Synopses & Reviews
Made doubly marginal by their gender and by their religion, American nuns have rarely been granted serious scholarly attention. Instead, their lives and achievements have been obscured by myths or distorted by stereotypes. Placing nuns into the mainstream of American religious and women's history for the first time,
Spirited Lives reveals their critical impact on the development of Catholic culture and, ultimately, the building of American society.
Focusing on the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, one of the largest and most diverse American sisterhoods, Carol Coburn and Martha Smith explore how nuns directly influenced the lives of millions of Americans, both Catholic and non-Catholic, through their work in schools, hospitals, orphanages, and other social service institutions. Far from functioning as passive handmaidens for Catholic clergy and parishes, nuns created, financed, and administered these institutions, struggling with, and at times resisting, male secular and clerical authority.
A rich and multifaceted narrative, Spirited Lives illuminates the intersection of gender, religion, and power in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century America.
Review
An important book for readers interested in a more broadly inclusive story of women's experience in America.
American Historical Review
Review
An invaluable resource for anyone seeking to understand the history of women's religious communities in the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century .
Comptes Rendus
Review
[Brings] into sharp focus something that needs regular emphasis: the historical role of women in the church.
Commonweal
Review
A great historical perspective on religious life and puts today•s discussion of vocations and religious life in a new light.
Catholic News Service
Review
Spirited Lives makes an important contribution to the history of women religious through its use of current scholarship and methodology.
Catholic Historical Review
Synopsis
Reveals the critical impact of nuns on the development of Catholic culture and American society between 1836 and 1940. Focusing on the sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet, this book shows how nuns directly influenced millions of Americans through their work in schools, hospitals, orphanages, and other social service institutions.
Synopsis
An important book for readers interested in a more broadly inclusive story of women's experience in America.
American Historical Review An invaluable resource for anyone seeking to understand the history of women's religious communities in the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century .
Comptes Rendus Spirited Lives makes an important contribution to the history of women religious through its use of current scholarship and methodology.
Catholic Historical Review [Brings] into sharp focus something that needs regular emphasis: the historical role of women in the church.
Commonweal A great historical perspective on religious life and puts today•s discussion of vocations and religious life in a new light.
Catholic News Service
About the Author
Carol K. Coburn is professor of religion and history at Avila University in Kansas City, Missouri.Martha Smith is professor emerita of history at Avila University.
Table of Contents
ContentsPreface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. The French Connection: Founders, Origins, and Early Activities
Chapter 2. Creating an American Identity: Survival and Expansion in the American Milieu
Chapter 3. Educating the Good Sister: Gender and Religious Identity
Chapter 4. Expanding American Catholic Culture: Life in the Trans-Mississippi West
Chapter 5. Promulgating the Faith: Parochial Schools and American Catholic Identity
Chapter 6. Educating for Catholic Womanhood: Secondary Academies and Women's Colleges
Chapter 7. Succoring the Needy: Nursing, Hospitals, and Social Services
Epilogue
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Illustrations
First CSJ convent in Carondelet, Missouri
Sister Celestine Pommerel
Members of the Ireland family
Young postulant dressed as a bride before receiving the habit
Irish "recruits" for CSJ communities
Young girls feeding the chickens at St. Joseph's Girls' Home
Sister Monica Corrigan and her sister companions
CSJs and Native American students at San Xavier del Bac Mission
Our Lady of Lourdes School
St. Vincent de Paul School, first CSJ parochial school
Music class at St. Peter's School
Sister Francis Joseph Ivory and her class
Senior class, St. Joseph's Institute
Physics class, St. Teresa's Academy
Latin class at the College of St. Catherine
Art class at the College of St. Catherine
Horse-drawn ambulance in front of St. Mary's Hospital
CSJ nurses and soldiers at the military hospital at Matanzas, Cuba
Surgery, St. Mary's Hospital
Immigrant child before and after entering Aemilianum Orphan Asylum
Toddlers at lunch, St. Joseph's Infant Home