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Brescia University honors Ursuline Sisters to begin Centennial year

Brescia University in Owensboro, Ky., kicked off its Centennial year by honoring the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph with a program and reception on Jan. 27, 2025, the feast day of Ursuline founder Saint Angela Merici.

Brescia opened for coed classes in 1950, but it traces its roots to the Mount Saint Joseph Junior College for Women, which opened at Maple Mount in 1925. Plans to begin offering college courses in Owensboro began in 1938, and by 1946, Ursuline efforts were underway to open Owensboro’s first four-year college, named for the Italian city where Saint Angela began the Ursuline Sisters in 1535.

The five Ursulines who continue to serve at Brescia were joined by Sisters who came from Maple Mount for the program, which began a 4 p.m. in Duffy Auditorium, housed in Brescia’s newest building, the C.E. Field Center for Professional Studies.

Father Larry Hostetter, the first non-Ursuline to serve as president of Brescia, said he wanted to acknowledge the Ursuline heritage at Brescia. Two former presidents were in the audience, Sister Ruth Gehres and Sister Vivian Bowles.

“I came to Brescia in 1999 as campus minister and a theology teacher,” Father Larry said. He had never been taught by an Ursuline, but their influence has been far reaching, he said.

“I stayed for 26 years because of the Ursulines. I put my name out to be president because of the Ursulines,” Father Larry said. “This is something precious – it’s worth holding onto. We’re the only Ursuline college left. It’s extremely important. I want to say ‘thank you’ to the Ursuline Sisters. It’s something beautiful, that truly makes a difference in the world.”

Father Larry will step down this spring after 18 years as president, with Madison Silvert becoming the first lay president of the college. Silvert said Brescia University will forever reflect the Ursuline legacy.

“In law school we talked about the public trust. This is a spiritual trust, and we take that trust very personally,” Silvert said. “That is going to allow us to continue another 100 years.”

When Ursuline College, run by the Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland, consolidates with Gannon University either this year or in 2026, Brescia University will be the only Ursuline university in North America. Silvert referred to the Ursuline call from Saint Angela to read the signs of the times and change as needed.

“We’re looking at the changing times and adapting,” he said. “Small liberal arts colleges are horrible at this – they are too steeped in traditions. That’s the difference the Ursulines bring to this university.”

Ursuline Sister Pam Mueller read a prayer that she composed to open the program, which will be used all year.

“I love the prayer because it says why the Ursuline tradition is so important to me – expect big surprises,” Father Larry said. “Saint Angela is telling us not to be afraid.”

Sister Sharon Sullivan, congregational leader for the Ursuline Sisters and a former professor and academic dean at Brescia, talked about the history of the Ursulines at Brescia.

“My first experience of Brescia in the 1970s was as a non-Catholic, regional employer,” she said. “I hired Brescia students to work summer camp for the (Girl) Scouts. I was amazed at how these Brescia students were so loving and supportive of our young campers and each other. I asked, ‘Where did these attitudes come from?’ In answer, they spoke of the power of the Sisters at Brescia; of the impact of Sister George Ann, Sister DC, Sister Ruth, Sister Corda, Sister Michele, and Sister Clarita who taught kiddy-lit – but you always had to call it children’s literature.”

“These were the women who had helped to plant the skills and attitudes among these young women,” Sister Sharon said. “Over the next years I hired more Brescians; and it was those experiences that led me a year or two later to go to Sister George Ann for guidance and information about special education. And became, myself, a Brescia student.”

“For the next few years, I had direct experience of the Ursulines at Brescia and the ways they embraced each student,” Sister Sharon said. “Sisters James Rita and Clarita, Sisters Mary Jean Cotter and Lennora, Sisters Marita and Michele went out of their ways to help my job’s work schedule and class schedules co-exist; they made it possible for me to attend classes and keep my job. I was not a traditional student so was not eligible for financial aid, but Sister Rosalin, as director of Financial Aid, went out of her way to find creative ways to help me afford Brescia.”

A treat for those gathered was a video from Ursuline Associate Wes Wheatley, a 2022 Brescia graduate who worked for a couple of years in food service at the Mount. He recorded the video from St. Meinrad, Ind., where he is studying for the priesthood. He read a poem he wrote about the Brescia Difference.

“I’m so grateful to be loved by so many people at Brescia and Mount Saint Joseph,” he said.

Beverly Howard, Brescia class of 1971, spoke from an alumna perspective. She grew up being taught by only Ursuline Sisters in her native Grayson County, Ky., until she was a sophomore in high school. It was Sister Lennora Carrico who encouraged her to attend Brescia, and Sister George Ann Cecil who encouraged her goal to teach special education – something Catholic schools at the time didn’t do. But Howard was able to teach with Ursulines at Marion County (Ky.) High School, a public school where the Ursulines were once the sole teachers.

“One of the things the Ursulines taught me is to never say I was never going to do something,” Howard said. She recalled saying she would not go back to school for another degree, but she did so to be able to serve students as a counselor at Owensboro Catholic High School.

“The Ursulines taught me to be kind. To be willing to serve others. And to bloom where you’re planted,” Howard said. “I wouldn’t be the person I am today without the influence of the Ursuline Sisters.”

Josephine Gesser, Student Government president at Brescia, said the Ursuline legacy calls today’s students to be changemakers.

Following the event, guests were treated to a reception and had a chance to tour the replicas of the Madonna paintings that are on loan from the Mount Saint Joseph Archives.

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