History of Ursuline Academy
The Founding of the Order of St. Ursula
At the turn of the sixteenth century, education for women was reserved for the wealthy classes or nuns. Though nuns were the most educated, they were cloistered and thus could not teach. As unmarried women, they were not permitted to go out into the world alone. St. Angela de Merici witnessed the lack of education for poor girls in Brescia, Italy. Motivated to fill this need, she founded the Ursuline Sisters, the first female teaching order and the first to work outside a cloister. Their mission was clear: to serve the educational needs of young women and girls of all classes. Out of modesty, she named the Order for St. Ursula, the model of consecrated virginity.
At this point in history, the Renaissance was in full swing, particularly in St. Angela's homeland in Italy. During the Renaissance, all levels of art and learning were revered. The Renaissance inspired the mission of the Ursuline Order that honors "education in all things." Thus, holistic education for young women of all backgrounds became the mission of the Ursuline Sisters.
St. Angela's early innovation inspired in the Order a lasting respect for change, progress, and modernity. Her devotion to the mission was sustained by her faith in God and in the importance of the service that she and her sisters provided. That, in turn, inspired the necessary courage to overcome complacence and submission to outmoded traditions.
The Order was originally non-traditional. Started as a group of women who lived in their own homes, the Sisters came together for prayer and teaching, bound by their devotion to their communal mission of educational outreach for girls. This dichotomy of enduring devotion combined with a flexible approach became another hallmark of the Order.
St. Angela's counter-cultural innovation led to great success. The groundbreaking work of the Sisters brought St. Angela invitations to extend the outreach of the Order to other cities. Pope Clement VII lauded her work and offered her the great honor of taking charge of a religious order of nursing nuns. True to her mission, she refused him in order to carry out her God-given vocation to educate women.
Throughout the course of the intervening five centuries, the Ursuline Order has remained faithful to the vision of St. Angela by consistently providing education to girls from all backgrounds. True to St. Angela's spirit, the order retains devotion to the mission and principles of educational excellence while honoring innovation and exercising the flexibility to meet the needs and the cultures of changing times, places, and students. As the willow bending in the wind can outlast the rigid oak, so strong traditions, readjusted to meet changing times, survive and thrive.
Background of Ursuline Academy
Ursuline Academy is an independent, Catholic, college preparatory school for young women. The Academy is owned and operated by the Ursuline Sisters and inspired by the gospel challenges in the spirit of St. Angela Merici, the founder of the Ursuline Order.
While the Ursuline Order dates back to its original foundation in 1535, its contribution to the greater Boston community began during the tumultuous times of the early nineteenth century when anti-Catholic feeling was at a high point. In late 1819, an Ursuline School opened its doors in Charlestown to 280 pupils. In 1834, the school had blossomed into one of the area's leading education-centers, serving Catholics and Protestants alike. That year, bigotry led a mob to reduce to ashes years of planning, building, and hope. The Ursuline Sisters were forced to leave the Boston area.
In 1946, at the invitation of then-Archbishop Richard Cushing, a group of the same Order returned to Boston to open an academy on Arlington Street to 45 students. Within ten years, the Academy had expanded its student body and a search began to locate larger quarters.
In 1957, The Ursuline Order acquired a twenty-eight acre estate in Dedham, Massachusetts; a site which has since been continually upgraded and further developed. Since the official opening of the school over 35 years ago, each decade has been marked by progress and challenge. With fewer Ursuline Sisters involved today in the educational ministry, the Academy's nearly 400 students presently are served with the same dedication and commitment by a faculty of mostly lay members, several of whom are alumnae or parents of alumnae of the Academy.
Since 1947 when the first class graduated from the school on Arlington Street in Boston, Ursuline Academy has embodied the mission and vision of the Ursuline Order and the inspiration of St. Angela Merici.
The dawning of this new century finds the Ursuline Sisters and Ursuline Academy working as effectively as ever toward the same mission envisioned by St. Angela five hundred years ago - educational opportunity for young women. As always, Ursuline Academy faces the ongoing challenge of keeping up with modern educational expectations by providing a wider range of academic, athletic, and extracurricular programs. Its ability to adapt to changing times, combined with the many blessings of a devoted faculty, talented students and concerned supporters, accounts for the remarkable staying power and consistent effectiveness of Ursuline Academy.
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