A Little piece of Paradise… College Hill, Ohio - SELFCRAFT

In 1996 St. Clare’s announced plans for a new school. The new school/gym/parish center will be onSaranac Avenue. The new school will have a library, computer classroom, art classroom, and classroomsfor K-8th grade.McAuley Convent 6Five Sisters of Mercy 7 on August 15, 1960 started the first McAuley Convent at 1768 Cedar Avenue.The house had been the family residence of Mary Bell Thomson (Mrs. Walter deGollyer Randall).In 1964 a new addition to this convent was constructed in 1964. It was a three story building withaccommodations for sixty-four Sisters, and a chapel. An entrance passageway connected it with theformer residence. The Sisters of Mercy that taught at St. Ignatius School in Monfort Heights began toreside at the new convent in 1964. The Sisters of Mercy began to teach at St. Richard of ChichesterSchool in 1965 and they also lived at the convent.In the summer of 1965 some Sisters of Mercy from McAuley Convent joined with the efforts ofpeople in the West College Hill Community to give new life to this area. Sister Mary Francisca Shermancoordinated the efforts of the Sisters in a six weeks summer program of tutoring, teaching arts and crafts,business and homemaking skills. The program was developed with the leadership of Rev. Edward Jones,pastor of the West College Hill First Baptist Church. Mrs. Grace Saunders, a parishioner of the Church,was also very active. The senior and retired Sisters of Mercy in the Cincinnati area began to reside in1969 at McAuley Convent.Demolition of the Thomson-Randall residence took place in 1974 and a new two-story building witha twenty-three room addition was completed n 1976. Today at the convent live the Sisters working atMcAuley High School, the senior Sisters and those engaged in other active ministries in the area.One of the past ministries was the Mercy Braille Library. Back in 1936, Sister Mary CatherineHarty (herself threatened with blindness) discovered that very little was being done for the spiritual life ofthe blind. She gathered a few blind and some concerned sighted ladies willing to Braille, collect taxstamps and locate the blind throughout the tri-state area. Soon the braillists were making books for eachreader.Further expansion came when Clovernook Printing House asked them to respond to the requests ofcountless schools, libraries, and individuals in Asia and Africa. Materials from American readers,publishers and other sources were gathered to maintain this project. The entire library has been sent sinceto the Sisters of Mercy in Africa.St. Richard of Chichester Church 8 1945-1986The major benefactor of St. Richard Church was Mrs. Richard Knight LeBlond (sister of ElizabethKnight who married Edward Henshaw). Given the privilege of selecting the patron saint, she chose thename of St. Richard, a 13th century bishop of the See of Chichester, England, in honor of her husband.Richard de la Wyche was a man of strong character, a scholar, but sensible and practical as well. Heloved people and was greatly beloved by them.Chosen Bishop of Chichester in 1244, Richard was an able administrator, as well as a holy man.Compassionate to the sinner, he expected high standards from his clergy. Although he considered it hisduty to keep the state proper to a bishop, offering hospitality to the rich as well as to the poor, his personallife was very simple.While preaching a crusade at the request of the Pope to rekindle enthusiasm for the recovery of theHoly Land, Richard became ill and died on April 3, 1253. He was canonized nine years later.Affectionately known as the ‘Little Church on North Bend Road’ it was founded as a mission chapelshortly after the end of World War II. Cincinnati’s Archbishop John T. McNicholas had recently moved6 Submitted by Sister Mary Timothea O’Neill, R. S. M., 19917 The Sisters of Mercy were founded in 1831 in Ireland by Mother Mary Catherine McAuley. Source: The Catholic Journey Through Ohio, AlbertHamilton, 1976.8 Source: St. Richard of Chichester, Twenty-fifth Anniversary 1970-1971, St. Richard of Chichester Church 1946-1986. Thanks to Karen Forbes-Nuttingfor supplying this information.199