Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation of the Most Holy Rosary

A scholar with a Ph.D. in European History and French from the University of Fribourg, she spent 28
years in academic and administrative leadership at Rosary College (now Dominican University), later
serving as prioress of the Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation and president of the Dominican
Leadership Conference while advocating internationally for women’s equality in the Church and
society.

She earned advanced degrees in music and music theory from the American Conservatory of Music
in Chicago (1920–1922), studied orchestration and composition in Rome under Ottorino Respighi on
an American scholarship, trained at the Paris Conservatory with Nadia Boulanger and Igor
Stravinsky, forming lifelong friendships, and taught music for forty years.

An economist and social educator, she served as vice president of the Catholic Association of
International Peace, taught at the National Institute of Industry in Washington, D.C., and was a
professor at Rosary College while widely lecturing and writing influential work in the 1930s–40s on
economics, social issues, and Catholic Social Teaching inspired by Popes Leo XIII and Pius XI.

She entered the Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation in 1886 and, after serving as a teacher and
Bursar, became Mother General in 1909, leading the congregation for 40 years during which it nearly
tripled in size, professed over 1,400 Sisters, and established 63 new schools and missions before her
death in 1959.

Born in Mauritius, Mathilde moved to France after her father’s death and trained at the Paris
Conservatory, earning the highest honors in piano. During World War I, she became a refugee in
Switzerland, later joining the Dominican Sisters at age 60 to teach music and train future teachers,
practicing daily until her death.

A distinguished scholar, college educator, author, and linguist, she received the Medal for
Distinguished Achievement in French from the Académie Française in 1935.

An accomplished musician and scholar specializing in the medieval period, particularly Piers
Plowman, she was a respected and beloved faculty member at Rosary College/Dominican University.
She championed multicultural acceptance and fostered a diverse, inclusive community.

As professor of English at Rosary College in 1929, solved a 500-year mystery surrounding the
Florence painting The Church Militant and Triumphant, and she was the first Sister awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship, conducting research in London on Thomas Brinton’s sermons (published
1954 by the Royal Historical Society, Camden Series).

She was talented in painting and studied in Europe in Florence and Munich in the early 1900s, where
she became an accomplished copyist of the Old Masters.

A prominent leader in Catholic education, she served 12 years as director of the Sinsinawa
Dominican Education Conference and later on the congregation’s General Council (1955–1967),
while supervising Catholic schools in Chicago and writing influential works that advanced Catholic
education and teaching standards.

She began her ministry as a speech and drama teacher at St. Clara Academy, taught at Rosary
College from 1942 to 1981, served as a special consultant to Richard Rodgers and Oscar
Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music—befriending Mary Martin—and was among the first judges for
Chicago’s Jeff Awards.

A published poet with a doctorate from Yale University, she taught at Rosary College from 1942 to
1992 and authored The Women of Helfta: Scholars and Mystics, a groundbreaking study of medieval
women mystics.

A successful primary-grade teacher and expert in early education, she was deeply involved in teacher
training, chaired the Department of Sociology at Rosary College from 1933 to 1947, and authored the
Rosary Readers series for Catholic grade pupils published by Ginn & Company between 1927 and
1930.

An accomplished multi-media artist, Sister Teresita is best known for creating the stained-glass
windows, designing the sanctuary, and hand-painting the Stations in the Queen of the Rosary Chapel
at Sinsinawa. She previously taught art at Edgewood College and painted the St. Joseph mural for St.
Joseph College Chapel.

A distinguished scholar and author, she documented the early history of the congregation and its
works from 1865 to 1920, contributed widely to Catholic periodicals, and translated the memoirs of its
founder, Samuel Mazzuchelli.

A distinguished historian and professor at Rosary College, she was an active member of major
historical associations and a widely published author—including What a Modern Catholic Believes
About Women (later reissued as Women and the Church)—and was honored by the Illinois General
Assembly for her leadership in advancing the Equal Rights Amendment and women’s equality in
Church and society.

An accomplished author, lecturer, and educational leader, she served as president of Edgewood
College in Madison (1950–1968), diocesan director of educational development for the Diocese of
Madison (1970–1972), and vicaress general of her congregation (1968–1977), while contributing to
the Guiding Growth in Christian Social Living program and authoring several works including the
Positio on founder Samuel Mazzuchelli.

She was a talented and widely recognized scientist, a devoted teacher, and a professor at Rosary
College in River Forest, Illinois. A biological researcher and writer, she authored Fundamentals of
Plant Science and, after an “awakening” to racial injustice, published two booklets, Racial Myths and
The Heresy of Race.

She was a distinguished teacher and Thomistic philosopher who served as a professor at St. Clara
College in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin, and later at Rosary College in River Forest, Illinois, where she also
served as president. A frequent contributor to magazines, she had a significant and positive influence
in the field of social action and reform. She was well known for her extensive correspondence with
people of great or small importance, including her friend Dorothy Day.

Elected at age 23, Emily Power led the congregation from 1867 to 1909 with a strong commitment to
educational excellence inspired by her mentor Samuel Mazzuchelli, guiding its dramatic expansion across the United States, strengthening professional formation, advancing higher education, and
securing formal approval from Rome.

She was an educator and school supervisor who contributed to the three-volume Guiding Growth in
Christian Social Living curriculum (1944–1958), served as registrar of Edgewood College in Madison,
Wisconsin, and was a member of the Commission on American Citizenship at the Catholic University
of America in Washington, D.C.

She authored histories of the congregation, contributed to the Catholic exhibit at the 1893 World’s
Fair in Chicago, recorded early teaching experiences in Illinois and Wisconsin, and sometimes wrote
under the pen name Carola Milanis.

She was talented in music, painting, and drawing, and studied art beginning in European cultural
centers in 1903. She became a skilled copyist of the Old Masters.