Mary Aloysia Hardey IS Mother Hardey

1. Mary AloysiaHardeyISMother Hardey Farukh “The Duke” Eathan “The Wheat Thin” Nat “The Cross-Eyed Cat” Spencer “The Pez-Dispenser” Peter “The StawickiLinks Reader”

2. Early life and Missionary Work • Mary Hardey was born in Piscataway, Maryland on December 8th, 1809. • In the year of 1822 she became a student of the Sacred Heart Convent in Grand Couteau, Louisiana. • After graduating from the convent, she joined the novitiate of the society of Sacred Heart and took the name, “Aloysia.” • Soon after joining the novitiate she was put in charge of a school in St. Michael’s, Louisiana. • After making her final vows, she was named superior.

3. The context that she lived in • Mother Hardey lived during a great time for the church and missionary work. • During this time the church was trying to spread the word of God through the new world. The church was mainly calm and it was a very spiritual time after the French Revolution. • The church agreed with each other which caused harmony through the church. • This helped missionaries spread the word because there was no tension that could distract the church from their main goal. • This helped Mother Hardey greatly in her mission of spreading Catholicism and educating settlers.

4. Her life in the larger history of the time • Mother Hardey played a major role during this time. She opened up 16 houses through Canada and Cuba during her 27 years as superior. • These houses accepted the settlers of the land and introduced the natives to Catholicism. These houses educated settlers about faith and basic arithmetic which helped the spread of Catholicism. • Mother Hardey also helped keep the peace of the church. In 1871, she was appointed to the position of Assistant General for Central Government of the Society of Sacred Heart in Paris. At this position she assisted the society with important decisions. • Mother Hardey also was the advisor for the rebuilding and building of European convents. Her advise on the convents also continued to stabilize Catholicism in Europe. With more convents, Europe continued to have civilians walked through convents door and continued to convert people. • Mother Hardey was a major part of this history.

5. Her choices that were shaped by the time • Mother Hardey gave up a lot of her life so she could give to the church. She moved many times for convents to be built in areas. • She made 19 transatlantic voyages for the church. Balancing her work in North America and her work in Europe. • Mother Hardey moved from Center for the Vicariate in Manhattanville to Kenwood, New York to establish another vicariate in 1864. • As you can see, she had to make a lot of sacrifices for her mission and her decisions were influenced by her mission and love for God.

6. Mother Hardey : Product of her Time? • Mother Hardey was not a product of her time. During that time women were weak, they relyed on their husband or man of the house. They were intimidated by men and wanted to always make a good impression. • Mother Hardey was the total opposite. Making her not a product of her time. • Mother Hardey was a strong, independent, and intimidating figure. Mother Hardey was a strong woman and intimidated businessmen. When businessmen came in to speak with her about her selling some of her land, they ended up selling land to her. • She would not back down from her ideas and was also intimidating figure. She was intimidating because of the things she had done in her life. She had made 19 transatlantic voyages and helped spread Catholicism in North America. Most men did not even make 1 voyage during that time. • She was also independent, she did not need a rock to lean on, she was her own rock. This scared men because the average women would be scared of a man. For these reasons, Mother Hardey was not a product of her time.

7. How she challenged the culture of her time • Mother Hardey challenged the culture because she was a strong woman, which was out of the norm during that time. The culture could have been scared that her strength would cause other women to want to strengthen themselves and become more independent. The church might have worried about that as well because women might start to take higher positions in the church which could cause tension between men and women in the church. Mother Hardey educated women as well. Mother Hardey was such a strong and influential person that she definitely could have scared the culture of the time.

8. What we can learn from Mother Hardey’s life • We can learn a lot from Mother Hardey’s life. We could learn moral lessons, life back then, and the history of the church. But we believe that the most important lesson from her life is that you must give some to get some. • This means that you must sacrifice in your life to have a strong spiritual bond with God. Mother Hardey moved many times for her mission and also travelled many times for the church. God always will love us but in order to strengthen our bond with him we must give back and help. • Mother Hardey suffered for her mission, the sea voyages were long and uncomfortable but she continued to travel to spread the Word of God. That is one thing we can learn from her mission, you must give some to get some.

9. How her life helps us understand Church History • From Mother Hardey’s life we can learn how the Word of God spread through North America. Mother Hardey was a major part of helping the spread. • She opened 16 houses that introduced the natives of the land to Catholicism. These houses created many converts and she also helped women with higher learning. She creaked open the door for other women to help spread the Word of God. • She also started to help women become more confident and leave the shadow of their husband. Mother Hardey helps us understand how women started to become stronger and the spread of Catholicism in North America. • Mother Mary AloysiaHardey passed away on June 17th, 1886 in Paris at the age of 85. She is buried at Kenwood in Albany, New York.

10. Sources • www.rscj.org • Church History book