Come North! - The Life Story of Mother Xavier Ross, Foundress of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Book

Text extracted from opening pages of book: COME NORTH ! The Life - Story of Mother Xavier Ross Foundress of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth by SISTER JULIA GILMORE, S. G. L. Illustrations by Patricia DeBuck New - York McMULLEN BOOKS, INC. 1951 Mother Xavier Ross NIHIL OBSTAT: Louis S. HAUBER Censor librorum IMPRIMATUR: fl& GEO. J. DONNELLY Bishop of Kansas City in Kansas Kansas City, Kansas April 26, 1948 Copyright, 1951 McMuLLEN BOOKS, INC. PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. AT THE POLYGON PRESS, INC. BROOKLYN TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Backdrop for Greatness 1 2 One Thing I Have Asked 19 3. Voveo 29 4. Came a Volunteer 37 5. I Have Planted, Apollo Watered 48 6. God Gives the Increase 56 7. The Nashville Story 64 8. Come North! 77 9. Marching into Tomorrow 86 10 With Kickapoo Street the Destination 93 1 1 . What Was Their Happiness ! 106 12. Behind the Curtain: Drama 119 13. The Peaceable Had a Vineyard 136 14. The Foundress Builds a House 148 15. Not without Travail 165 16. Yet-Thabor Came 172 17. The Great Blackrobc Pleads 182 18. All the Land Made Desolate 192 19. What Is Past Is Prologue 205 20. They That Instruct Many to Justice 214 21. Shadows Retire 241 APPENDICES A. Letters Written by Mother Xavier 249 B. Letters Written to Mother Xavier 266 C. Tributes to Mother Xavier 271 D. Other Source Materia 1 280 Bibliography 295 Notes 301 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FOR THE GRACIOUSNESS I HAVE MET AND THE HELP I HAVE received in gathering data for this work I express my sincere thanks to the many whose assistance is indicated in the appen dices and the bibliography. In this way I hope to include all without possibility of omission. Major indebtedness, however, must first be acknowledged to Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Greenlease of Kansas City for their generous assistance, and to the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, Kentucky, for their cordial hospitality and indispensable aid in the use of their archives. Next, I am beholden to the archivists of the Missouri and Chicago Provinces of the Society of Jesus for letting me consult their available material relative to Mother Xavier, and to the Reverend Francis M. Wilson, S. J., of the Jesuit Mission Band, Chicago, for invaluable collaborative as sistance. Then, the Reverend Julian A. Garrity, S. J., pastor of St. Francis Xavier Church, Cincinnati, was unsparing of him self in his efforts to locate vital documents for me; and the late Reverend Jean Delanglez, S. J., of the Institute of Jesuit History, Loyola University, Chicago, concerned himself meticulously with the finished manuscript, giving numerous valuable suggestions of which I was glad to avail myself in this work. Appreciation is also due Mrs. Flora Dalton, Manhattan, Kansas, for the use of her mother's copybook, and The Leaven worth Times for the use of its files. The State Librarian and Archivist of Nashville, Tennessee, Mrs. John Trotwood Moore, was most courteous and helpful in her capacity, as were the Reverend J. R. Coffey, O. P., of the Dominican House of Studies, Washington, D. C., and the Reverend John R. Lyons, archivist of the Louisville Diocese. Mr. W. J. Burton, Assistant Chief Engineer of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, was no less helpful in allowing me to refer to him on specific points regard ing early railroads and ferries. The thirty-four members of my own Community, the Insti tute of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, who knew Mother Xavier personally, deserve my special gratitude. They, as well as our Foundress' former available students, gave generously of their time in reminiscences and advice. Sister Mary Mark Orr, Librarian of the Saint Mary College, Xavier, Kansas, together with her assistants, Margaret Heckethorn and Ruth Considine, capably and gladly helped me locate material, while Mother Mary Francesca O'Shea and our present Mother General, Mother Mary Ancilla Spoor, gave strong and sure impetus to the completion of the work. To each, I am grateful. Mother Xavier, herself, it can be confidently hoped, will repay themRead More