St. Mary's Parish and School

Moving to what was meant to be Grandpa and Grandma Ready’s retirement house in 1943 meant changing schools. Mom and Dad somehow came up with the monthly tuition of three dollars—that would be $39.95 now—for my attendance at St. Mary’s Catholic Grade School in Independence, Missouri. From 1943 to 1954—that is, from second grade through graduation from high school—St. Mary’s Parish and school indelibly influenced my life.

The city of Independence, founded in 1827, sprouted like a mushroom for it was the “jumping-off” point for three trails headed west: the Oregon—which stretched 2,000 miles; the California—also 2,000 miles; and the Santa Fe, which took the early pioneers on a 900-mile trek southwest.

A map of the Oregon trail.

Many of the Independence settlers opened shops to “outfit” the emigrants. For weeks that stretched into as many as three months, they traveled these trails in covered wagons with oxen pulling them across the “sea of grass” beyond the Missouri River.

A covered wagon or prairie schooner.

Saint Mary’s was founded on the western frontier of Missouri in 1823. According to its website, it “has survived uprisings among settlers of different faiths, raids by outlaws, and the Civil War.” For the first few years of its existence, missionary priests came to the parish to celebrate mass with the early settlers. 

Then in 1848, the parish got its first pastor. Reverend Bernard Donnelly “purchased a wagon shop on February 12 for $250. This wagon shop, 24' x 36' made of brick, became the first Catholic Church” in the territory. The cornerstone for the existing church was laid in 1864.                                                                    

In 1853, Father Donnelly converted a one-and-a-half story building standing next to the original wagon-shop church into a school. He did all the teaching the first year. Then a local woman took over and taught without pay. By 1865, the school had two teachers paid by the town of Independence as they instructed both Catholics as well as non-Catholics.   

In 1877, a cyclone destroyed the original school building. The fourth pastor immediately built a new structure “made of brick and 40 'x 60' in size, which included an attic and basement and faced on North Liberty Street. The building was to be used as a combination convent and school for the next 75 years.”                                                                                                                         

In 1883, two Sisters of Mercy nuns came to Independence to teach at Saint Mary’s. They set up a day school and a boarding school—or high school—for young ladies. The founder of the Sisters of Mercy was Catherine McAuley, who was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1778.

Mother Catherine McAuley wearing the “habit” of the Sisters of Mercy.

Forty-nine years later—in 1827—McAuley used her inheritance to establish “the first House of Mercy on Lower Baggot Street in Dublin, Ireland, . . . as a place to shelter, feed and educate women and girls.” In 1831, the Dublin bishop asked her to form a new religious congregation: Thus was born the Sisters of Mercy.                                                                                                                                        

In 1843, the Roman Catholic bishop of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, invited the Mercy nuns to the United States where they established hospitals and schools. By 1878, two of them were teaching at Saint Mary’s in Independence, Missouri. Sixty-five years later, when I first began to attend Saint Mary’s Grade School, four nuns taught the eight grades. Several others taught in the adjacent high school.                                                                                                   

When I took the entrance examinations at the College of Mount Saint Scholastica in 1954 and did well, the Benedictines there complimented me on the excellent schooling I’d had at Saint Mary’s. I still remember fondly many of the nuns there. They greatly influenced my life and in postings throughout the next few months, you’ll meet several of them—Sister Corita, Sister Mary McCauley, Sister Edith from Ireland, Sister Rosaria, Sister Bonita, and Sister Aquinas. All of them taught me well.

PS: Next Sunday, on my new blog—my life as a word-crafter—I’ll be posting about the ways in which the study of Latin and diagramming sentences has influenced my writing. FYI: The information in today’s posting is from the websites for Saint Mary’s Parish; the town of Independence; Saint Mary’s High School, which provides the history of the first convent and grade school on the site; and the Sisters of Mercy.