Notable New Orleanians: A Tricentennial Tribute

ST. MARY’S
DOMINICAN
HIGH SCHOOL
Above: St. Mary’s Dominican High School
students in a 1930 biology class with
teacher Sister M. Reginald Warner, O.P.
Although the school’s early curriculum
stressed the humanities and fine arts,
it also included science and math.
Below: “Seniors of the Circle S,” Class of
1965, in Western attire with boots and hats,
celebrate their presentation at the Rally Day
competition. For generations, Rally Day has
been one of the most memorable experiences
of each school year and the paramount
spirit event at St. Mary’s Dominican High
School. Each class competes against the
other grade levels in a contest of creativity
and spirit.
St. Mary’s Dominican High School owes
its origin to the forward-looking spirit of
Saint Dominic de Guzman, a young man
who began the Dominican Order in the
thirteenth century. His followers immediately
dedicated themselves to preaching Jesus,
the Word, Veritas.
Permanent Dominican life began in
Louisiana with the arrival of seven Dominican
Sisters from St. Mary’s Convent-Cabra, Dublin,
Ireland in November 5, 1860. Mother Mary
John Flanagan, Mother Mary Magdalen
O’Farrell, Sister Mary Hyacinth McQuillan,
Sister Mary Brigid Smith, Sister Mary Osanna
Cahill, Sister Mary Xavier Gaynor, and Sister
Mary Ursula O’Reilly (the foundresses of St.
Mary’s Congregation in New Orleans) came at
the request of the Reverend Jeremiah
Moynihan, pastor of St. John the Baptist
Church in New Orleans, to teach the children
of the Irish immigrants. These Dominican
women, educated in humanities and fine arts,
opened St. John the Baptist School for girls
on December 3, 1860, with a recorded attendance
of 200 students, which operated in correlation
with the Christian Brothers’ school for
boys in that parish.
The seven Dominican women who came to
New Orleans in 1860 were not only venturing
into a new horizon—they carried a heritage.
They, like their founder St. Dominic, possessed
the intellect, the perception, and the
leadership qualities to be missionaries and
educators. They, too, were a joyous group
eager to share the Gospel message with the
New Orleans community.
By 1861 the New Orleans Female Dominican
Academy was chartered under Louisiana
State law as an “Institute for literary, scientific,
religious, and charitable purposes.” The
Dominican Sisters bought at auction the
St. Charles Institute in Greenville (also called
Madame Mace’s Academy.) Act of Sale was on
January 5, 1865. April 17, 1865, was the day
students remained at the Academy on Dryades
Street (Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard) and
the boarding students were transferred to
the Academy in Greenville. Although the early
curriculum stressed humanities and fine arts,
it also included science and math.
In 1881, permission was received from the
Archbishop to build a new academy on the
property at Greenville and the cornerstone
was laid in 1882. Later the suburban village
of Greenville was incorporated into the City
of New Orleans.
NOTABLE NEW ORLEANIANS: A Tricentennial Tribute
154