own work. By 1890 there were 55 students in the boarding school and 30 in the poor school.
In dealing with the Diputación the Society successfully resisted its claim to the right of inspection. The supporters in the Diputación itself were peninsulares, those who thought of themselves as Spaniards first and foremost, rather than as Creoles or Puerto Ricans, and were both very conservative in religious and political outlook and elitist in background or aspirations or both. Society writings of the time attribute opposition to the Society, or at least to the financial help being given, to the work of the devil. Mother Fesser, with her Spanish background, may have been naturally and inevitably tuned in to the peninsular position.
It is now apparent that there was much merit in the views of the opposition, who thought that to educate a few chosen girls in a stylish upper-class school was not a priority for the country, which needed much more basic education, including vocational training for the populace at large. It certainly seems true, however, that the liberals, as members of the other party were sometimes called, were rather thoroughgoing in their machismo. They were probably not eager to have a girls school at all, especially since several of the peninsulares in the Diputación had daughters or nieces of school age and wanted a good establishment for them. To the opponents, that looked like using government funds for personal advantage. In fact, the first enrollee in the colegio was the president's daughter. It is amusing to note that some of the opponents were won over at the first exposition for parents and friends. What touched their hearts and tickled their fancy was the beautiful embroidery and needlework on display. "Now that's what we want for our girls!" They were obviously not into higher studies for women. Meanwhile, there were many wrangles at the meetings of the Diputación, and not only at the very beginning. The governor broke one deadlock in favor of the school, as he had the power to do.
Mother Fesser, the first superior (1880-1884), was replaced by Teresa Tur, of Spanish birth. Two years later Armide Guidry of Louisiana was named superior, and then a Canadian, Justine Metzler, in 1890-1893. These short terms possibly had a less than stabilizing effect on the community. Matilde Diago followed (1893-1902), a Cuban with family links to other RSCJ in Spain and Cuba–Azcárragas, Azcárates, Fessers, and Rosells. She had the longest tenure of any superior in Puerto Rico in the first half century. In 1896 the house was doing well with 74 boarders, 52 day students and 60 in the free school. There was still much political trouble, with many chafing at the Spanish bit. ln 1897, however, Spain devised the fairest system yet presented to the island and organs of self-government began to be set up. Rumor had it that the tension between the United States and Spain would ease and it seemed safe for Mother Diago to leave in early 1898 for the superiors' retreat in Paris. She set sail, and hostilities broke out in her absence.
The community had mature members and the mistress general was an American, Claire Fleury, who was especially helpful after the change of government consequent on the Spanish-American War. The community left Miramar temporarily to seek safety in Arecibo. But that town and their house turned out to be military targets. Returning to Miramar, they discovered that the Americans wanted it for the mentally ill and for children, two groups formerly housed in the asylum of the Daughters of Charity but driven out by the bombardment. Mother Digby, the superior general then visiting Mexico, did tw0 things to console them. She sent a beautiful statue of Mater Admirabilis to Puerto Rico and also dispatched the vicar of Mexico and the Antilles, Jeanne de Lavigerie (who had replaced Mary Elizabeth Maran in 1895), to visit and assist them. The latter helped them realize that a move had to be and joined them in searching for a place in old San Juan. On the Calle de la Cruz they found two contiguous houses, of which they could have only a part. The community had to be reduced in size, and there could be few boarders and no free school; in 1900 the total number of pupils was 55.
The American occupation meant that numbers of people, including Spanish priests and religious, left the island. Some American teaching congregations were preparing to come to fill the gap and, of course, there would be public schools starting up. What would the Sacred Heart do? Not a few American voices, on the continent and in the island, were talking about making English the principal tongue of Puerto Rico or, even worse, the only one allowed. The religious were alarmed at this, and also at the idea that the teaching of mathematics would have to be brought quickly to a much higher level than had been customary.
Janet Erskine Stuart had been with Mother Digby in Mexico in 1899, and in 1901 she was in Puerto Rico as visitator. Her admiration for the courage of the nuns was evident, as also for the spiritual leadership of Mother Diago who had returned from Paris. In notes written on the Feast of St. Joseph 1901, Mother Stuart urged strong studies, a much better library, and the finding of suitable property. She warned the religious of the inroads American public schools would make into the field of education if they did not exert themselves to the utmost. It is clear from other documents that some parents were planning to send their children to the States for an American education, while others were thinking of American congregations coming to start schools in Puerto Rico. Her letters to Mother Digby and her official report to Paris show that she thought the community and school should become all-American as quickly as possible, and that it was no use trying to remain Spanish. The present writer is of the opinion that this was to underrate the meaning of their own culture to the Puerto Ricans and may perhaps show at least traces of the rather general English bias against all things Hispanic. It was certainly true, however, that given the new situation in Puerto Rico, there had to be excellent studies in English, although not exclusively so, if the Sacred Heart were to survive and carry on a fruitful apostolate.
