Category Archives: Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill

Mother Aloysia Lowe, S.C. (courtesy Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill)

By Sister Louise Grundish, archivist, Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill

Sister Electa Boyle author of the first history of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill entitled “Mother Seton’s Sisters of Charity in Western Pennsylvania” devotes several pages to the impact of the flood in the lives of the Sisters of Charity. She writes of the adventures of Mother Aloysia Lowe once she learned of the tragedy in Johnstown, PA.

“When Mother Aloysia heard of the terrible disaster in Johnstown she was in Altoona making a visitation. She tried in every way to reach the Sisters but failed; and no trains were going through to Johnstown. Not to be balked in her determination to learn the fate of the Johnstown Sisters, Mother Aloysia took a train to Ebensburg; there she persuaded a farmer to drive her as far in the direction of Johnstown as he could go. Bumping through the deep mud over a country road in a springless wagon she reached Sang Hollow. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company had erected a single-track trestle ninety feet high to carry workmen and supplies into the devastated town. The engineer, Mr. Frank Adams of Altoona, was preparing to try it out with a single locomotive when Mother Aloysia arrived. She begged to make the trial trip with Mr. Adams but he had orders to cross the span and return alone. For the next rip a caboose loaded with tools and other equipment was attached to the engine. In this car Mother Aloysia was permitted to enter Johnstown with the work crew.” (pp. 86-87)

While Mother Aloysia was making her way to Johnstown, Sister Anne Regina was in Greensburg trying to learn the fate of the sisters. Telegraph reports returned, “No reply from Johnstown.” Sister Anne Regina delegated Sister Baptista and a companion to visit Johnstown to check on the sisters. At the Greensburg train station they were met by a man who told them, “I have just come from there. All the sisters are saved.”

Prayer card of Sister Mary Grace Ryan, S.C. (courtesy Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill)

Guest post by Sister Louise Grundish, archivist, Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill

This prayer card is in the file of Sister Mary Grace Ryan. She and her sister (Sister Hyacinth Ryan) and a sister Agnes who was studying at Seton Hill were at Seton Hill at the time of the flood. All of the rest of the Ryan family perished in the flood. Sister Mary Grace lived a long life of service to God’s people and died at Seton Hill on December 13, 1954.

Vow card belonging to Sr. Elizabeth McGurgan, S.C. The town of Morrellville was two towns away from St. John’s convent
(courtesy Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill)

Guest post by Sister Louise Grundish, archivist, Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill

In the file of Sister Elizabeth McGurgan, SC this copy of her vow card is incased in plastic. Sister Elizabeth was one of the nine sisters in residence at St. John Gaulbert Convent in Johnstown in May 31, 1889 when the Johnstown Flood took the lives of over 2,000 people and destroyed the town. The sisters gathered in the Chapel praying that the South Fork Dam would hold. After completing May devotions with the recitation of the Litany of the Blessed Mother and the hymn “Star of the Sea,” most of the sisters stayed in the chapel. Sister Elizabeth went down stairs to view the flood from Stony Creek River. She wrote: “Turning to look in the opposite direction I was horrified to see a two-story house floating rapidly down the middle of our street not more than twenty feet from where I was standing. And immediately behind it was a huge black wall of water.”

St John Gaulbert Convent, Johnstown, PA (courtesy Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill)

St John Gaulbert Convent, Johnstown, PA This picture is all that was left of the convent after the flood waters receded. The Sisters had gathered in the chapel with all the people who were in the house at the time. There were nine Sisters of Charity, a sister of one of the sisters who was preparing to take her teacher exam, two school girls who were boarding temporarily and a maid. As the last sister took her place in chapel the flood struck the house and the water rose to the chapel windows. The sisters could see people, houses, trees, even horses and wagons sweeping by the window. They decided to take the Blessed Sacrament and go to the third floor dormitory in the ell part of the house. They did so in procession. They had barely arrived at the third floor when the water hit the main house squarely in the side and carried away the building including the stairway they had just used.