Founding a College
Portrait of Mother Leo Vincent
Article about Mother Leo Vincent's Election, 1959
Right after being elected as Mother General, Mother Leo Vincent began working on transitioning the school at Mount Saint Mary from a small school for the religious into a full four year college offering degrees in the arts and sciences. In 1959, she made appeals to extend the charter for Mount Saint Mary College and start the process of allowing lay students into the college. The council voted in favor for these changes on October 30, 1959, and the long process of converting to a lay school began.
Mother Leo Vincent recieved push back from the more conservative Sisters who wanted the congregation to remain focused on itself. However, she thought that the role of educator was the most important task for the Newburgh Dominicans, and this sentiment would be the basis for her leadership going forward. One of the major acts early on in her leadership was sending out numerous Sisters to receive higher education. These Sisters would serve as the foundation for the college's professors, earning degrees in math, sciences, humanities, and religious studies.
Over the next few years, Mother Leo Vincent would also start fundraising campaigns, facilitate the finalization of the College's charter, build two new buildings for the College, and make sure her fellow sisters were prepared to take on the role of educators.
Minutes from the Superior's Meeting of October 10th, 1959
Correspondence to Cardinal Spellman about fundraising, 1960
Shortly after her election, Mother Leo Vincent met with Cardinal Spellman to gain permission to the change the charter of the College and to host a fundraising campaign to help finance the changes she had planned. With permission given, she set out to meet with her council to discuss the upcoming changes to the Newburgh Dominicans. As showcased in the minutes for the October 10th Superior's meeting, fundraising was one of the biggest concerns for the immediate future. Mother Leo Vincent knew that for Mount Saint Mary to expand, it needed two new buildings: a novitate and an academic building to hold classes. These would later be known as Guzman and Aquinas Halls, the main stays of the Mount Saint Mary campus today, and an important addition to the Newburgh Dominicans.
Over the next few years, various fundraising initiatives were held to raise the money nescessary to start construction. These included hosting a lawn party, and reaching out to the wider community in the Hudson Valley. One of the most successful and publicized campaigns was that of the Singing Sisters.
Article on the Singing Sisters, 1962
Letter Endorsing the Singing Sisters
Singing Sister Roster
The Singing Sisters with music director Sister Jeanne d'Arc and Mitch Miller, 1962
One of the fundraising ideas Mother Leo Vincent envisioned was that of a choral group that could raise money through album sales and hosting concerts. After meeting with Sister Jeanne d'Arc, the music director, and others she determined the idea sound enough to pursue. She would be pointed to a man named Mitch Miller, a well known American conductor and record producer. Overjoyed to help the Sisters, Mr. Miller dedicated his time, talents, and studio to helping them produce an album of music called "Joy".
The album would go on to be widely successful, raising over $200,000 in album sales and concert tickets. It was one of the most successful and inspiring fundraising campaigns that Mother Leo Vincent hosted, so much so that Mr. Miller suggested they continue. He saw the potential for the Singing Sisters to go on tour and to release more albums. However, Mother Leo Vincent declined the offer. While it was a successful venture, Mother Leo Vincent believed the primary concerns of the Sisters to be education and going too far with the Singing Sisters would distract from that core.
Letter on the dedication of Guzman and Aquinas Halls, 1963
The original goal of the fundraising campaign was to raise around $750,000 to serve as a downpayment on both of the new buildings. In their efforts, the Newburgh Dominicans were able to raise over double that amount (a total of $1.6 million) and fund a large chunk of construction, though not completely. Throughout her time as Mother, Leo Vincent would continue to host fundraising campaigns to continue to pay off the debts accrued to enable these important changes.
Some of the Sisters were against taking on such a big financial burden, but ultimately it was nescessary to jumpstart Mount Saint Mary as a four year college. Aquinas Hall would become an essential learning space for Sisters and lay students alike, and would be expanded years later to further increase the space. Guzman Hall would serve first as housing for the large numbers of novices and postulants present in the Newburgh Dominicans, and later as one of the dormitories for students. In addition to these two halls, Mother Leo Vincent also oversaw the purchase of Rosary Heights as an additional Sister House and the Garden Apartments as even more housing for residents of the College. All these properties would play a pivotal role in the transition of Mount Saint Mary from small Catholic School into an accredited four year institution in New York.
Certificate of Teaching from the Archbishop of New York, 1950
Mother Leo Vincent reviewing books for the College
Mother Leo Vincent Addressing incoming Students
Photo of Leo Vincent (known then as Kathleen Short) teaching a class later in life, 1980