Skip to main content

Founding a College

Mother Leo Vincent Photographs

Portrait of Mother Leo Vincent

Mother Leo Vincent Clippings

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.

Mother Leo Vincent Correspondence

Minutes from the Superior's Meeting of October 10th, 1959

Mother Leo Vincent Correspondence

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.

Singing Sisters records

Article on the Singing Sisters, 1962

Singing Sisters records

Letter Endorsing the Singing Sisters

Singing Sisters records

Singing Sister Roster

Singing Sisters records

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.

Mother Leo Vincent Correspondence

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.

Mother Leo Vincent Awards and Certifications

Certificate of Teaching from the Archbishop of New York, 1950

Mother Leo Vincent Clippings

Mother Leo Vincent reviewing books for the College

Mother Leo Vincent Clippings

Mother Leo Vincent Addressing incoming Students

Mother Leo Vincent Photographs

Photo of Leo Vincent (known then as Kathleen Short) teaching a class later in life, 1980

Mother Leo Vincent was President of Mount Saint Mary College from when she took office in 1959 until 1964. She was succeeded by Sister Mary Francis McDonald. In those 5 years, Leo Vincent accomplished many essential tasks in making Mount Saint Mary the college it is today. As discussed earlier, she hosted fundraisers and sponsored the buildings of two of the most important buildings on the modern campus. In 1959, she allowed lay students to attend the college for the first time and started the transition to a four year school. In 1962, she sent out eight Sisters to get higher degrees in a variety of disciplines so they could become the first generation of educators at the College. Also in 1962, Leo Vincent successfully petitioned the state government in Albany to grant Mount Saint Mary a charter for a four year liberal arts college. Aquinas and Guzman Halls were completed and in use by 1963, just in time for an expansion in lay students and the start of Mount Saint Mary's Nursing program. Each of these accomplishments were vital stepping stones in Mount Saint Mary's transformation into something greater.

Mother Leo Vincent earnestly believed in the importance of a proper education and the value of continual learning. She once said "prophets of doom speak of the end of the schools." To Mother Leo Vincent, the funadmentals of society were based in education, and she saw it as her mission in life to bring her love of learning to others. This one phrase alone speaks to how strong her drive was to enrich Mount Saint Mary into something so much more than a place to get a Catholic education. Under her influence, Mount Saint Mary College became one of the pillars of higher learning in the Hudson Valley that persists into the modern day.

Most of Leo Vincent's first term as Mother General was focused on the transition of Mount Saint Mary into a four year college. However, even as she was being elected in 1959 there were winds of change blowing from Rome. The Second Vatican Council (also known as Vatican II) was under way and major reforms were hapening for Catholic religious organizations. While minor changes occured during her first term, it was during Mother Leo Vincent's second term that she would need to facilitate the changes to the Dominican order in order to bring the Dominican Sisters of Newburgh into the modern era.