Mae, the only child of Thomas and Emma Wathen Bowlds, was born May 13, 1886, at St. Lawrence, Ky. She was a prayerful child, often spending hours without moving before the Blessed Sacrament while her mother did sacristy work at St. Lawrence Church.
On March 8, 1905, at the age of 18, Mae entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph. After a two‑month postulancy, she received the Ursuline habit on May 18, 1905. Mae was given the name Sister Mary Lucian.
Giving their only child to religious life was a great sacrifice for her parents. Sister Mary Lucian suffered with them through her own homesickness and spent many hours in prayer before the Tabernacle. Her favorite ejaculation was, “Jesus, all for Thee. If it weren’t for Thee, it (absence from her parents) wouldn’t be.” She never overcame nostalgia but lived a life of obedience, mortification, and prayer.
On February 11, 1906, Sister Mary Lucian died. Her death was an echo of her life — calm, beautiful, edifying, saintly. When told that the end was near she replied, “I have just finished the Nine Fridays for a happy death. I am ready to go if my Divine Spouse is ready for me.” Sister Mary Lucian pronounced her vows on her deathbed in a firm joyous voice, and repeatedly said, “I feel so happy. O God, I thank Thee for Thy goodness to me. Sweet Heart of Jesus, be my love! Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation!” With these words she gave her soul back to God. Funeral services were held in the chapel with Father E. S. Fitzgerald offering the Mass. Six novices served as pallbearers in the procession to the cemetery on the north terrace. When the coffin was lowered, priests, Sisters, and pupils tenderly threw in shovels of earth. Peacefully resigned, her parents lingered over the newly made grave. Sister Mary Lucian’s remains were exhumed and transferred to the present convent cemetery in 1910.