Armidale’s historic Ursuline Convent is no longer the Sisters’ home. After almost 130 years in the place, the Sisters have moved out forever. But memories remain and many were shared at a very moving farewell service held there on Sunday, November 20, 2011. It is good to publish relevant things. This is the fourth of five feature stories about the Ursuline Sisters in Armidale, with a focus on the context, their Convent and St Ursula’s College buildings.
Soon after the original group arrived their numbers increased. The first Australian born girl to enter the Armidale Ursuline community was Elizabeth Drechsler, who was born on May 10, 1864 near Sandhurst in Victoria. Her father had known the Ursulines in Germany, and sent his two daughters to be boarders in Armidale, where Elizabeth joined the Order on March 4, 1885. She was received into the Novitiate on August 28, 1885, and Professed on January 12, 1888. Known as Sister Bernward, she died on October 8, 1934, aged 70. Her sister, Catherine, also came from Victoria to board at St Ursula’s College in 1890. She never returned home. When she completed her schooling in 1893 she entered the Ursuline Novitiate. Known as Mother Teresa, she served lovingly until she died in 1971. The graves of the two Drechsler Sisters are in the Nuns’ Section in the Catholic Portion of the Armidale Cemetery.
Four Irish girls had been received into the Order by Cardinal Moran in January 1886. By 1912 the total recruits had increased to 30. As time passed, others joined. Local girls among the new recruits included Sister Joseph Medhurst, Sister Dominic Cuskelly and the two McDermotts (Sister Agnes and Sister St John), to name just a few. As their numbers increased the Ursulines were able to open Convents in other places, such as Tweed Heads (1917), Guyra (1919), Brisbane (1919), and later in Sydney, Toowoomba, Melbourne and Canberra, but they are not our focus.
Becoming a nun was seen as a very worthy career, and was something many girls considered. When the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Maximilian de Furstenberg, visited our co-ed class at St Mary’s in October 1961, he asked how many girls in the class would like to be nuns, and many hands went up. The fact that most of those girls did not become nuns is not the point; but rather, they had thought about it positively.
Mademoiselle Cecile de Percivale was an aspirant with the contingent who emigrated to Armidale in 1882. She was never professed, but taught music at St Ursula’s College and De La Salle College and became famous for her contribution to music in Armidale because of her exceptional skill with the violin, and as the Cathedral organist. Her name is mentioned regularly in newspaper reports about the Catholic schools and parish. When she died in May 1934, her obituary in the local newspaper was headed “Picturesque Figure Passes”.
For over 52 years the majority of Armidale folk had regarded “the well-known lady, in her quaint costume of a century ago, as either a French or a Spanish native, but she was born of English parents” and had adopted her flamboyant name. “With her voluminous draperies, with the typical Spanish mantilla and the ever present sunshade, ‘Mademoiselle’, as she was familiarly known to generations of Armidalians, was a source of curiosity and speculation to all.” She had been educated in France and had lived in Germany and Spain, and had “a remarkable knowledge of continental languages and customs, and was a brilliant linguist”. Her tombstone has her real name, Jane Percival.
Additions to the Convent and College had included the magnificent new Chapel which was opened by Bishop O’Connor in February 1930. Several classrooms, a recreation hall, 12 music practice rooms, some bedrooms and a large bathroom block were added in 1939 on the eastern side of the College, and brickwork replaced the balconies on the southern side facing Barney Street. A domestic science school and a large industrial laundry were built in 1951. Later extensions included several classrooms, an infirmary, and the Principal’s Office. The new St Mary’s Girls’ School was built in 1960 and was first occupied in 1961. A science block, partially funded by the Commonwealth, was opened in 1966. State aid to independent schools was being restored. The Moira Foley block – named in honour of the architect (Mother Campion’s sister) – was opened by Bishop Doody in March 1968, a few weeks before he died suddenly.
Reforms after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) resulted in Sisters using their baptismal names, which was theologically sound but a cause of confusion to former students and their parents. My generation still mostly remember the Sisters by their old names and titles, such as Mother Ambrose, Anselm, Anthony, Assumpta, Augustine, Basil, Bernadette, Bernadine, Boniface, Campion, Cecilia, Celestine, Cordula, Dorothea, Leonard, Michael, Perpetua, St Stephen, and Xavier. Most of them have gone to their eternal reward, but they are fondly remembered.
