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The Sisters of the Visitation was the first religious Order of nuns to establish itself in Wheeling. In 1848, eight sisters came over the mountains from Baltimore by train as far as Cumberland, Maryland, the western terminus of the B and O Railroad, and the rest of the way by stage coach. They arrived two years before the Diocese of Wheeling was formed, and fifteen years before the creation of the state of West Virginia.
They were answering the appeal made by the Most. Rev. Richard V. Whelan, then bishop of Richmond, to the Baltimore Visitation Monastery for sisters who would begin an academy for girls in the tradition of those at Georgetown and Baltimore. He recognized that if the Catholic faith was to survive the rigors of this pioneer Ohio river town, its future wives and mothers needed an education, though opportunities for such were sadly neglected at that time. Interestingly enough, Bishop Whelan determined from the beginning that the school would serve girls of all faith. It was not called "ecumenism" in those days, but it has been a guiding principle at the Wheeling school through the years and gives this particular Visitation Academy a special flavor.
After a difficult beginning, of many hardships and deprivations for both sisters and students, the monastery and school began to flourish, so much so, that the Bishop decided to build a new academy and monastery in the outskirts of Wheeling. The work began at the beginning of the Civil War and was completed the year the war ended, 1865. When school started in the fall, there were so few students it was thought the academy would fail. Again, hard work and the effort of many friends assured a successful conclusion to the first campaign for funds and the sisters were able to pay their bill and offer scholarships to former Southern pupils who were made indigent by the war.
The years followed one upon the other, some easy and some very difficult. Poverty was always an ideal for the nuns, but at Mount de Chantal it became a reality, cherished and even honored as an important part of our heritage. After so many difficulties, the community eventually flourished, sometimes reaching the number of fifty religious. Numbers are no longer considered important, because the nuns at the Mount, as Mount de Chantal is familiarly known, have learned through experience that the ideals of St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal can be lived by a small group as well as by many sisters. Deep faith in God and a strong yet gentle love for others, their "double love" as St. Francis de Sales called it, is really only one love and continues to sustain their vocation and call them to respond day by day to the invitation "Come follow me." |
