Euphemia Blenkinsop

Euphemia Blenkinsop (April 18, 1816 – March 18, 1887), born Catherine Blenkinsop, also known as Mother Euphemia, was an Irish-born American religious sister and teacher, and visitatrix (provincial leader) of the Daughters of Charity in the United States, from 1866 to her death in 1887.

Euphemia Blenkinsop
Mother Euphemia, from an 1897 publication.
Born
Catherine Blenkinsop

April 18, 1816
Dublin, Ireland
DiedMarch 18, 1887
Emmitsburg, Maryland
Other namesSister Euphemia, Mother Euphemia
Occupationteacher, religious sister

Early life

Catherine Blenkinsop was born April 18, 1816, in Dublin, the daughter of Peter J. Blenkinsop and Mary Kelly Blenkinsop. Her father ran a Catholic publishing house and bookstore in Baltimore. Her maternal uncle was Archbishop Oliver Kelly of Tuam.[1] One of her brothers, Peter J. Blenkinsop, became a Jesuit priest and college president.[2] Her other brother, William Aloysius Blenkinsop, also became a priest.[1]

The Blenkinsop family immigrated to the United States in 1826. In 1831, Catherine Blenkinsop entered the Sisters of Charity community in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Sisters of Charity

As Sister Catherine Euphemia, she taught in Roman Catholic schools in New York City and Baltimore for more than twenty years. She was a member of the order when it united with the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul in 1850.[3] In 1866, she succeeded her mentor Mother Ann Simeon as visitatrix of the Daughters of Charity in the United States,[4] and mother superior of the order's Mother House, St. Joseph's Sisterhood, in Emmitsburg.[5][6] She was the head of the order in 1885 when a kitchen fire badly damaged two of the buildings on their campus.[7]

During the Civil War

During the American Civil War, the Daughters of Charity worked as nurses, treating wounded soldiers. "The soldiers asked one another, 'How is it that the sisters do not tremble?'", Blenkinsop wrote in an 1862 report. "Others asked the sisters what we should do if the enemy should reach us in triumph! 'We should remain at our post!'"[3] Sister Euphemia was appointed to represent the order's leadership in the American South. Because written communication was difficult in wartime, she was sent in person to visit Daughters of Charity congregations in Confederate territory, at some personal risk. She spent Christmas Day, 1863, in New Orleans.[3]

Personal life and legacy

Mother Euphemia's failing health was announced by the order in dramatic terms: "A sorrow is slowly approaching, as the Grim Destroyer, with stealthy steps, draws nearer and nearer to the beloved Mother's couch."[8] She died March 18, 1887, in Emmitsburg.[9][10]

In 1899, St. Euphemia's School and Sisters' House in Emmitsburg was named for her patron saint, in her memory.[11] St. Euphemia's School closed in 1956.[12] but the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.[13]

References
  1. "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Blenkinsop". New Advent. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  2. "The Reverend Peter J. Blenkinsop, S. J." The Holy Cross Purple. 3: 360–369. 1896.
  3. McNeil, Betty (2007-10-01). "The Daughters of Charity as Civil War Nurses, Caring without Boundaries". Vincentian Heritage Journal. 27 (1). ISSN 0277-2205.
  4. White, Charles Ignatius (1898). Life of Mrs. Eliza A. Seton, Foundress and First Superior of the Sisters Or Daughters of Charity in the United States of America: With Copious Extracts from Her Writings, and an Historical Sketch of the Sisterhood from Its Foundation to the Time of Her Death. P. J. Kenedy, Excelsior Catholic Publishing House. pp. 456–457.
  5. Hoffmann's Catholic Directory, Almanac and Clergy List. M. H. Wiltzius Company. 1887. p. 41.
  6. The Catholic Church in the United States of America: Undertaken to Celebrate the Golden Jubilee of His Holiness, Pope Pius X. Catholic Editing Company. 1914. p. 48.
  7. "Fire at Emmitsburg". The Baltimore Sun. March 21, 1885. p. 1. Retrieved September 5, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Rev. Mother Euphemia". Donahoe's Monthly Magazine. 17: 408. April 1887.
  9. "Death of Mother Euphemia". The Baltimore Sun. March 19, 1887. p. 4. Retrieved September 5, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Mother Euphemia's Burial". The News. March 22, 1887. p. 3. Retrieved September 5, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Houck, Ed. "Saint Euphemia's School". Emmitsburg Area Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-06.
  12. Rada, James Jr. (July 28, 2015). "Emmitsburg's Oldest Citizen Passes Away". The Catoctin Banner. Retrieved 2019-09-06.
  13. "National Register Properties in Maryland". Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved 2019-09-06.


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