Fortunately, the Society had a great friend in the new Bishop, James
H. Blenk, of the Society of Mary. Although born in Bavaria, James Blenk had been brought up in New Orleans and attended the Marist college in Convent, Louisiana. After his religious training in France and Ireland, he returned there as professor and later president. An educator par excellence who had served not only his own congregation but also the Archdiocese of New Orleans in its work of teaching, he loved and understood the Society and its mission of education, and gave it much practical aid. During his seven years in Puerto Rico he did everything he possibly could for the RSCJ, to whom he was touchingly grateful for staying on, in spite of the change of regimes and the difficulties caused by being forced to leave Miramar. Other support came from the alumnae: those of different nationalities who had been at a Sacred Heart school somewhere in the world, the native Puerto Ricans, and the new influx of Americans, wives or daughters of men who had come for official or business purposes.
Thus backed by the Society, the Bishop and the alumnae, the Puerto Rican community was able in l903 to move to a house in Santurce, at Parada 23. This much bigger house with good grounds and beautiful plantings, The Finlay House, was a great improvement over Calle de la Cruz, but they still had to look further afield for something even larger that could be more permanent. Meanwhile, the enrollment was going up again and the adult Sodality of the Children of Mary was able to resume its meetings and to plan good works for the poor and needy. But the free school could not yet be reopened.
To have proper standing in order to obtain really good land, the school needed to be incorporated according to the laws of the United States. There was a property called San José de Santurce, once owned by Don Pablo Ubarri, president of the Diputación at the time of the foundation and Count of Santurce (he had been ennobled by Spain with the title of his little hometown in the northern part of that country). His heirs were scattered around Europe and often on the move: the main agent was in Paris. Mother Digby in Paris and Mother Stuart in England seem to have obtained legal help, as did RSCJ in Barcelona. The new superior in Puerto Rico, Eliza(beth) Murphy (1902-1908), Irish-born but with experience in Canada, New York and Louisiana, personally knew the vicar of the East, Ellen Mahoney. To her she wrote with confidence asking if the Sacred Heart in Puerto Rico could be incorporated in New York. This was accomplished and enabled the religious to sign the contract for the purchase of the new property in 1903.
At the general council of 1904, the vicar, Jeanne de Lavigerie, was named an assistant general and the house of Puerto Rico was transferred into the Eastern vicariate of the United States in the interest of sound finances, legal elbowroom, and adaptation of the studies. When Ponce was founded in 1916, the incorporation agreement was modified to include it. By 1919 the title Female Academy of the Sacred Heart was changed and the legal title became Congregacion de las Madres del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus en Puerto Rico or, more correctly for contemporary purposes, Corporation of Religious of the Sacred Heart in Puerto Rico.
Mother Ellen Mahoney visited Puerto Rico each year from 1904 until 1908 when she ceased to be Vicar of the East. ln 1906 her companion was Stanislas Tommasini, about to retire at Kenwood, who enjoyed this last trip to the Antilles with her usual verve and rejoiced with many friends and former novices. The occasion was the laying of the cornerstone of the new buildings at Santurce. Bishop Blenk had sent out the invitations him self, for he wanted this to be the occasion of a great Catholic manifestation, a kind of rally, as it were, and he presided with joy of a rather tearful sort, for he was soon to leave to become Archbishop of New Orleans. 1906 was a banner year in other respects. At the last prizes at the temporary location at Parada 23, the first graduation medals were given to the first group to finish the Superior Class.
During the time from Mother Stuart's visit in 1901 to 1904, the year of the transfer to the Eastern vicariate, various religious from that vicariate and a few from elsewhere had quietly moved to the island with the intent of enriching the teaching staff and facing the delicate task of imparting enough good English to satisfy the authorities while respecting the general popular wish to retain the language that had been theirs for some 400 years. French, too, was coming into vogue in Puerto Rico, as it was throughout the Latin American world. These were the years of the expulsion of the French religious from their country and their dispersion all over the globe, carrying their love of all things French to many a faraway scene. Al1 this was very good for the Society in Puerto Rico.
ln 1908 Puerto Rico reverted to the vicariate of Mexico/ Antilles under Sophie de Lalande, a Frenchwoman, who also added Bogota, the first house in Colombia, to her vicariate. At this time there were 80 students in the boarding school and 60 in the poor school. Mother de Lalande made her first regular visit to the Island in 1909 and found all things going well. With Emma Chaudet (1908-1914) as superior, there were plans to build the chapel and a better community refectory and kitchen, ail to be paid for by selling some of the vast property. By 1910 there were 130 students in the boarding school, 175 in the poor school, and Puerto Rico with its very international community at last was on firm foundations.