I graduated St. Adrian's in 1961 before all of the changes brought on by Vatican II. Our Ladies of Loretto, IBVM's wore habits back then. Sr. Patricia was known as Mother M. Cyril, Sr. Catherine Hanlon was Mother M. Perpetua and Sr. Mary Catherine was Mother Charles. Sr. Corinne was known as Mother Corinne. All of the sisters who had taken their final vows were known as and addressed as "Mother" or "Sister". Sister Corinne taught 8th grade in 1960/61 and was in charge of the altar boys, always kept her religious name. When I was there from 1953/61 we had 2 principals, Mother Aloyse and Mother Felicitas, both still alive and living in retirement in Wheaton. Mother Felicitas reverted to her baptismal name, Sr. Mary Madigan. Thank God! We always had a hard time pronouncing Felicitas.

Although the parish was founded in 1928, Father "Mac" couldn't build a convent right away due to the Great Depression. He wanted the sisters to live in a converted classroom. The Mother General said no, so for 23 years until 1951 the sisters would commute by streetcar from Loretto Woodlawn to Adrian's daily to teach the children. When I went to Adrian's we had about 22 sisters living in the convent. I never had a lay teacher and tuition was $10.00 a year.

After the "New Mass" was introduced, Fr. Mac refused to use it, so whenever he celebrated at the side altar if I or one of my friends was in church we would assist him in the Tridentine Rite in Latin. Father Jordan wasn't too keen on this because people would follow Fr. Mac and ignore the main altar.

Sr. Patricia, (M.Cyril) passed away 3 years ago. She was everyone's favorite when I was there. She would hold court after school in her classroom, everyone wanted to be around her. She told some interesting stories about the rules of being a nun in the "old days" when I saw her last in Wheaton in 1991. They had to keep that headgear on until lights out. At her brother's wedding in the early 50's she wasn't supposed to smile in the wedding picture but the superior purposely turned her back so she could smile. Also, Sister Catherine Hanlon, (M.Perpetua) passed away about 2 years ago.

I've got photos of Sr. Corinne and Sr. Cyril in the old habit from our 8th grade picnic at Wicker Park in Indiana, May 1961. The reason why they dropped the habit so quickly is because Mary Ward their founder never wanted them to wear habits in the first place, the habit was forced upon them by the church authorities. They chose a 16th century English widows' gown. Hence the cute white cuffs, puffy sleeves and split collar around the neck. The European version of their habit was slightly different. Everyone of them who I have spoken to has used the same word regarding wearing that habit..."dreadful".

When my dad died in September of 1997, Mary Catherine, Catherine Hanlon and Sister Laverne were at the wake. My parents were good friends with them. Sister Corinne died of breast cancer around '90/91. My mom came from a protestant background so she always treated the sisters as "one of the girls". She never put them on a pedestal as cradle Catholics tended to do. She was like that with them even in the "old days". They ate it up.

We lived at 70th and Campbell and after the (Vatican II) changes my parents would have the sisters over to the house. When I was in high school (I was of the first graduating class from Laurence, 1965), my buddy and I would stop over at the rectory and chat with Fr. Mac. He was the assistant at St. Bride's at 78th and Coles when Cardinal Mundelein asked him to start this new parish. He said when he first saw the corner of 70th and Washtenaw, all he saw was a big prairie with some goats and sheep grazing. I asked him why he never became a monsignor, his reply was that he never kissed anyone's a-- in the chancery office. He could be quite a saucy guy with us because he knew us since we were babies. He told me that Cardinal Cody, (the one who retired him), "was a first class son of a b----, "and that's paying him a compliment." All in all, the man was a saint. By the way, Mother Teresa of Calcutta was a member of the Ladies of Loretto before she started her own order in the late 1940's. If you want to see pictures of some sisters in the old days, go to the website of St. Bride's School Chicago Alumni.