‘Nuns of the Battlefield’

“Cloistered by forest, the convent and academy at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, in 1860, would seem to have been too remote, too securely enclosed, to hear the rumblings of approaching war. Echoes of the trouble, however, seeped into this cloistered home. Realizing that if the war must come, so too must service, the latent spirit of nursing was aroused. One and all stood in readiness to serve and when the call did come, the Mother Superior [Mother Mary Cecilia Bailly] wrote: ‘This is an eventful occasion for the Community. May our Divine Lord help us to perform well the duties we are now undertaking.’”

Thus begins the story of the Civil War and the Sisters of Providence in the book “Nuns of the Battlefield” by Ellen Ryan Jolly. In this work, Dr. Jolly traces the service provided by women religious in the North and the South during the Civil War. The story of the Sisters of Providence is told in chapter 20. To view this chapter, click here.

For more information about the Sisters of Providence and the role they played during this tumultuous period in our nation’s history, click here.