Pauline was born October 17, 1896, the daughter of William and Roxanna Vowels Mattingly of St. Joseph, Ky. She attended school at Mount Saint Joseph Academy during the years 1903-1915, most likely a day student as she lived close by. When she was 18 years of age, Pauline entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph and after a five-month postulancy, she received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Paul Joseph on August 10, 1915.
Prepared for the teaching apostolate, Sister Paul Joseph was first assigned to St. Francis of Assisi School in Chicago, Ky., where she taught the primary grades for two years. She was a primary teacher at her next two missions, St. Columba in Louisville and in Jeffersonville, Ind. Following those three assignments, she taught grades six through eight at St. Edward, Jeffersontown, Ky. In 1925, Sister Paul Joseph began teaching high school: In Kentucky at St. Catherine School in New Haven, Raywick, Holy Cross, Waverly, and Flaherty, then to Blanco, N.M., to St. Charles in Lebanon, Ky., to Glennonville, Mo., and back to Kentucky at Knottsville and Hardinsburg. In 1970, she returned to elementary school at St. Francis in Loretto, Ky., and St. Pius X in Owensboro, one year each. She spent the 1972-1973 school year off duty at Holy Trinity Convent in Whitesville, Ky.
Sister Paul Joseph retired in 1973, returned to Mount Saint Joseph and organized the community library in St. Ursula Hall. In her spare time, she enjoyed fashioning delicate flowers of bright-colored fabrics and wire.
At the time of her retirement, Sister Paul Joseph’s health was rapidly declining. She became seriously ill and died at Mercy Hospital in Owensboro on October 22, 1977. On October 24, Father Jerry King, OP, Superior at St. Stephen Priory in Dover, Mass., was the main celebrant of the funeral Mass, along with 24 priests. Father Anthony Ziegler, chaplain, delivered the homily. Sister Paul Joseph’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery. Among Sister’s survivors was her brother, Brother Martin, OP, also from St. Stephen Priory.