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Mother Pauline Gannon was the successor of our foundress Mother Agnes Magevney who died in 1891. During Mother Pauline's thirty years as leader of the congregation (1891-1921), the community expanded in numbers and institutions. She founded St. Agnes Academy in Houston (l906), a high school for young women, and Newman Hall in Austin (l918), a residence for women attending the University of Texas. Convinced of the need to expand and progress in order to preach the Good News with vigor, one of her final acts was to acquire the property in Houston where the present Mother House is located. When Mother Pauline died, the community had grown from thirty-one sisters in one convent in Galveston to 115 sisters living in fourteen convents in two dioceses, and most of them were certified teachers.
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Mother Pauline was a woman of faith, vision and practicality. When Bishop Gallagher became concerned that the Newman Hall residence might encourage attendance at a "secular" institution in preference to Catholic colleges, he asked a Dominican priest to interview her on the topic. She said that there were already Catholic students attending the University and that as Catholics grew in numbers and in wealth in Texas, their presence at state universities would increase. She said, "It is a condition, not a theory that confronts us." The Bishop became convinced of the wisdom of her thinking. As an added note, when the construction workers threatened to go on strike during the building of the Hall, Mother Pauline helped negotiate the settlement between them and the construction company. |
Professor Samuel Gideon, one of the architects for the Hall, seemed to capture the experience the many people had in living and working with Mother Pauline. When she died, he said,
"One of the strongest influences in my life has been that of
Mother Pauline.
(She was) a lovable character, a capable business woman,
and one with a keen sense of humor,
impressing everyone with
the radiance of her spirituality and personality."
The above information is from
Dominican Women in Texas, Sheila Hackett, OP, l986. |
