The daughter of Samuel and Mary Ellen Wathen Willett, Mary Leona was born Sept. 8, 1862, in Union County, Ky. Her ancestors came from Maryland to western Kentucky. Leona’s brother, Thomas, was born in 1864. When their mother died in 1865, the two small children were sent to live with their maternal grandmother. In 1867, Mary Leona’s father remarried and took the children from the grandmother. In 1872, however, the Court appointed Grandmother Wathen the children’s legal guardian. Soon after this, Grandmother Wathen broke up housekeeping. Mary Leona was taken to live with an Aunt Martha Robb. Thomas went to live with Uncle Will Wathen. Mary Leona’s elementary education was received in a one-room Union County schoolhouse. At the age of 15, she enrolled in Mount Saint Joseph Academy. After graduation, she taught for a year in a local public school. In March 1882, she returned to the Mount to assist Sister Augustine Bloemer in the Academy. On July 16, 1882, she entered the novitiate of the Ursuline Sisters of the Immaculate Conception in Louisville, and received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Aloysius.
In September, Sister Aloysius was assigned to Mount Saint Joseph to become the director of studies and teach in the Academy. When Bishop McCloskey opened the English-speaking novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph in 1895, Sister Aloysius became mistress of novices. Ten years later, Mother Aloysius was appointed local superior. She directed her attention to maintaining the high excellence of the Academy, the education and religious formation of the Sisters, and widening the influence of Catholic education by establishing schools in the rural districts of Kentucky. With the rapid growth in community membership, she was able to send Sisters to open schools in New Mexico and Nebraska. She approached life with great faith and joyful confidence. Church feast days, patriotic events and other less notable occasions were made times of special celebration. Following the example of Father Paul Volk, she began an extensive beautification program of the buildings and grounds.
On October 12, 1912, Mount Saint Joseph became an autonomous Ursuline community. On July 16, 1913, Mother Aloysius was elected the first canonical superior.
Though Mother Aloysius never enjoyed excellent health, in the early 1920‘s, Sister suffered an attack of influenza leaving her health greatly impaired. Her medical and spiritual advisors recommended a trip to California for the winter. She left Kentucky on August 31, 1920, and stopped at Saint Bernard Academy in Nebraska City, Neb. While there, she suffered a heart attack. After a brief time of recuperation, she continued the journey arriving at her cousin’s home in Los Angeles on September 25th. A second heart attack, on October 1, 1920, proved fatal.
Her remains were returned to Mount Saint Joseph on October 7. Father James Whelan, Mount Saint Joseph chaplain, celebrated the Solemn Requiem at Saint Alphonsus Church on October 8, 1920. Msgr. Edward Shields Fitzgerald delivered the sermon. There were 28 priests and nearly 200 religious in the procession to the cemetery for her graveside service. Sister Aloysius is revered as the founder of the Mount Saint Joseph Ursuline community.